Devotionals

---

"It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business in the morning and the last in the evening. Guard yourself against such false and deceitful thoughts that keep whispering: 'Wait awhile. In an hour or so, I will pray. I must first finish this or that. Thinking such thoughts, we get away from prayer into other things that will hold us and involve us until the prayer of the day comes to naught." Martin Luther

In the gospel of Mark (1:32-34), we read of the busy ministry of Jesus and that on this particular night, the high responsibility of caring and serving throngs of persons who suffered sickness, were demonically possessed and whose hearts cried out to Him for help, must have weighed heavy upon His heart with much pressures.

Yet the morning after, we read in Mark 1:35; "And in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place and was praying there."

I doubt Jesus had gotten much sleep, and if you have ever been involved in administering prayer, it takes a lot of strength, effort, and energy out of you. In praying for others, we are relying on the Life of the Spirit of God within us, to touch, to fill, and to accomplish His will in the life of those we are praying with and for.

Yet, despite Jesus having ministered to almost the entire city, most likely having little energy, He took time alone the very next morning, before the sun rose, in solitude to pray to His Father.

Jesus knew He needed refilling, refreshing, reviving from the Father's Spirit in His. He knew whose source He relied on for the power and ability to do the work His Father sent Him to do and knew he needed to set aside time where He was undistracted by the ministry to obtain spiritual vigor.

Jesus was listening and heeding the voice of His Father within Him who calls us today to follow this same modeling in prayer. In our own spiritual poverty, we too must put away our own desires, our own to-do-list, and our own schedules to come to the altar to receive the bounty of all God desires to fill us with.

We, too, must learn to listen to the small voice of the Life of Jesus in us calling us to come away, to meet alone with our Father to discover the hidden treasures of His life in ours.

We, too, must learn to heed the life of Christ in us, whose life is alive and whose divine power becomes our source interceding and praying from His presence to Father.

Our starting position each day begins in the life of Christ. This is who we are. Our experience is bound in His presence and in His life. The Spirit of Christ desires to live the same way He lived while on earth, through our flesh.

The voice and Spirit of Christ are in our thoughts and in our hearts. His life operates inside us, speaking gently as a sudden impulse tells us to go here and to this or that.

Often a persons' name comes to our mind. When this happens, His voice is reminding us to pray for this one or that one. Give that person a call. Go to them and do some action. Perhaps take a meal. Offer the company of your presence. Do some errand for them. Fill some need. Invite them to tea/coffee. Send a card. Let them know you care in some way.

This is how the ministry of the Spirit is operating inside us, by prompting, urging, and prodding us to go, to do, to act.

This is how the ministry of the Spirit is operating inside us, by prompting, urging, and prodding us to go, to do, to act. When we listen and take action, we are following the model of Jesus ---- giving preference in doing the will of God.

It is this life we pay attention to, and it is His voice we openly listen to in discerning the way, the truth, and the life we already have been fully supplied with.

This divinely supernatural life was gifted and imparted inside every fiber of our being the moment we believed that Jesus is the Son and God. The moment we willingly received the bounty of His life, we became His, and we began our new journey in living from His supplied life in ours.

We begin each day again to live from this sufficient supply of the fullness of the Triune Godhead, lacking nothing. The Bible affirms and confirms that when we live from the divine nature in us ---- we have everything we could possibly need to live godly lifestyles!

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." 2 Peter 1:3

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR