And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. (Mark 1:35-37 KJV)Sometimes it’s hard to find a solitary place. I am fortunate that I do rise before day and Beloved Husband waits for the light of day. My own den is my solitary place in the early morning for prayer.
Prayer is so very important for a Christian.
Simply by praying we acknowledge our belief that: God exists; He hears us; He answers us; we listen to Him.
Those are huge steps of faith. When we pray, we submit to Him as our Lord, as our Savior. We make commitments to follow His instructions.
By setting a specific time for ourselves, we tell Him the important place He holds in our lives. We are surrounded by daily activities, cares, calls upon our lives and our time. By setting aside prayer time we keeps those from interfering with our relationship with God. Even Christ needed to get away from the crowds to spend time alone with the Father.
This isn’t the only time the example is set for us. Nor is it limited to these:
And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. (Matthew 14:23 KJV)
Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:38-39 KJV)
The essence of prayer is in that last phrase -- as thou wilt. This is the most difficult of all prayers, for we do have a will of our own. Turning that will over to God brings us closer to God. There are actions that hinder our prayers, as described here.
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. (1 Peter 3:7 KJV)
Prayer allows us to remove those hindrances, by acknowledging that we are sinners and need to be cleansed. Not only do we have His promise to do so, we have examples where it has been done.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalms 103:12 KJV)
Prayer is for everyone. It can be done in the largest of groups, the most public of places or it can be done in solitude with another promise.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:6 KJV)
Thank you for the encouragement. I have made it a habit to pray throughout the day, but with three little ones who often wake up before the crack of dawn, I've often found it difficult to get away by myself. There have been times when I went into the bathroom, locked the door and used the throne as a seat to approach the Throne. Thanks for the reminder about how important a separate time of prayer is. God bless.
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