Wednesday, March 19

Private Prayer

Wednesday, March 19

Luke 5:16

In Luke’s Gospel, much has occurred by the time Jesus calls His first disciples. He has been baptized, (which in His case served as His anointing into the three-fold office of Prophet/Priest/King); He has faced the devil directly in the temptation account and has put that accuser on notice that he would soon be defeated; Jesus was rejected in His hometown of Nazareth; He did many miracles in Capernaum and established a base of operations at Peter’s house; soon after, He would call the fishermen Peter, Andrew, James and John who would “leave everything” and follow Him.

The work was growing in fruit and fervor. The verse just prior to this devotion’s verse describes that great crowds came to Jesus to hear Him and to be healed. The next verse is this:

“But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” (Luke 5:16)

In this verse, we are learning about a practice that Jesus did often – both after calling the fishermen and before!

Few people know that the prayer ministry we began about 16 years ago started because we had earlier prayed and decided to lead what would become “The Ithaca MobilePack,” with Feed My Starving Children. We believed that in order for the MobilePack to be successful, we should pray often, and for what turned out to be almost 2 years before the first MobilePack.

Because we were seeking to include as many as we could in the IMP, I intentionally decided not to include prayer in the IMP steering committee meetings. But we were praying fervently, in the Prayer and Pie group, in church, in our private prayers. And we see what God has done through His faithful praying people, for the last 14 years of the MobilePack, almost 4 million meals later.

Even though Jesus is the “Christ,” the Son of God and “the Word made flesh,” He still prayed! The exclamation point is there because we make the mistake of thinking Jesus could do whatever He wanted. He was God! But God is both bound by His own Word, and in Jesus’ state of humiliation from conception to Good Friday, He was constantly submitting Himself to His Heavenly Father’s will. This, of course, is an example for us to copy.

Life is lived in communion with our Heavenly Father, and we have the intimacy of calling upon Him to prepare the way and to be with us in all sorts of challenges and blessed episodes. Jesus had been praying privately all along, before He called the disciples and afterward. Our private time of prayer with the Lord is a secret to staying focused during feast or famine. Private prayer opened doors, calmed storms, and gave strength and wisdom to persevere. Now is a time we should all be praying privately, and in worship, Prayer and Pie, and any time we can. And we should expect to be heard by our Father.