I have written quite a bit the last few posts on knowing God, seeking God, making time for Him, making time to read His Word. Today I would like to get the "rubber on the road!" Friends, we spend so much time in our lives speaking, running, just plain being busy that our prayer life is suffering. Ask most Christians and they will tell you that they spend less than 5 to 10 mins a day praying and even then, guess who is probably doing most of the talking?
"Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Mark 1:35
As I studied this evening, one thing I realized from Scripture is that the disciples would often find Jesus praying during the morning hours of the day. When they needed Him, they knew to go to the place of prayer. When Judas betrayed Him, he led the priest's guards to Jesus' place of prayer.
Think about this, most of the time when we have important issues facing us, we seek out the council of our friends, our co-workers, our ministers, almost anyone except God. Usually He is the last one we seek, in crisis, or otherwise. This is a very saddening reality, and it worsens everyday. Most people's prayers end up being, "Ok God, you have 25 seconds, I'm listening." Every time Jesus faced a decision, He prayed. When He was being tempted to do things by the world's methods instead of the Father's, He prayed (Matt 4). When it was time to choose His disciples, He prayed the entire night (Luke 6:12). Here's a question we all need to ask ourselves, If Jesus, the Son of God, required an entire night of prayer to determine the Father's mind, how long do you think it might take us in prayer to clearly determine our Father's will for us? 5 minutes? 10? How about 25 seconds?
Jesus was always surrounded by crowds, and He knew He wouldn't be able to give His whole attention to the Father in the midst of the crowds, so He would go and find a quiet place to be with the Father so that He could clearly hear the Father's voice. Jesus had many people seeking to influence the direction of His life. His disciples wanted Him to go where the crowds were (Mark 1:37). The crowds wanted to crown Him king (John 6:15), Satan tempted Him to make compromises in order to draw a following (Matt 4:3,6,9), and the list goes on. Jesus knew that His mission was not to attract a crowd, but to remain obedient to His Father! Consider the following that we know about Jesus' prayer life from the Bible:
It was prayer that set the agenda for His ministry, prayer preceded His miracles, prayer brought Him encouragement at critical moments, prayer enabled Him to go to the cross, and prayer kept Him there despite excruciating pain and torment. This just to name a few. Some of you might say, "But that was Jesus, the Son of God." I understand this, but the point is that the Son of God prayed! And He prayed often!
We need to follow the Savior's example. We need to make time alone with God for prayer. We need to really, honestly, speak with Him, and then let Him speak to us! Friends, the truth is none of us can actually do this with so much hustle and bustle and noise going on in our lives. We must choose to discipline ourselves and make real, quality time for our prayer life. If Jesus did it, then it is obviously important! Look in your Bible at how many times Jesus would mention to those listening that they needed to commune with the Father. I'm not giving the answer, just stating the importance of prayer. Through real prayer time with God, we learn His will for our life, we hear His voice, we acknowledge His authority over our life by making the time to commune with Him. I would challenge you today, set real time aside to be alone with God in prayer, and let your time alone with God, in prayer, set the agenda for your life!
May God richly bless you today!! H Trent!
"Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Mark 1:35
As I studied this evening, one thing I realized from Scripture is that the disciples would often find Jesus praying during the morning hours of the day. When they needed Him, they knew to go to the place of prayer. When Judas betrayed Him, he led the priest's guards to Jesus' place of prayer.
Think about this, most of the time when we have important issues facing us, we seek out the council of our friends, our co-workers, our ministers, almost anyone except God. Usually He is the last one we seek, in crisis, or otherwise. This is a very saddening reality, and it worsens everyday. Most people's prayers end up being, "Ok God, you have 25 seconds, I'm listening." Every time Jesus faced a decision, He prayed. When He was being tempted to do things by the world's methods instead of the Father's, He prayed (Matt 4). When it was time to choose His disciples, He prayed the entire night (Luke 6:12). Here's a question we all need to ask ourselves, If Jesus, the Son of God, required an entire night of prayer to determine the Father's mind, how long do you think it might take us in prayer to clearly determine our Father's will for us? 5 minutes? 10? How about 25 seconds?
Jesus was always surrounded by crowds, and He knew He wouldn't be able to give His whole attention to the Father in the midst of the crowds, so He would go and find a quiet place to be with the Father so that He could clearly hear the Father's voice. Jesus had many people seeking to influence the direction of His life. His disciples wanted Him to go where the crowds were (Mark 1:37). The crowds wanted to crown Him king (John 6:15), Satan tempted Him to make compromises in order to draw a following (Matt 4:3,6,9), and the list goes on. Jesus knew that His mission was not to attract a crowd, but to remain obedient to His Father! Consider the following that we know about Jesus' prayer life from the Bible:
It was prayer that set the agenda for His ministry, prayer preceded His miracles, prayer brought Him encouragement at critical moments, prayer enabled Him to go to the cross, and prayer kept Him there despite excruciating pain and torment. This just to name a few. Some of you might say, "But that was Jesus, the Son of God." I understand this, but the point is that the Son of God prayed! And He prayed often!
We need to follow the Savior's example. We need to make time alone with God for prayer. We need to really, honestly, speak with Him, and then let Him speak to us! Friends, the truth is none of us can actually do this with so much hustle and bustle and noise going on in our lives. We must choose to discipline ourselves and make real, quality time for our prayer life. If Jesus did it, then it is obviously important! Look in your Bible at how many times Jesus would mention to those listening that they needed to commune with the Father. I'm not giving the answer, just stating the importance of prayer. Through real prayer time with God, we learn His will for our life, we hear His voice, we acknowledge His authority over our life by making the time to commune with Him. I would challenge you today, set real time aside to be alone with God in prayer, and let your time alone with God, in prayer, set the agenda for your life!
May God richly bless you today!! H Trent!
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