MARK DEVOTIONS
[Please do read the passage before (or after) reading the devotion.]
Jesus had spent a long day caring for and healing those in need. He must have been exhausted. Yet very early the next morning he wakes up, leaves the house and goes to spend time alone in prayer. I have noticed that both before and after times of great ministry Jesus would go alone to be in prayer. It was as if he couldn’t (and wouldn’t) do anything for God his Father unless it was with Him. We often think of prayer as important as food is to the body; but Jesus saw it as essential as breathing. And maybe it was because his relationship with the Father was so close, so intimate, that he wanted to pray, and didn’t just consider it a “duty.” It was like breathing…
Prayer: Father, forgive me when I see prayer as a chore, a weary task that you have forced on me. Maybe I don’t pray often because I’m not comfortable, it feels like a new language that takes too much effort to learn. Remind me Lord that just as a parent yearns for her child to learn to speak, and is therefore patient with her, so do you yearn for us to communicate with you – and you are patient, waiting for us to learn at our pace. Lord, I want to learn. I want to be that child that wants to speak your language, that of prayer, because I want to grow in my love for you Jesus. Amen.
