Jesus Prayed...Early...Often...Alone

What Did Jesus Do?

…he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Luke 5.16

A Roman centurion observed of Jesus that he was “a man under authority” (Matthew 8.9); recognizing that the Lord both exercised authority, and was accountable to authority. Jesus himself acknowledged that he operated under the authority of his Father and that the works he did were not his own works but God’s. (John 14.10) But his Father was in Heaven, how did Jesus keep in contact with his Father, and so continue to operate under his Father’s authority? He prayed.

If you don’t stay in touch with “headquarters” you will soon be guilty of acting on your own authority. Even Jesus, the Son of God, who said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28.18) scrupulously avoided acting independently, on his own authority. And so, Jesus prayed: early, often, and, often times, alone.

Pray Early

Does your day ever have a tendency to get away from you? I know mine does. There is just so much that always seems so pressing, that needs to be done. And many are the days when evening comes, and I know I have been busy for 8, 10, 12 hours, yet I can’t really account for having accomplished much. Either that, or my accomplishments amount to much of little consequence. I had a boss who used to warn us not to fall into the trap of “majoring in the minors,” expending time and energy on things that would not move the business forward very much. Jesus, who knew well that he had only so much time to work with, made sure he made good use of his days; after all, one needed to get all one’s work done while there was light. (John 9.4)

And so, Jesus was of the habit of rising very early, while it was still dark, that he might pray to the Father and receive guidance for the work that was to be accomplished that day. The Lord was not about to allow anyone to succeed in accusing him of acting on his own initiative for so much as one hour, let alone a whole day.

So, what do you think? Should we rise early enough to have time to go and talk with the Father each day before we undertake to begin our work? That’s what Jesus did.

Pray Often

Jesus did not confine his prayers to the Sabbath, much less to the synagogues. And his prayer early in the day did not bring his communication with the Father to a conclusion for 24 hours. Throughout the course of a day Jesus would lift up his eyes, look up to heaven, and hear from his Father.

What about our prayers? Are they reserved for an hour on Sunday morning? Are our prayers one and done, and then it’s on the run for the rest of our day? Or do we heed what the apostle Paul instructed the Thessalonians, and maintain an openness and readiness to, “pray without ceasing”? (1Thessalonians 5.17) It is not so much that we are to pray 24/7, but that we are ready and willing to pray 24/7. That’s what Jesus did.

Pray Alone

Prayer is high priority communication. Often it is privileged communication, in that what passes between the one who prays, and the One who is prayed to, is just between them. Distracted prayer is hardly prayer at all.

This is not to say that public prayer is wrong. Jesus prayed with the twelve, and with the five thousand. But in the Lord’s own personal prayer practice, private prayer predominated, and so the Gospels note Jesus removing himself to mountaintops and other desolate places to pray alone. (Matthew 14.23; Mark 1.35; Luke 5.16) And when he taught his disciples about prayer Jesus stressed the importance of solitude. (Matthew 6.6)

Do we have prayer “closets,” prayer gardens, or any other place, it need not be desolate or a mountaintop, to remove ourselves to and find some quiet peace alone with the Father? That’s what Jesus did.

Right, Responsibility, & Privilege

You know, it isn’t just anybody who is granted private audience with a king. A king grants that right only to those he will suffer to listen to, and those who have that right may approach the king boldly. And, when a king tells his subjects that he wants to hear from them regularly, it is their responsibility to report to the king often. Even more than a right and responsibility, the daughters and sons of a king have the even greater privilege of speaking intimately, not just to the king, but with their father.

For all who follow Jesus prayer is an irrevocable right, a solemn responsibility, and a great privilege. We should esteem prayer as such, and practice it early, often, and alone. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4