Pray because JESUS

We pray because Jesus, our Teacher, prayed. We read in Matthew 14:23-25 that Jesus “went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” We really do not know when He started to pray, but we do know it was before sunset, as it states “now when evening came”. And, we do know that in the “fourth watch” of the night (which is from 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM), he stopped praying (see v 25). So, at a minimum, our Teacher prayed for 6 hours! May His example cause us… spur us, to examine our own payer life. Another example of Jesus praying for many hours at a time is in Luke 6:12, “…He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer…”. Why, because we read in v13, He had a very important decision to make, and chose to spend time with His Father for the answer. Good practice for us also… when we are faced with important decisions in life. Jesus must have thought praying for an hour was no big thing, as in Matthew 26:39, it reflects “He…fell on His face, and prayed…”. Then in v40, he chastised His disciples for not praying with Him for an hour. One of my favorite instances of Jesus in prayer is Mark 1:35 which states “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before dawn, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed.” Have you ever wondered, just how long is “a long while before dawn”? Jesus spent this time communing with His Father to receive His purpose and power for the day as we see in v37-38 His disciples found Him and said, ‘Hey, let’s go back to town as you were a hit and everyone is looking for you’, to which He basically replied, ‘Nope, we are going to the next town as that is my purpose’; and He went out full of power, preaching, casting out demons and healing the sick (v39-42). We also know that Jesus, our Teacher, “often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” as reflected in Luke 5:16. What an example He set for us to follow… will we? As we study the prayer life of Jesus, are we not compelled to ask ourselves, “Wow, if Jesus, son of man and Son of God, spent as much time in prayer that we read in the Gospel’s, how much time should we be spending in prayer?” May this question stir us, convict us, to make prayer a bigger priority in our daily life.