Day 2
WEEK 1: THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER
DAY 2: JESUS PRAYED
- Mark 1:35 (NIV) Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
- Luke 6:12 (NIV) One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
OBSERVATION and UNDERSTANDINGIn the middle of a narrative on the choosing of disciples, healing people and driving out evil spirits Mark places a very interesting verse...Jesus stepped aside to pray!Why would the God of the universe need to pray? My personal thought is that he was teaching the disciples about the importance of prayer.Do you realize that everything God does in the work of ministry He does through prayer…
- Prayer is the way you defeat the devil Luke 22:32, James 4:7
- Prayer is the way lost people are saved. Luke 18:13
- Prayer is the way we acquire wisdom James 1:5
- Prayer is the way people are restored to God James 5:16-20
- Prayer is how the sick are healed. James 5:13-15
- Prayer is how we accomplish the impossible. Mark 11:23-24
Jesus wanted us to see that prayer was necessary for refreshing and reconnecting with the Father so that we could know His heart and live in His will.Prayer was necessary for power to accomplish God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.Jesus prayed regularly. On this occasion he went up the mountain to pray and spent the whole night praying. Mark tells us that when the disciples got up in the early morning, Jesus had already gone out to pray. Luke tells us that he could often be found in lonely places praying.Prayer was as fundamental an element in the life of Jesus as breathing. He inhaled his Father’s presence so he could exhale his Father’s will.Jesus was in constant contact with his Father, whom he spoke of in a very personal, intimate, and familiar way.The source of Jesus’ fruitfulness was in his reaching Up to God in prayer with the Father.The words "pray" and "prayer" are used at least twenty-five times in connection with Jesus in the brief record of His life in the four Gospels, and His praying is mentioned in places where the words are not used. Evidently prayer took much of the time and strength of Jesus.LIFE APPLICATIONWe are called Christ-followers, so what do you think should be our actions regarding this area of prayer?Jesus did what he saw the Father doing and introduced his disciples to this very personal relationship with God, calling us into the same kind of intimacy with the Father that he himself has always known.We are to live out the reality of that relationship always.As his disciples, we are to model our lives after our Master.“A man or woman who does not spend much time in prayer, cannot properly be called a follower of Jesus Christ.”Take a moment today to set aside specific time for prayer and times with God. Make it a consistent time each day that will be developed into a habit.Write down the days of the week and when you will be spending time in prayer and then set aside time to do the same at the beginning of each week.