But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Luke 5:16 (NASB)
These Places of Retreat – Prayer Series Part 4
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3
Jesus learned and prayed.
All through the Gospels are little sentences that tell us how Jesus left the crowd or the disciples, or got up early in the morning, or stayed up late at night, or went off into the wilderness, or climbed a mountain to pray. Alone.
I’ve heard sermons preached around the ‘form’ of His prayers and how they should inform our ‘prayer life’… e.g. Get up early – that’s what we all should do; climb a mountain – that’s what we all should do; stay up late – that’s what we all should do…
(side note – you don’t have a ‘prayer-life’… There’s just life, and we have but one, and we're in it right now. In this one life is everything all together, none of it is separate. Prayer is not something that you do, it's how you live. Open, aware, connected.)
These references to Jesus prayers aren’t trying to alert us to any particular way or form that He prayed. They just communicate that He prayed. And He prayed alone. A lot. In many different places, in many different ways concerning many different things.
Perhaps he was a nature guy… when he was out alone, whether it be in a valley, or by the ocean, or in the shade of a beautiful tree, he felt connected and drawn into the presence of God. It was an intimate and holy space that he shared with the Divine.
Jesus often withdrew to pray alone on the back of days and moments of intense ministry and time with crowds. There were times when he turned people away so that he could retreat into solitude and prayer.
Life is busy. We consume schedules and meetings and work and ‘to do’s’ and shows and holidays (that aren’t like holidays…) and exercise and conferences and more… We whizz by our own lives, often without having the time to think if what we are currently doing is intrinsic to our purpose and calling. We live with so much purpose that we ‘purpose’ the meaning out of all our purposes. Our hearts get lost in the business of busyness.
There was always more people for Jesus to talk to, heal, release, pray with… always more crowds to feed and preach to. But He knew that to keep His head and to stay the course, He needed to withdraw, regroup, evaluate, contemplate, reflect; be present in the presence of God.
What about you? Where do you feel most connected to something beyond yourself? What kind of atmosphere heightens your awareness of the Divine?
For me, music, words, rain, the ocean, an empty home… these places are where I feel most intimately connected to God. Prayer just happens in these moments. For you it might be playing the piano, painting, cooking, feeding the hungry, helping refugees, nursing the sick, hiking a mountain, running, surfing… there are places and moments that are unique to you where resonance is strong and thick and you don’t have to be too disciplined to be aware of God all around you.
Retreat to these places. Don’t forsake them. If there were to be any form to your prayers, make the escape to these places your discipline. Not at the expense of others in an irresponsible way, but the giving of yourself to God.
And in time, you’ll learn, perhaps through your sufferings, that you can take these places with you in your heart wherever you go.
Pray without ceasing. Open heart, open hands. Aware, awake, alive.
Go to Part 5 – Prayed and Prayed »
