Speaking to God

Wherever Jesus went, he brought with Him new life. Wherever He went, he brought the Kingdom of God, or the reign of God, with Him. The old order of things was passing away. The demons couldn’t stick around because their conqueror had shown up. Sickness and disease couldn’t stick around because Jesus brought healing and wholeness. Jesus was obviously no ordinary man. He was nothing less than God-in-the-flesh, coming on the scene to reclaim His creation. What an awesome thought. But it’s not really our focus today.No, the thing that I want us to ponder today is almost like an afterthought in today’s Gospel. It is easy to miss, especially when you’ve got miraculous healings taking place. Mark tells us that after a tremendously busy day, Jesus got up early in the morning and went off by himself to pray. That’s what I want us to consider, and it’s a simple thing, really, on the surface of it. Jesus routinely made time to pray. He created the time to communicate with His Father. If he needed to, how much more do we need to? We know this, and yet…I think many Christians struggle with prayer. I would be lying if I said that I never had any troubles with prayer. My prayer life seems to go in spurts. Sometimes it is great, and then, there are times that I just…don’t. If you aren’t satisfied with yourself when it comes to prayer, today’s message is for you. May the example of Jesus inspire us to regular prayer and heartfelt communication with Him and our Heavenly Father, guided by the Holy Spirit.Isn’t it intriguing that Jesus, in his humanity, valued prayer so highly? More than a good habit, it was a deep need for him. He was willing to set other things aside for a while, so that he could pray. In fact, his disciples break the silence by finding him and telling him, “Everyone is looking for you.”
The implications for you and me are probably obvious. So often we fall into the trap of being “too busy to pray.” We assume that there are better, more practical ways of using our time. Perhaps part of us doesn’t believe that prayer is going to make any difference, so we don’t do it. Or, we paralyze our prayers by thinking they’ve got to be done in just the right, precise way or they won’t work. Whatever the reason, Jesus’ example puts us to shame. That is, of course, because Jesus’ motives for prayer were pure—perfect, in fact. He simply needed to talk to Dad.The idea of prayer as an element of a relationship with God can be very helpful once it is understood. For example, everyone knows what it means when one person stops talking to another in any relationship. It means something’s wrong. It is never a good sign. On the other hand, we all have people that we enjoy talking to, because we know they will listen and understand our viewpoint. It is never a good sign when we find ourselves giving God the cold shoulder through a lack of prayer. It is a symptom of a deeper spiritual problem—it is evidence that sin is getting the upper hand. Why else would we refuse to communicate with the God who loves and saves us? We have a standing invitation to get back on speaking terms with God. We have an advocate with the Father—His Son, our Lord Jesus. God’s Word promises that when we can’t think of the words to say, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us—the Spirit interprets our thoughts and feelings so they come out right before the throne of God. Furthermore, you can talk to a God who understands—a God who has walked the proverbial mile in your shoes—a God who knows what it means to suffer, to hurt, to be lonely, to be scared—a God who’s been there, right where you are now.You’ve probably heard stories of people being rescued from injury or death by total strangers—and oftentimes the person who was rescued has a deep desire to meet their rescuer again and talk to them and say “thank you.”Wouldn’t you like to talk to the person responsible for your freedom? Don’t you have something to say to the One who saved your life for eternity? May the Holy Spirit help us to find our mountain—our regular place of prayer—that we might be refreshed in holy conversation with our loving Father; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.