5 Principles from Jesus’ Prayer Life

This afternoon, Patti, Kimberlyn, Mom and I enjoyed time with 86 year-old Elmer Hollingsworth, one of the original members at Valley Fellowship. He told me of a difficulty he had a few nights ago and said, “I got up and talked to the Lord. I told Him what was going on, and then, I told the Lord it was His problem. He heard me. There was no reason for both of us to stay up and worry about it, so I just went back to sleep.” Brother Elmer T. is battling lung cancer, but his joyful attitude uplifts anyone around.

Mr. Hollingsworth understands that believers are invited: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16 NIV) One of the easiest ways of approach is prayer.

Simply defined, prayer is talking to God. Prayer is communication with God, an intimate dialogue between God and man, a spiritual resource that unleashes God’s purposes and appropriates His sovereignty in and through our lives.

During His incarnational ministry on earth, Jesus tapped into this reservoir. Jesus refreshed Himself in God’s peace/rest, resourced Himself with God’s provision, renewed His spirit, and readied Himself for the ministry of the day. One morning, Peter and the other disciples awoke to find Jesus had gotten up before daylight to communicate privately with His Father.

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. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Mark 1:35-38 NIV

If Jesus needed to pray – how about you and me? Below are five more thoughts from the example of Jesus’ prayer life in Mark 1:35-38:

#1 Make a daily appointment and start each day with prayer (v. 35a). Make prayer a priority or the demands of the day will fill your schedule for you. If your planner is too full, you are too busy NOT to pray!

“It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last in the evening.” (Martin Luther)

#2 Wisely choose a good spot for prayer – away from distraction (v. 35b). Designate a “prayer closet” (Matthew 6:6). Mine is often my office. As a boy, I often heard my mom’s prayer from the bathroom she had chosen as her prayer closet. Where is your spot?

“Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give but an occasional pluck at the rope; but he who wins with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously, with all his might.” (C. H. Spurgeon, Feathers for Arrows, p. 171.)

#3 Don’t let the demands of others sidetrack the journey you have mapped out during prayer (v. 36-37). Let your prayer perspective set your calendar agenda. The journey is worth the troubles, obstacles, and persecutions if you’re on the right road.

“If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, he will be in the last place the remainder of the day.” (E. M. Bounds)

#4 Find strength to face difficulty through prayer (v. 38). Prayer doesn’t always remove obstacles but often positions us to face hardship victoriously.

“Prayer is not an argument with God to persuade Him to move things our way, but an exercise by which we are enabled by His Spirit to move ourselves His way.” (Leonard Ravenhill)

#5 Spend time in praying, communing with God, before ministering for God (v. 38). Ministry efforts demand preparation in prayer.

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” (Samuel Chadwick)