Dec 16 - Vignettes on Prayer

 Dec 16 - Vignettes on Prayer

 

     Jesus would spend all night in prayer before major decisions.  I noticed one thing about Luke he focused in several places on the prayer life of Jesus.  In Luke 6:12, he writes, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.”  This might of prayer preceded His choosing of His 12 disciples.  Jesus wanted to make sure He had the right men to leave His work too.  Jesus also spent all night because he needed to face the world, the flesh and the devil in their full force.  Many times we do not face the full force of hell because we are not entirely in tune with the will of our heavenly Father.  Jesus had complete and total union and communion with His Father and so prayer was not only essential by lifesaving.   To battle the full force of hell you need complete union and communion with heaven or you will lose to hell and in turn become its next victim.  Only through prayer can you become hells victor, conqueror and overcomer.

Proverbs of Steel for Dec 15, 2021

 

Quotes for Dec 15, 2021

 

Dec 15 - Vignettes on Prayer

 Dec 15 - Vignettes on Prayer

 

      Jesus often would practice solitary communion.  In Luke 5:15-16, we get any looked at Jesus’ prayer life.  “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”  Jesus found that all that time with people would spiritually drain Him.  Jesus was human and needed to rest.  His solitary prayer time would accomplish this.  Jesus was walking to heal Jairus’ daughter and he was being batter about by people and yet a woman with an issue of blood touched him and Jesus felt the virtue go out of Him.  This is a picture of what was happening to Jesus all the time.  His virtue was being drained by the constant demands of people.  These solitary times of prayer were times of refreshing, regeneration and restoration.  If Jesus needed this in His crazy world how much more do we need these times.  Get alone with God and get restored.

Proverbs of Steel for Dec 14, 2021

 

Quotes for Dec 14, 2021

 

Dec 14 - Vignettes on Prayer

 Dec 14 - Vignettes on Prayer

 

     Jesus also had evening prayer times.  In Mark 6:46-47, it states that Jesus after leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.  Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land.  Jesus knew the value of closing the day in prayer.  This can be a time to debrief and summarize the day.  Many people journal in their evening prayer times writing their thoughts about what they faced during the day.  I knew a fine preacher named Gordon Bailey who journaled in the evenings what he faced during the day.  He put his thoughts down on paper often bringing clarity and truth to what he had experienced during the days.  John Wesley was famous for this.  It is also a time to ask the Lord to help you release any residue of what you experience through the day a time of spiritual cleansing.  We know from David’s writings that he had a morning and evening prayer time.  Jesus needed this time to recharge His spiritual batteries and get fresh instructions from His Father.