"In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there" Mark 1:35.
The secret to true success is one's secret time in prayer. The quiet, hidden discipline of prayer is the common denominator with all genuine people of God.
We see by His example that Jesus was devoted to truth and to prayer. People were amazed that His teaching was with authority (Luke 4:32; Matthew 7:28-29), but that authority was linked to His relationship with His Father, the source of that authority.
Amidst the rapidly expanding first century church, we see the apostles resolutely committed to the priorities of truth and prayer. Their commitment is recorded in Acts 6:4, "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
To be devoted to something is to give oneself to it completely. These men were devoted to the disciplines of both Bible study and prayer. The dynamic of their lives and ministries was their devotion to these secret practices, which was the pattern they had learned from Jesus their Teacher.
The true measure of prayer and Bible study is not necessarily the amount of time spent in each but the vibrancy found in them. Five minutes of genuine communion with the Father in prayer is more beneficial than a perfunctory hour of prayer. And yet the likelihood of real vitality in both prayer and Bible study comes through the generous practice of both.
Perhaps the best perspective on prayer is that it is simply placing oneself in a position of quietness whereby God can initiate contact and conversation. All too often prayer is viewed as rushing to God with a list of wants and needs that we want Him to answer and satisfy. And, while we are biblically admonished to bring our needs before Him, if that is all that prayer is then we are robbing ourselves of the joy that can only be found through waiting expectantly for Him.
May we so discipline ourselves that our Creator and Father can approach and speak to us in the quietness of time alone with Him.
©Steve Taylor, 2023 --Used by permission
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