If this Midweek doesn’t challenge anyone else, it must have been just for me! It is very hard for me to keep things simple. Somehow, I overcomplicate things in my passion for them. When I am interested in something, I either go all-in on it or I just don’t do it at all. “Going all-in” means that I exercise every new avenue and try to learn as much as I can about whatever has caught my eye. Just like most of you, I desire to have an original, awe-inspiring thought that is deeply profound and deeply impactful. I apologize if that is what you were looking for this morning!
Something we talked a lot about in Denver and Marcus just preached on is prayer. The acronym the Youth learned in Denver was P.R.A.Y., it stood for praise, request, admit, and yield. Each aspect of prayer is very important! As Followers of Christ and Americans, we’re extremely busy with the day-to-day routine of life, and unfortunately, we often are stuck in the request part of prayer. Prayer is not just a request line to God for our wants/needs, it is a conversation between the Creator and the Creation.
35 Then Jesus got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer. 36 Simon and his companions searched for him. 37 When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 He replied, “Let us go elsewhere, into the surrounding villages, so that I can preach there too. For that is what I came out here to do.” 39 So he went into all of Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. Mark 1:35-39 (NET)
I have been studying through Mark and I came across the story in Mark 1:35-39. Jesus considered prayer so important that He was willing to make extra time in the morning for it and often went off by Himself to pray. Jesus’s ministry was definitely at a high point, He was healing, casting out demons, and teaching in the synagogues. He was a busy guy with a lot to accomplish, but the alone time and prayer was crucial to Him staying connected to the Father. This story goes to show that intentionally making time to pray to God alone, has a different impact on us than when we pray in the midst of our busyness. I am not saying don’t pray then, but there is a greater significance in our relationship when we specifically block off time. If Jesus needed and/or wanted to pray, how much more should we need to pray?!
In Denver, we wrote down a specific time as a commitment to ourselves when we would pray. We need to be intentional and held accountable by someone close to us, to continue to carve out time to pray and spend time alone with our Savior. It is simple, it isn’t profound, but it will begin to change you from the inside out. Spend time conversing with your Creator. As we see from Jesus’s life and ministry, busyness is not an excuse.
There is an attack on our families by the Evil one, look around you and you will see families struggling in one way or another. What is our defense? What is our solution? What would our marriages, relationships, friendships, and families look like if we were intentionally making time to pray together? Do you believe in prayer? Do you believe it works? Let’s pray together without ceasing!
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