“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.” – Mark 1:35
As we continue on our 40-Day Prayer Adventure, we now want to walk with our Lord for a few days to observe His life of prayer.
Before coming to earth, Jesus as God the Son enjoyed complete union with the Father and the Holy Spirit (what some have called the dance of the Trinity). But in coming to earth, Jesus chose to lay down certain aspects of that experience by suppressing his divine power and embracing his full humanity (Philippians 2:7).
For example, it meant not being in the Father’s direct presence and glory as he had been before (John 17:5). It meant feeling hunger and exhaustion (Mark 11:12, John 4:6). It meant not knowing certain things (John 8:45, Mark 13:32). It meant truly wrestling with Himself and the Father as the trial of his sufferings and death approached (Matthew 26:39).
All this to say, when we find Jesus praying in the gospels, He’s not just going through the motions for the sake of showing us what it looked like. Jesus prayed because He wanted to pray, since He was so hungry to be in the Father’s presence. And Jesus prayed because He needed to pray (Hebrews 5:7). He, like us, needed to be filled up and equipped by the Spirit to face the unique challenges each day brought.
With this in mind, Jesus’s prayer habits should make perfect sense. Here is the first to reflect on.
Jesus was purposeful about starting each day with prayer.
C.S. Lewis writes, “The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.”
This is a great description of why Jesus rose “very early” in the pre-dawn darkness to pray to the Father. When you think about it, this ought to be perfect sense. Why wouldn’t you take a few moments in the morning when you have the entire day spread out before you to seek the Father, talk to Him about the things that are in front of you, and commit the day into His care.
“He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find him the rest of the day.” – John Bunyan
We’re not talking necessarily about your fuller 20-30 minute “quiet time” here. I’ve developed the habit of doing just that, but I don’t have a small tribe of kids clawing at my legs. For you, there may a better time for that deeper connection.
We’re talking about something shorter, but just as meaningful. Our 40-Day trail guide Mark Batterson hits his knees straight out of bed to lift up to Christ a word of praise and thanks.
We should let Christ be our first thought, not our emails. We should scroll through a psalm first thing, not our newsfeeds. Recite the Lord’s Prayer, then the cereal box. It’s amazing how just the simplest God-thought or a lone Bible verse can often soften your heart and warm up your soul. “Oh right, I’m a follower of Christ,” you’ll say with a smile. “Those little urchins fighting at the end of the table are my children. I can’t sell them. What was I thinking?”
John Bunyan, author of the 17th-century classic The Pilgrim’s Progress, put it bluntly: “He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find him the rest of the day.”
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So what should I pray at the beginning of the day? Here’s a wonderful article I found called “Morning Prayers” that’s filled with nearly 30 short prayers you can pray in the morning. These prayers touch on a wide variety of themes: morning prayers for guidance, for your family, for your work, for strength, for comfort, for contentment, for consecration. One of the best ways to learn how to pray is to pray with others. Go through these prayers for a few days, and see if they don’t add a spark to your own praying.
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Fernando Ortega has one of the most angelic voices I have heard. Close your eyes, calm your, breathing, tip your palms up toward heaven, and drink in this beautiful spiritual.