Let's think about how the Lord prayed.

Most of us are familiar with the Lord's Prayer and consider it the definitive word on prayer, but that is not all that we can learn from the Lord about prayer.

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." Mark 1:35.

IN THE MORNING

At the start of his day, not in the middle of a busy day or the tired used up the end of a day but at the beginning- as if it was too important to wait. Prayer was one of the driving engines of his activities.

We must be willing to make prayer a priority.

HAVING RISEN

These are words of affirmation and are expressive of action. This is what he did; he must have been resolved and committed since he was willing to pay the price. His getting up early was deliberate; this was not Jesus saying to himself, "Well, I'm up early. I might as well pray." It was intentional.

We must be resolved in our plans to pray.

WHILE IT WAS STILL DARK

This was a long time before daybreak. Not just a few minutes early, but he got up a long time before daybreak so he could spend a long time in prayer. He allowed himself time, and if there was no other time, he took it from sleep.

We must be willing to give time to pray.

DEPARTED

He separated himself from distractions, even leaving the house and the people behind. He got away from the crowd. He eliminated the surprise interruption.

We must be willing to leave comfort to pray.

SOLITARY PLACE
He found a place where he could be alone with God, a place where he could focus on God, listen, and talk to his father in prayer.

We must be willing to be alone to pray.

HE PRAYED
These words are like the grand finale. This is like the end of it all, even though it is the beginning of his day. Prayer is what he did.

JESUS A LIVING PARABLE
A parable is a teaching story; it has a moral or a point. We should look at Jesus' example of dedication and sacrifice in prayer and read it like a parable. We should be inspired by his life and seek to copy it in any way we could. His prayer life is a discipline we all must aim for. If he prayed like this, what about us?

Prayer has little or no meaning if you do not know Jesus as your Savior. To learn more, see my blog on the Gospel, click here.

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Here is a link to an inspirational art by Castarillo. It shows Jesus up close in the passion of prayer. CLICK HERE to see this dramatic art.