A day to pray

Jesus would get up early, while it was still dark, and go out to pray. Mark tells us that. Luke tells us that Jesus would get away from the crowds and go off to “lonely places” to pray. And that he even spent the night on a mountainside praying before he chose twelve of his disciples to be apostles (and the Father still gave him Judas!). Matthew, Mark, and Luke all describe how Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness in preparation for his public ministry.

It’s actually easy to be busy for God. And it’s easy to focus on grand ideas and plans and strategies. It’s tempting to ask God to bless what we want to do, what we think is right.

But Jesus took time away from the crowds. He spent a great deal of time in prayer prior to embarking on his public ministry and before making big decisions. And in his most famous prayer, his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, he submitted his own desires to the Father’s.

I’ve spent countless hours dreaming and planning and coming up with all sorts of ideas for this new church. And certainly I’ve prayed. But today I’m going to spend some time getting out of town and just praying about all of this, trying to listen to God’s voice about all of this. No books, no laptop.

So if you read this today, pray that I would be able to hear well.

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. (Psalm 145:18)