Mark 1:35

“I’m just so busy.” “There never seem to be enough hours in the day.” We can probably all relate to those statements at some point in our lives. Do you know who else was busy? Jesus. He was very busy during His earthly ministry. He traveled to different regions sharing the good news, ministered to crowds of people, healed the sick, and spent time shepherding and fellowshipping with His disciples and other believers. Even though Jesus was busy, He was intentional about spending time alone with God, the Father, in prayer. One example is found in Mark 1:35. It says, “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” 

Not only did Jesus model spending time with God in prayer, but He showed us the importance of spending time alone with God. One-on-one time with God allows us to eliminate distractions and hear His voice more clearly. Matthew 6:6a says, “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” 

<If Jesus felt that prayer was necessary, then so should we. Prayer is one way that we can stay connected to Christ and abide in Him. The Bible says that Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine (John 15:1-8). We cannot bear good fruit in our lives unless we abide in Christ through prayer.  

When Jesus ascended into heaven, He didn’t stop praying. Romans 8:26-27 says, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 

How comforting to know that the Spirit is interceding for us. Let us continue to approach God’s throne of grace with confidence in prayer, so that we may receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). 

Jesus, thank you for showing us what it means to be PRAYERFUL. Help us to prioritize spending time alone with You in prayer. Enable us to abide in You as You have called us to, so that we may bear good fruit. 

Learn to seek God in prayer through Debbie’s book, Pray With Purpose, Live With Passion. Purchase your copy HERE.

Listen

Wildfires. Flooding. Volcanoes. Tornadoes. Earthquakes.  Have you been affected by a natural disaster that killed a loved one, destroyed your livelihood, injured a loved one or caused you physical harm? Have you lost everything and in devastation raised your fist and asked God why? There are many questions we won’t have answered until heaven. But we can know this for sure. Jesus explained to the disciples that our current world is under the rule of Satan. He wanted us to know that and that He is praying for us. What is Jesus praying? Among the myriad of things, we know that He prays as in Luke 22:32, that our faith not fail. John 17:15, 24 record Jesus’s prayer that we be kept from the evil one and we see His glory. When we watch loving Christians respond to those suffering natural disasters, we’re seeing the face and hands of God.

Lord Jesus, thank You that You care for us and pray for us. Thank You for those who reach out to others in times of crisis. 

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She was excited. A fun evening lay ahead. Slipping into her jeans, she glanced in the mirror and decided tomorrow she’d get serious about dropping ten pounds.

Lip gloss on, she grabbed her ticket to the concert and texted her friend she was on her way. “Be there in 5.” Little did she know, she wouldn’t be dropping ten pounds; she’d be dropped to the ground by a ruthless killer in a few short hours