Mark 1:35
“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.”
Mark 1:35 NIV
Jesus had a regular, disciplined time to be alone with his Father each day. His quiet time with His Father was intentional and intimate, it was a priority He built into His day, and it required His effort , effort to wake up early before everyone else, and effort to go out away from everyone else so He could talk with the Father by Himself. I believe what you do the first 10 minutes of waking up sets the tone for the whole day.” (A.W. Tozer The Pursuit of Man, p. 5) “In my creature impatience I am often caused to wish that there were some way to bring modern Christians into a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short, easy lessons; but such wishes are vain. No such shortcut exists. God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the truth now: The man who would know God must give time to Him. He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, and the believing members of the holy church in all generations. And so must we if we would follow in their train.” Tozer reminds us that time with God is the key to spiritual growth.
The beauty of this verse is really felt most when you read through Mark chapter one and you see leading up to this verse, the repetition of the word immediately. It’s like over, and over, and over again “immediately, immediately, immediately.” There’s so much action happening, and so many people that are being drawn to Jesus, and He’s being put in situations to heal people of diseases, to help people in this way or that way. All these people are thronging about Him, and all these opportunities for ministry and work surrounding Him. What was most important to Jesus and the spring in His life from which everything flowed during His time on this earth, intimacy with the Father, Jesus praying in a desolate place in the darkness, spending time with His Father, knowing this was most important in His life. And if that was so for Jesus, how much more so for you and me? We are busy people. We run from one thing to the next. We have so much on our plates, and let’s just face it, we’re not busy doing all the things Jesus was doing. We’re not healing people of diseases, and helping in all these supernatural ways. But I guess that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? If you want to live today in a way that is good for you, and good for others in supernatural ways, that only comes from the overflow of communion with the supernatural God, your supernatural Father, your Heavenly Father who by the way, has invited you and me to get alone with Him today. Question then is will we?!!!
Father thank You for this day and are worth all of our time. Father, God Almighty who has the power to save, forgive us for those periods in our lives when we have let our time with You suffer. Lord we confess that we let other things and the hectic pace of our lives steal away our time with You. Lord empower our resolve to put You first in our hearts and in our daily schedule. Lord empower the discipline of our hearts and minds and strengths in this. Lord we want to be wholly devoted in our prayer life, as well as in our study of Scripture. Lord use my friend to be a bold witness of Your mercy and grace to all today. Daddy we love You amen. Be a blessing. Love ya !
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