I will start off by stating the obvious, Jesus was a very busy man. He constantly had people coming from all over the land hoping to benefit from His miracles and teachings. Yet out of Jesus’s busy schedule He still took the time to speak with His Father in Heaven. In this post, I will look at two examples from Jesus’s prayer life. The first is taken from Mark 1.
Here, we read a description of what Jesus did on one Sabbath day. Remember, this is one Sabbath day. Shortly after Jesus called James and John to be His disciples, He went to the city of Capernaum to preach. Going straight to the Synagogue, he began preaching to the people. At this time, many people didn’t know who Jesus really was and were astounded by his ability to teach, considering he wasn’t a scribe. In the middle of Jesus’ sermon, a man possessed by an unclean spirit began taunting Jesus. Our Lord in His wisdom and by His power commanded the demon to leave the man.
Jesus immediately took his work elsewhere after this, and went to Simon Peter’s house with his newly found disciples. Here He healed Simon’s sickly mother-in-law. After this, Jesus was still not yet finished; he continued to heal the sick, cast out demons, and preach to the people in Capernaum.
Early, the next morning Jesus went out into the wilderness in search for a solitary place for Him to do His devotions and to talk to His Father through prayer. He went out of His way to find a calm place simply to pray.
The second example is taken from Matthew 26. Here we come to a very troubling time in Jesus’s life. One of Christ’s friends had just betrayed him and was on his way to with a band of men to have Jesus arrested. Jesus and his eleven disciples went to Gethsemane to pray. Jesus asked his closest friends to stay with Him while he prayed. Jesus asked His Father “Let this cup pass from me.” Three times Jesus prayed this prayer, asking for God to show Him some grace and mercy in the events that were to come in the following days. When God told Him that His death must happen, Christ understood that this was His will. Even then He continued to pray unceasingly to His Father all the way up to His final moments on this earth.
There will be stressful times in our lives. Many of us, if not all of us, already have experienced times like this already. It might seem that the whole world is caving in on you and you are alone. But we as Christians must remember that we are never alone in our trials. We, like Jesus did, have friends, family, and especially God to whom we can always go in times of trials and hardships. We should also remember that it is God’s will that we come to Him in prayer and that we pray unceasingly just as Jesus did. Following Jesus’ example, we should pray every time we get the chance. Look for opportunities. Go out of your way to say even small prayers throughout your day. Communicate constantly with your God.
Brianna Gunnink
Young Calvinists 