Prayer: Your Most-Needed Rest ~ Mark 1:29-39 ~ Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Here we are in the 1st chapter of Mark... Jesus' ministry has just begun-- and it's been a whirlwind...
For forty days he was out in the wilderness being tempted by Satan... He's called his first disciples...
And from the moment he began to proclaim God's Word—his fame has spread like wildfire. Jesus has literally an entire city following him wherever he goes.
One thing you can say about Jesus' ministry-- is that it has been incredibly successful. Things are going great.
But one thing we cannot forget was that Jesus was human; he had to have been exhausted ; he had to have been stressed after all he went through…
So after a long day of preaching and healing that stretched well into the night, Jesus rises up early in the morning-- while it's still dark-- and he goes off to a lonely place to pray.
He chooses prayer over sleep…
He chooses prayer over the crowds that were still clamoring to see him-- even in the middle of the night.
Jesus’ most urgent need; his top priority in the midst of these busy times: was quiet time-- alone with God, in prayer…
Simon Peter and his companions certainly had a different idea of what should have been Jesus’ top priority…
They go and hunt Jesus down—and when they find him, Simon says “everyone is looking for you!” He speaks to Jesus as if Jesus is not doing we he should be doing. People need him.
But that’s not how Jesus saw it. Of greater urgency than even ministry was the urgency for Jesus to be alone with God in prayer.
The crowds were not going to set Jesus’ agenda… Neither were his disciples…
Jesus served his heavenly Father above all—and in his time of prayer, Jesus submits himself to that authority.
As you read the four Gospels, you will see this same pattern repeated quite often… Jesus frequently goes off by himself to pray. Prayer kept Jesus in line with God’s purposes. It was in prayer that God gave Jesus the wisdom and the strength to do what God sent him to do.
One thing that we all have in common with Jesus is that we have to juggle many priorities in our days. And most of the time, our priorities are significant and important… We have to earn a living and pay the bills; we have to raise our children right; we have to take care of our loved ones; and we have to take care of ourselves. There is always much for us to do—and much for us to fix.
But do we approach prayer with the same urgency as Jesus does?
All too often, we look at prayer like Simon Peter and the disciples did… We see prayer as non-productive time. After all, you can’t pray your bills away; you can’t pray your kids off to school; you can’t pray away the dirty laundry… In order to pray, we must stop doing other things—including the important things…
And how difficult it is to pray when the answers we seek so fervently do not come…
Then if we actually do manage to take time for prayer; it can be incredibly difficult to stay focused. Thoughts and worries swim around in our minds like sharks. Sometimes, we’re distracted by the fact that we’re just exhausted.
I know that if I were in Jesus’ shoes, I’d be using my precious “alone time” for sleep, not for prayer…
But for Jesus Christ, prayer was the most important rest in his life.
Like Jesus, we need the rest that is prayer. Stress and guilt and worry literally suck the life out of us.
But prayer is an act of sheer defiance against these things. When we come before God in prayer, we are saying to God, “here I am, I am yours. I want you to rule in my life. I trust you. Help me.”
When you come God in prayer—God gives you life. God gives you life that can withstand and flourish against the onslaught of the pain and adversity that comes your way.
And God will give to you the peace, and the courage, and the wisdom to do what God wants for us to do. God will lead you through your trials, through your confusion. You will make it through, because God is with you.
Prayer is not easy. But the Holy Spirit is always with you when you pray. When you can’t put two words together, the Holy Spirit speaks to God on your behalf. When all you can offer to God is your silence, your frustration, your anguish, that is enough.
So if you’ve been praying and praying and nothing has seemed to come from it; keep at it. And don’t go at prayer alone. Reach out to your brothers and sisters in this community. Ask someone to pray for you or with you. Ask someone to help you to listen as God speaks. And don’t give up until you receive God’s peace.
And offer to pray for someone today. One of the simplest and most powerful ways that we can share the love of God with someone else is to pray for them or to pray with them.
It’s a tough world and a tough existence we live… Our need for prayer is urgent. We can’t afford to put it off until we have the time. Do whatever it takes to come before God in prayer. Come to God in prayer and receive the peace that surpasses understanding. Come to God in prayer and be lifted up on eagles’ wings.
For forty days he was out in the wilderness being tempted by Satan... He's called his first disciples...
And from the moment he began to proclaim God's Word—his fame has spread like wildfire. Jesus has literally an entire city following him wherever he goes.
One thing you can say about Jesus' ministry-- is that it has been incredibly successful. Things are going great.
But one thing we cannot forget was that Jesus was human; he had to have been exhausted ; he had to have been stressed after all he went through…
So after a long day of preaching and healing that stretched well into the night, Jesus rises up early in the morning-- while it's still dark-- and he goes off to a lonely place to pray.
He chooses prayer over sleep…
He chooses prayer over the crowds that were still clamoring to see him-- even in the middle of the night.
Jesus’ most urgent need; his top priority in the midst of these busy times: was quiet time-- alone with God, in prayer…
Simon Peter and his companions certainly had a different idea of what should have been Jesus’ top priority…
They go and hunt Jesus down—and when they find him, Simon says “everyone is looking for you!” He speaks to Jesus as if Jesus is not doing we he should be doing. People need him.
But that’s not how Jesus saw it. Of greater urgency than even ministry was the urgency for Jesus to be alone with God in prayer.
The crowds were not going to set Jesus’ agenda… Neither were his disciples…
Jesus served his heavenly Father above all—and in his time of prayer, Jesus submits himself to that authority.
As you read the four Gospels, you will see this same pattern repeated quite often… Jesus frequently goes off by himself to pray. Prayer kept Jesus in line with God’s purposes. It was in prayer that God gave Jesus the wisdom and the strength to do what God sent him to do.
One thing that we all have in common with Jesus is that we have to juggle many priorities in our days. And most of the time, our priorities are significant and important… We have to earn a living and pay the bills; we have to raise our children right; we have to take care of our loved ones; and we have to take care of ourselves. There is always much for us to do—and much for us to fix.
But do we approach prayer with the same urgency as Jesus does?
All too often, we look at prayer like Simon Peter and the disciples did… We see prayer as non-productive time. After all, you can’t pray your bills away; you can’t pray your kids off to school; you can’t pray away the dirty laundry… In order to pray, we must stop doing other things—including the important things…
And how difficult it is to pray when the answers we seek so fervently do not come…
Then if we actually do manage to take time for prayer; it can be incredibly difficult to stay focused. Thoughts and worries swim around in our minds like sharks. Sometimes, we’re distracted by the fact that we’re just exhausted.
I know that if I were in Jesus’ shoes, I’d be using my precious “alone time” for sleep, not for prayer…
But for Jesus Christ, prayer was the most important rest in his life.
Like Jesus, we need the rest that is prayer. Stress and guilt and worry literally suck the life out of us.
But prayer is an act of sheer defiance against these things. When we come before God in prayer, we are saying to God, “here I am, I am yours. I want you to rule in my life. I trust you. Help me.”
When you come God in prayer—God gives you life. God gives you life that can withstand and flourish against the onslaught of the pain and adversity that comes your way.
And God will give to you the peace, and the courage, and the wisdom to do what God wants for us to do. God will lead you through your trials, through your confusion. You will make it through, because God is with you.
Prayer is not easy. But the Holy Spirit is always with you when you pray. When you can’t put two words together, the Holy Spirit speaks to God on your behalf. When all you can offer to God is your silence, your frustration, your anguish, that is enough.
So if you’ve been praying and praying and nothing has seemed to come from it; keep at it. And don’t go at prayer alone. Reach out to your brothers and sisters in this community. Ask someone to pray for you or with you. Ask someone to help you to listen as God speaks. And don’t give up until you receive God’s peace.
And offer to pray for someone today. One of the simplest and most powerful ways that we can share the love of God with someone else is to pray for them or to pray with them.
It’s a tough world and a tough existence we live… Our need for prayer is urgent. We can’t afford to put it off until we have the time. Do whatever it takes to come before God in prayer. Come to God in prayer and receive the peace that surpasses understanding. Come to God in prayer and be lifted up on eagles’ wings.
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