Play Video “I Prayer from Blue Fish”
How is your prayer Life?
How often do you pray?
Why do you pray?
Questions like these force us to examine our prayer life. If you are like most people you wish you could be better at communicating with God.
Prayer is one of God’s greatest gifts to his people yet it is often reduced to blessings at meals and praying for our health and the health of our family and friends. Someone has said, “Many people pray as if God were a big aspirin pill; they come only when they hurt.” God wants our prayers to be so much more than prayer for our food and health.
Prayer is communication.
Prayer has played a vital role in the lives of people…
Abraham Lincoln; I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.
Martin Luther King Jr; “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
What are people praying for today?
More than any time in history, people are seeking answers to life’s struggles, problems, and challenges. Natural and man-made disasters are causing more and more stress in people, and their lives are under intense pressure. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, personal debt, job losses -- it is hard to comprehend the pressure these exert upon families struggling to make ends meet and survive.
While it seems more people are focused on prayers, their prayers reflect a desire for a materialistic lifestyle rather than communication with God. On the website “Best & Worst” the question was posed; “What are you praying for today?”
16% a new president
15% health
12% they would win the lottery
7% a new job
4% better sex
It seems we have strayed when it comes to understanding the purpose, value and power of prayer.
What is needed today is a return to the basics of prayer, now just as a river is purest at its source, so we can discover purest form of prayer by looking at the source of the one who demonstrated the purpose, value and power of prayer in his own life. As the Hebrew writer said, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart.
I believe we grow weary when we do not pray as we should.
In Mark’s gospel, Jesus teaches us two important principles regarding prayer. By following these principles I believe we will avoid growing weary and losing heart in our daily walk with God.
Principle #1 is found in Mark 1:35, 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.
Principle #1. Jesus’ prayer life was intentional
There is a big difference between an accident and an incident. An accident is something that happens without planning or it happens because of unforeseen circumstances. A child reaches for something and accidently spills the milk. The teenager reaches over to turn down the CD player in the care and accidently goes through the traffic light. Preoccupied the stuff of life we forget to enter a ATM withdraw in our check register and we accidently overdraw our bank account. Accidents simply happen. But incidents take planning, they are calculated and are done intentionally. Too often many of us will have an accidental prayer life. A crisis “Just Happens” and we pray hoping for some kind of relief from the careless actions or unforeseen circumstances.
That does not describe the prayer life of Jesus. Jesus did not prayer by accident, no Jesus prayed intentionally. Mark goes into great detail to describe the intentional prayer life of Jesus.
Jesus set apart time to pray.
Early in the morning; while it was still dark…Jesus prayed. The Jews calculated time based on the watch of the Roman soldier at night. 6-9 was the first watch, 9-12 the second, 12-3 the third and 3-6 the fourth and final watch. It was during this final watch; Jesus would get up and pray. Why so early? Jesus awoke before daybreak because He wanted to avoid the distractions that would come from people, events and duties. Jesus understood the value of time therefore he arose early – making it a priority to spend time in prayer. Having grown up in a Jewish home Jesus was familiar with the psalms, thus he was familiar with the wisdom of Psalm 5:2-3, Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
Harry Ward Beecher – The morning is the rudder of the day. I find there are two types of people when it comes to mornings; One says, Good Morning Lord and the other says Good Lord its morning.
Now Jesus is not setting forth a command to rise early in the morning to pray, however he is demonstrating a wise principle of being intentional with our prayer life.
Unless we are willing to make sacrifices in getting to bed early and rising early, we will not evidence a lifestyle that is fully yielded to the Lord. Give God the rights to your schedule and He will help you maximize your contributions in all areas of your relationships, activities and ministries.
Jesus set apart a place to pray
Not only did he wake up early for the purpose of prayer, Jesus made it a point to find a place to pray. Mark says he left the house and went off to a solitary place
The amplified Bible calls it a deserted place – the implication it was a place where Jesus could go to avoid the distractions of the stuff of life. Closing out the distractions is the key to communication with God. Unfortunately it is becoming more and more difficult to do this in our hi-tech culture. TV offers us 24 hour programming, the internet offers us constant information and our cell phones give us instant access to everyone who has a phone. While Jesus faced the demands of people in public, face the demands of people with constant communication. With so much access it is no wonder we cannot hear from God today. To develop a prayer life like Jesus, we all need a solitary place where we can meet God. A private place gives us access to God and helps us to be accountable to our prayer time. When we go to that place we hold ourselves and others accountable to our prayer time. The Early African converts to Christianity were serious about private devotions. Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers began to neglect prayer, it was soon apparent to the others in the village. They would kindly remind the negligent one, "Brother, the grass grows on your path." May we all have a place to go for prayer that is worn because we have been there often.
There is a second principle we need to note this morning regarding our Lord’s prayer life.
2. Jesus prayer life gave him clarity
Note Mark 1:36-39
36Simon and his companions went to look for him,
37and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
38Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else, to the nearby villages, so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
39So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
The disciples awake and discover Jesus is not in the house. Verse 36 says they began to look for him. Literally they were searching or pursuing him. I wonder why they were pursuing him. Did they think they had been abandoned? Had Jesus left them behind while he began his great adventure? What was it like when they came upon him and found him praying? I love the disciple’s response when they find him - "Everyone is looking for you!"
You got to see the humor in this statement – Jesus is praying to the father, he is setting time aside to develop the father son relationship and the disciples come upon him and say "Everyone is looking for you!" In other words, they are saying there is something more important than prayer – meeting all of these people’s needs.
Jesus quickly tells them he has other plans - "Let us go somewhere else, to the nearby villages, so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
To the disciples it was about being with the people, but to Jesus it was about being with the father. The father set the mission, not the disciples. When you spend time with the father you will have clarity about what is important and what is urgent. Jesus knew the only way to find the source of direction, inspiration and courage to do what is essential is from close communion times with the Lord. This was his priority.
The disciples thought it was urgent to meet the needs of the people, but Jesus knew it was important to spend time with the father. Understand the urgent is seldom important, and the important is seldom urgent. Last week we learned Jesus only healed 20 people during his ministry. Yet we know he spoke to thousands at the Sermon on the Mount, and the feeding of the 5,000.
As believers we must constantly guard ourselves from doing what others think is urgent and allow the important matters to take second, third or even fourth place.
As leaders we must be clear about what the purpose of the leadership is in the local church. Ephesians 4 reminds us;
11It was he (Jesus) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13
The urgent is for the leader to do the work of ministry
The important is for the leader to prepare the members for ministry.
When leaders prepare members for ministry note the result…
14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
One of the major flaws in the church today is the belief our leaders are to handle every little problem that comes down the pike. As shepherds their primary role is to follow the 5 “P’s” of spiritual leaders; preach, pray for the flock, protect the flock, offer pastoral care and set the policy for the flock – not keep the flock. Oh, in case you are wondering, taking care of the property is not one of the 5 “P’s” spiritual leadership.
Jesus had amazing clarity of his vision and his purpose and it was developed through his prayer life.
Friends we can have clarity in what God is calling us to do as well, however to discover that purpose it begins with prayer.
The prayer life of Jesus was intentional. He awoke early in the morning, he left the house he went to a place – there he met God.
When he met God his prayer life was marked with clarity. Jesus knew his mission, because he knew his Father.
How are we to develop a prayer life like Jesus?
Commit to finding a place to be alone with God
Make it a private place
If you have family tell them this is your private place
If you choose not to pray in the early morning, let your family know when you go to your private place you are not to be disturbed.
Use Scripture as part of your prayer routine.
I would recommend you read from the book of Psalm when you pray. The Psalms was and is the worship hymnal for God’s people. With 150 psalms to choose from, I am sure you will find words of comfort and words to assist you as you pray.
Record your prayers
Develop a prayer book where you can record prayer requests that you can systematically pray over and see answers given. An active prayer book will help you to see how God has worked through your prayers, this will give you more encouragement to continue going to your solitary place.
Once a week simply focus on God and his attributes
Make a list of God’s special characteristics like His omnipotence, wisdom, love and peace. You can access a list of his special characteristics by going to sermoncentral.com and typing in "attributes of God" in the search section. You will find hundreds of attributes of God that you can praise God for during your prayer time.
Focus on the blessings we have received as God’s children
Ephesians 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ."
When we recall all of the blessings we have in our life we can go forward each day with great power, confidence and a willingness to serve others.
Why did Jesus make prayer such an important part of his ministry here on earth? I believe we find the answer in Psalm 91:1, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I think you will agree with me life is hard. Every day we are bombarded by temptations, schedules, sin and just life itself. However prayer is the shelter from this life. The psalmist promise us if we will dwell in that shelter we will find rest in the shadow of the almighty. Do you need to rest today, if so I invite you to come to the shelter of the “Most High”, rest in his shadow by developing a prayer life that is intentional and a prayer life that will give you clarity.
Pray
