Saturday, September 12, 2009

The Prayer Priority

Does it seem unusual that the Son of God needed to pray?


Psalms 5:1 O LORD, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. 2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you. 3 Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

Matthew 14:23  After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.

Mark 1:35 Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

King David was a busy man, he had a huge kingdom to run, wars to fight, peasants to take care of, day after day he was responsible for the nation of Israel. With all of that responsibility you would think that the king would be tempted to cut corners on his relationship with God so that he would have more time to get things done. David was a very successful leader and had to be careful that he didn't let his pride get in the way of his dependence on prayer. David recognized the need to pray every day, and not just the "going through the motions prayer", this guy was groaning his prayer. His plea to God was so earnest that he couldn't always get the words out.

We are taught throughout the Bible about the importance of prayer but who would have thought that Jesus would feel the need to make prayer a priority. We have to make prayer a priority, there will always be the temptation to give in to a busy schedule and not make the time, it takes a conscious effort to have the time.
"Don't pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." -Corrie Ten Boom

Give me a sense of urgency for the need to pray about everything everyday and give me the patience to wait for the answer.