Prayer: Praying Like Jesus, Part I

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 5:16

When you reflect on Jesus’ time on earth, how do you picture him?  Calling His disciples? Performing miracles in common place moments? Loving the unlovely?

When you consider his life, living as a Christian, or Christ-like, believer is rather overwhelming!

Yet Christ left us many instructions of how to live this human life in a godly manner.

Christ himself was holy, certainly!  But his holiness was encased inside a human body.  A body which often times felt hunger, exhaustion, and stress.

In reading Luke 5, I have often gotten so caught up un the rest of the chapter, my eyes have flown over verse 16. “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Other translations reveal ‘lonely places’ phrased as: ‘out-of-the-way places’, ‘deserted places’, the ‘wilderness’, or ‘be by himself’.  In other words, he wanted to be alone with God.  No distractions.  No other voices to distinguish from God’s.  No pressing earthly matters with which to contend.  He went away with just God.

I have shared in previous entries how I love to pray in my closet.  The main reason is its location: it is in the farthest corner of my house, and in there I am rarely disturbed.

Honestly, I know I do not spend enough time in my closet.

But I do ‘retreat’ to talk with God throughout the day.  It might be when I am hidden in the laundry room after reloading the machines, or in the bathroom after scrubbing the tub.  After dinner, the kitchen becomes a quiet place and if I close my eyes, I can temporarily shut out the distraction of dirty dishes.

I imagine many like myself, often feel too busy, bombarded with the stresses of a bustling life to ‘withdraw to a lonely place to pray.”

Yet Jesus made a point of doing just that. Why shouldn’t we?

Reflections:

1) How often do you quietly communicate with God?

2) Where do you pray?

3) Where should you pray?

4) How important is it to you to spend quality time with God?

5)  What distracts you from prayer?

Today’s point is to spark a study on prayer.  Over the next week, please consider your personal prayer life and please pray how God wants you to grow it!

Thank you for reading!  Please return by Monday, March 18 for the next post!