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!” – Mark 1:35-37
Dungy asks, “Do you
have moments in your life when you feel like everyone is demanding a piece of
you, looking for you everywhere, armed with all their urgent requests and
deadlines?” I don’t think I know anyone who would not answer yes to this
questions. In the passages prior to this
one, we read where Jesus had been performing many miracles of healing
sicknesses and casting out many demons not just through the day but well into
the night. So much that the whole city
was gathered at the door where He was staying.
Jesus doesn't take a late morning rest, He instead gets up
before everyone and goes off to be alone to pray and dwell closely in spirit
and thought with His Father. This is
certainly an example that I need to follow.
It is a sad demonstration of my life in time management and priorities
when the only time I am to be alone with my own thoughts is in the
bathroom. I must make time for more
reflection and sincere prayer than that.
My wife and children need me to take more time to be in prayer than
that.
The world will yell at me, but God will not. He will speak to me in that still small
voice. If I am constantly surrounded
from sun rise to sun set with the world yelling at me, how can I hear God’s
voice? And unless I am in a practice of
listening for His voice, how can I hear amongst all the other noises? It is crucial to my growth to be in the
practice of knowing God’s voice and in the restoration of my spirit by stopping
and being in an intentional conversation with God.
In the Duck Commander Devotional for today, one of the lines
of the prayer is, “Lord, help me to think
before I speak and pray before I think!”
This is an awesome way of thinking.
May I retreat to be alone with God before each day starts so I am
praying before I am thinking.
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