JESUS WENT ALONE TO PRAY -- Thursday of the First Full Week of Lent

When we think about what Jesus did during his time of public ministry, we think about when He taught using parables, and when He healed and cast out demons. We know how He related to people that He knew and loved. We have looked at what He said when His disciples asked Him how to pray. When I wrote about the Lord's Prayer the other day, that opened my heart to what the Gospels say about Jesus' own prayer life. 

The first time we see Jesus going away to be by himself in prayer is right after John the Baptist baptizes Him. The Holy Spirit descends one Him and He hears the voice of His Father in Heaven tell Him that He is loved. Then the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness beyond the Jordan and He spends forty days fasting, praying, and being tempted by Satan.

Because of His time alone with the Lord, Jesus comes to be able to conquer the temptations. It is obvious that because of His time aside with God in the wilderness that He is able to know who He is as God's Son and has the strength to defeat the evil that comes against Him. Jesus needed the forty days of fasting and prayer in the wilderness in order to have the spiritual power to begin His ministry.

Then over and over, the scriptures record that Jesus goes off by himself to pray before the deeds of power that make it evident that He comes from God. For example --

* "And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed." Mark 1:35 (RSV)

"But he withdrew to the wilderness and prayed." Luke 5:16 (RSV)

"And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone," Matthew 14:23 (RSV)

Jesus goes off by Himself to pray many times (see this web page) including before He feeds the five thousand (Mark 6:30-44) , and before He walks on the Sea of Galilee to rejoin His disciples (Matthew 14:22-33), Sometimes the miracles are witnessed by the multitudes, and sometimes only the disciples are witnesses. Jesus revealed His power In order to fulfill the purposes of His life.

Beyond teaching the disciples how to pray, as we have observed previously, Jesus brought Peter, James and John with Him when He went up to pray and was transfigured while speaking with Moses and Elijah. That time aside with the Lord is revealed to us through the scriptures, but we also are given a view of Jesus in prayer at the most difficult time.

This is of course when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night that He was betrayed after celebrating the Passover with His disciples in the Upper Room. Jesus' agony during His prayer time in the Garden of Gethsemane is described in detail. Jesus is so upset that Luke records that his skin oozed with blood. This is a detail that Luke the physician would understand. Under extreme stress, capillaries may burst and bleed through the sweat glands. We understand that Jesus is overwhelmed by the terrifying prospect of the treatment that He knows will befall Him if He submits to it.

Even though again, Jesus has asked Peter, James and John to accompany Him, He becomes distressed that they keep falling asleep instead of watching and praying with Him. Ultimately through, Jesus' agony is resolved when He makes the decision to do His Father's will. After that the guards from the Temple come to capture Him and His passion begins as the disciples flee from Him.

After praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see that Jesus has peace and strength throughout all the horrible things that happen to Him all that night long and through the middle of the next day when He gives up His earthly life on the Cross.

In thinking about the times the Jesus prayer, and how that strengthened him and help him to be able to for fill the purpose for which she came to earth, I have been blessed. As the author and psychologist Scott Peck wrote in the beginning of his book "The Road Less Taken," "Life is difficult." God came to be incarnate in Jesus so that we  would all know that He is not far off and removed from us. And Jesus demonstrated God's love and the signs of His divinity by the miracles, and acts healing and deliverance He performed. He also gave us a model of how to make it through the difficult times during our lives. He showed everyone who knew Him that prayer is essential.

And what joy we can experience when we take time aside with God in prayer and meditation! God is so good and so faithful! He has given us a way to be in communication with Him. Prayer can be used not only to get to know the Lord, but so, as it was for Jesus, that we can be strengthened in our spiritual walk. Through prayer and meditation we can come to know the purpose God has for us. We also can be open to the Holy Spirit as He guards us, guides us, and reveals Jesus Christ to us.

This is so wonderful!

As ever, Beloved, my prayer for you is that you will come to know God's love for you in deeper ways.  And I pray that you will be able to do this by beginning with prayer. 

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.

* "And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed." Mark 1:35 (RSV)

"But he withdrew to the wilderness and prayed." Luke 5:16 (RSV)

"And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone," Matthew 14:23 (RSV)

http://babyboomergospel.blogspot.com/2016/02/jesus-went-alone-to-pray-thursday-of.html