Why & How Did Jesus Pray? | Mark 1:35-39 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Mark chapter one. Please meet me there. Mark one. I'm not sure how long this sermon is gonna be. Maybe short, maybe long.

Let's just trust that however long it is, it'll be exactly what the Lord has for us. Mark one thirty five. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him and they found him and said to him, everyone is looking for you. And he said to them, let us go on to the next towns that I may preach there also.

For that is why I came out. And he went throughout all Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. Lord, it's in moments like this where you must manifest your power. As this word is delivered, Lord may be delivered in the strength of the spirit. And we ask, oh God, that the intention of these verses would be known.

The goal of what you have here in holy writ would melt into our hearts and that it would translate into the way you want us to be. We ask, Lord, that the voice of condemnation would be canceled. We ask Lord instead that as we speak about the person of Jesus and the value he placed on prayer that it would inspire us, that it would truly stir us in the innermost parts of who we are to engage in this this thing called prayer for ourselves. Lord, again, let inspiration be the motive. Let that be the fuel to the spiritual discipline.

We submit ourselves to you as we hear what you have to say. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You've heard this many times before, but it's it's good to be reminded, especially when we come to something that'll be as instructive as this. The wider context helps us understand how we apply these things more specifically and precisely.

It'll benefit us if we if we're reminded again that Mark's intent in writing about Jesus's life and his ministry was to depict him as the perfect servant of God. Nation of Israel failed to do over centuries and centuries and centuries. And that was to know God's will, and then to obey it consistently, constantly, faithfully, perfectly. That's what Jesus came to do. He came to do what Israel failed to do.

He came to do what all men cannot do, and that is to submit to God and his instruction and his will perfectly. And so as he comes to this point, we see something interesting with that theme in the forefront of our minds. Because we just read here something that Jesus is doing that we haven't really seen him do in Mark. Before, we've seen Jesus ministering with miracles, being compassionate and healing. We see him in his power delivering people from the demonic captivity of evil spirits.

We see him going into synagogues and teaching, all these wonderful things. But all for a sudden, as we enter into this verse, we realize that Jesus is not doing anything necessarily with his hands. Instead, we see him praying. We see him on his knees, so to speak, though it's not explicitly clear how he postured himself. And what's incredible about that, it's as though Mark is doing this with great intention.

In other words, it's as though after you and I have just seen a highlight reel of the authority of Jesus Christ in different ways, all of that is put on pause and Mark by the spirit puts his hand on a certain curtain and pulls it back to a certain degree so that you and I as the readers of God's word can peek in and see the very source of Jesus' power on the earth. After all the demonstration of glory, after all that radiated from him that shook the world around him, wherever he he stepped foot in, things and people knew there was something unusual. Now we come to the very thing that is connected to all of that, and it's it's in the posture of prayer. Before Jesus did anything with his hands, you find him on his knees. And before there was any public display of power, there was first a private posture of humility and dependency upon upon God.

And that is exactly what we see here. My question is, why does Mark want us to see Jesus praying? He could've skipped over that. We could've just continued with the theme of him doing miraculous, glorious things. And I believe one reason is because that if we seek to imitate the master, that's your heartbeat.

If if you're a Christian in this place, one of the signs that you are born again is that you want to imitate him. That's what John says. That we ought to walk in the way he walked. That's your desire. I wanna be like him.

And I believe Marcus is is showing something about Jesus for the reader who seeks to imitate him so that by seeing the value that Christ put on private, not just prayer, but private prayer, you and I would say, I wanna be like him. And then by seeing the value that Jesus put on private prayer, we'd be honest with ourselves and examine and see, do we have the same estimation as my Lord does? Now I am fully aware, I am fully aware that a message about something like private prayer can be easily a guilt ridden thing. And I will not come, fold this Bible, and whack you over the head with it and try to make you feel guilty enough to make sure that you have a form of prayer in your life apart from meetings and before your meals. Instead, my prayer, though it was difficult to do much this week, my simple prayer to the Lord was to say, Lord, just let the people be genuinely inspired to have this in their lives.

Let there be a sweet sense of invitation into this. Let it be by the end of this this message, though it may not be eloquent and though it may be delivered in a raspy voice, May it by the Spirit cause people to say, I really want this. I really want this. All I'm really gonna offer you today according to the word of God is hopefully two things, inspiration and instruction. Inspiration and instruction.

And it's gonna be based on three simple observations about these texts, these verses that we have before us, the reason why Jesus prayed, The remoteness of his praying. And the reward of his praying. The reason for his praying. The remoteness, the isolation of his praying. And then the reward of his praying.

We read it, did we not? And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went to a desolate place. I mean the spirit of God, so detailed, paints the scene. It's almost hard to imagine how you can't visualize you can't visualize it. Every time I come to this in my reading of Mark, I cannot help but think there is Jesus in his warm bed in Peter's house as a guest.

And he gets up so graciously, and his feet touched the ground. And he makes his way towards the front door while there are snoring disciples around him. And he comes to that front door and opens it and closes it softly only to turn around and tiptoe around bodies that have laid there overnight in tents and maybe even in the open field hoping to get a front row seat to a new day of miracles that took place last night. Then there's Jesus strategically making his way through the crowd and finally comes to a certain field that is distant enough from the people. And he makes way into the mouth of some kind of area that is filled with the sound of crickets echoing into the night.

And then within seconds, he just disappears, and he gets deep enough into this desolate place where no one can see him or hear him without investigating for him, so that this Jesus can freely speak to his father without any fear of interruption or people demanding for his presence. And this behavior, I'm telling you, is very strange for someone who just spent hours upon hours the night before casting out devils and healing the sick. Doesn't it? It does. And there's only one conclusion to make about this.

Jesus had a revelation of prayer that made an appointment with it absolutely necessary. Jesus had an understanding of prayer that made a premeditated schedule necessary for him to keep. It was more important to him than a little bit of extra time in a warm bed. To him, he had to do this, and this time of fellowship is not spontaneous. Don't get it twisted.

It's not spontaneous. It was planned, and Christ knew that to leave a set time alone with the Lord up to chance or spontaneity is really a recipe for disaster. This is something that has to be intentionally set, and he does that. And it's important to note that a verse like this in no way suggests an unhealthy or an unbalanced neglect of the needs of the body. Instead, what it is saying is that we need to be intentional in organizing in organizing our day around the prioritization of prayer in our day to day affairs.

He woke up very early knowing knowing what was ahead of him, knowing the demands that were prepared, and he said I have to do this. I must do this. And the application of daily private prayer is gonna look different for all of us. Now let me remind you as believers, prayer is not a suggestion. Jesus, on the Sermon on the Mount says, when you pray.

Remember he said that? He says he didn't say if you pray. Only if you pray, you know, do it like this. You're gonna when you pray. In other words, I'm expecting you to pray.

I'm expecting you to have a personal communion with the Father. And when you do it, whenever that is, let me tell you how to do it. And God is gracious enough. We are not like those religions that have set times of prayer. We have a certain liberty and a freedom depending upon the responsibilities and the duties that we are each given to.

And God understands that and that is so encouraging to know so so we can be blessed to know that it's not about the earliest in a day makes my prayer more valuable. That's not the case. What's happening here is that Jesus in his day, in his ministry, knew that the earliest time was the most profitable time. This was the this is the time where I can get the most out of this, and so he protected that and he surrounded that day around that being the foundation of his beginnings of a new day. And if we don't do this here's the thing.

I'm trying to give you very practical instruction. If you and I are not intentional, if we just leave it up to the the spirit of God making me want to do it, you're you're never gonna do it. It's just not gonna happen. If you're waiting for a conference once a year to propel you into that direction, you're just you're gonna be very anemic in this. Instead, there has to be there has to be a plan.

There has to be an intentional plan. If not, we risk we risk those blessings that are reserved in this area being evaporated by the busyness of our day. And one of the illustrations of that is in the Exodus story when God had given his people daily manna. He rained bread from heaven. It would come upon the dew and it would materialize into some kind of a wafer.

And day by day, the people would expect that in the morning as the dew rested upon the fields, that they would gather that manna and be nourished for that day. But what's incredible is not only was the manna there every day in the morning, they were instructed to gather it in the morning. In the morning. And if they didn't gather it in the morning, this is what happened. I want you to just hear this in Exodus sixteen twenty one, morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

What an amazing insight. When the sun grew hot, if that bread was not gathered on time, it would it would evaporate. It would disappear and they would not be able to gather it. And what was true physically for the Israelites with their manna is true for the believer today with their spiritual nourishment daily. And here's what it is, if you and I are not careful to gather it at a time where it is our first ambition in our schedule, then we run the risk of the heat of our activities that day to melt away the opportunity to gather any of it at all.

Can I prove it to you? How many of us, when we woke up, maybe snoozed a little bit longer than we wanted or something happened where we just stayed in bed and we assured ourselves, I'll do it later on. I'll spend time in God's word later on. I'll pray later on. Only to find ourselves, what, exhausted.

Coming back to that same bed dead tired and trying, but we fail. And that's the picture. The heat of that day melted the very thing that needed to be gathered with our first strength and our first ambition and our first goal of the day. If not, then like the manna, you're just gonna have to wait for the next day and and and just give it another go. But the problem is people who who don't have that intentional mindset live days and weeks and months without this.

And then they wonder why is my faith so weak? Why am I so given to temptation? You know, listen. Whenever somebody comes up to me and struggles with a specific sin, any habitual sin, Your pastors, your elders are never here to condemn anybody who comes in that weakness, but we will probe and ask questions so that we can we can try to figure out what it is that's causing this. And one of the main things I always ask anybody who struggles, I says, when was the last time Be honest.

When was the last time that you had adequate time with the Lord by yourself? 100% of the time, anybody who is struggling tells me it's been quite a bit of time. Every it never fails. Over the years, it never never fails. And so we have to understand that each of us in this place, each of us in this place has a particular window of time where we have the blessing prepared for us and it is in that time where we must gather it, because if not, then we will most likely have to wait till the next day to have a chance at it again.

But you have many good hearted believers. I mean, I'm telling you something you already know. Right? All of us know this. But the problem is, at the same time, there are many people who just can't get themselves to do it.

I I just can't. I get it. You're telling me. I know it. I mean, if I were to ask right now who in here wants to improve in their prayer life, everyone would lift their hand.

It's it's not like it's it's not a mystery. It's common. But what's also common is you have many people who could just never kick start. They can never get themselves to actually do it, and they can never even remember a time where it was consistent. And I think the reason why is because we don't have the right motivation for it.

I believe the main reason why there is little to no understanding of what is there prepared for us, That if we just engage with it with faith, you can actually come to a point that you can't live without it. I believe Daniel the prophet came to that point. Because when there was a law given that if you pray to any other deity except for the king, then you were to be killed, you were to be punished. And Daniel, the very same day, goes to his room, opens the window, and he does what he was doing all along, and that was to seek the face of God three times a day. And here's the conclusion that I make out of that, that Daniel was willing to die as a praying man, than to live as a prayerless man.

He had such an understanding of what happened and how how can you how can you deny it? You look at the book of Daniel, and I challenge you, look at the times where God brings revelation to him. When he was praying, when he was fasting, when he was seeking the Lord, that's when these amazing revelations came to him. I'm not gonna live without this. Might as well kill me.

Because to live without prayer is not to really live at all. And now now I say that, and we we think, well, that's a nice way of phrasing it. But is it really true? Do have we tapped into that where we actually believe that for myself? That if you were to take prayer away from me, that's to take oxygen away from me.

It's a humbling thought. And I think the reason is we don't know why we need to do it. We know we need to do it. We just don't know why. Can I ask you a question?

We know Jesus prayed. Why did he pray? Don't answer. In your heart you can. But why did he pray?

Why did the son of God need to pray? Why did he do it like this? Why did he spend so much time in it? It's such a small amount of ministry years. You see in so many occasions that he goes into this place.

He goes into that place. He spends this much time in prayer and prayer. Lord, you have three years. There's only so many towns to preach in. You only have so little time.

What are you doing? He had a revelation. Jesus had an insight and he wants us to have the same insight. And though there are many answers, well he was a man, he had to be dependent upon God. All true.

But I have one Holy Spirit revealed reason why according to the Bible, why Jesus prayed. And here's what's interesting. It's found in the book of Isaiah. Turn there with me to chapter 50 in Isaiah. Isaiah did not just prophesy about the sufferings of the Christ.

Isaiah even prophesied about the fellowship that he had with the father. Isaiah chapter 50. Look at verse four quickly. This is the Messiah speaking. This is the Lord himself speaking.

And this is now here's what's interesting. This chapter is actually about the suffering servant, the servant of Jehovah. And here's an insight into how the servant of God in the person of Jesus Christ related to God as the status of a servant. In verse four, the Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning, he awakens.

He awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. Isn't that incredible? Notice that in humility, the servant of Jehovah says that the Lord has given him a certain ability. He did not say that he independently worked up a certain gift. He says here that it was given.

And what was given? The ability to communicate precise words that would actually lift up the weary soul. The Lord God has given me the tongue, the ability to communicate, verbalize, speak in such a way that it would infuse a grace that would lift the burden off those who are heavy laden. That's what the Lord God has given me. And what's amazing is that though he was given, it was something that needed to be maintained.

It was something that was not just dependent upon one time of a gift. No. It was something that needed to be sharpened, and there needed to be fresh insight. And what that's what we see morning by morning, he awakens. Morning by morning.

It was a perpetual practice of the Christ to come before the Lord and depend on him for a daily deposit of wisdom so that as he went out into the world with the people that he so loved, he would be able to precisely minister to their needs with his tongue. And according to Mark one thirty eight, we realize you heard it that Jesus was ready to go to these towns in Galilee to preach. There was a new preaching campaign that he was ready to embark on. And knowing that, I believe based on Isaiah 50, he comes before the father. Father, what am I to say?

What am I to speak? What am I to deliver to these people? A new audience. Father, give me the words. Give me your wisdom.

Give me your instruction. And there he was in that desolate place seeking him while people were sleeping. And that's a touching scene morning by morning. And here's a point to consider. God is prepared to give us what we need to be effective servants, but that can only be found in the place of holy secret prayer.

And according to Isaiah, Jesus had a daily appointment with the father with the frame of mind of believing that he was to receive the necessary revelation as a result of remaining and being in his presence. Do you believe that God wants to equip you and deposit truths in you, and open your eyes to certain things as you come before Him and give Him that time of focus attention. I believe it. I've seen it. I can tell you I am the weakest.

Not in the frame of my body. I'm the weakest in my ability to serve others when I am the weakest in prayer. I know it. I know it. I I can sense it.

Call me mystical all you want. I don't care. When you serve the Lord in any capacity, there's almost a sense in which virtue leaves you. And Jesus prayed not just to receive for for for further service, there was a refreshment there, a replenishment that can only come from God himself. And I think that is something that we have to believe as we come before the Lord.

Lord, I believe you have something for me. That if I'm to go out there and to be effective, Lord, if you do not equip me, I can't do what you've called me to do. The problem is you have way too many people who are too dependent upon their gifting, and their minds, and their cleverness, and their books even. It doesn't have the ability that only God can provide, where it actually affects the weary soul and brings about some kind of an aid, brings about some kind of an effectiveness. This is available but it's only in that appointment with God.

I'm not trying to speak to you as preachers. I'm trying to speak to you in any capacity in which we serve the Lord as witnesses, as we go out into the world. I'm telling you, we need the same source of grace from the Father as Jesus had. And I can only come from that. You can't buy this thing.

You can't you can't get a degree in it. You you can't get a PhD. And I praise God for that. It it requires sacrifice. It requires cost.

You have to set time apart. Turn your back on the community at times. Turn your back on the comfort. Say, Lord, I'm so hungry for this. I'm so aware of my neediness of this that I'm here before you.

That is where you get the hand of God on your life. That is where you get it. That is where his spirit rests upon whatever gift. In the case of Jesus as a preacher, as a teacher, it was upon his tongue, and it's true for any part of the ministry. The reason why Jesus prayed among many reasons, never forget Isaiah chapter 50 verse four.

Let me give you a couple of practical instructions here. Remind yourself, build your faith, create an awareness in your heart that apart from God supplying something in you, you will not be effective for his kingdom. You gotta believe that. You really gotta believe that. I believe it was Spurgeon who who said somewhere along one of his writings or that when he would sit in the front pew before he would preach, he would whisper underneath his breath every step before he came to the pulpit.

I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Despite the oratory ability, this man was fully aware that he needed God. And that he could not come to this thing without God with him.

Build your faith in that area. Really. I don't care what you do, where you work, you need his help to be a witness, to be a servant. Secondly, prepare in your mind. Make a mental note ahead of time of how you will spend time with God in prayer the next day.

Make a mental note of that. You're saying, brother, this is legalistic. Rules are not legalistic. K? I'm trying to give you some help to know how you can if you leave this up to chance, it's not gonna work.

It's it's not gonna work. Look at your week. Do you have something coming up that's unusual? I have these appointments. I have these events.

I have to help so and so. Look at that in advance and say, this is where I'm gonna spend time with the Lord. This at this time, I'm gonna do this. That will greatly help. I'm trying to make sure that you protect the sacred thing that will bring about so much blessing in your life.

I have much more to say in this area, but let me move on. The reason for Jesus praying, that's clear. We have one. There's many. But let me give you two.

The remoteness of his praying. It's so clear, is it not? The spirit of God does not just highlight the priority that Jesus placed on prayer in his day to day activities, but also the strategic location of where he would pray. He went out to a desolate place. He went out to a desolate place.

That's not to say he went out necessarily to a desert, but it was a place that was separated from population, from any distraction. And there are many reasons why he did this. But let me tell you one thing. If we can pray anywhere, in any place, at any time with anybody around us, why is it necessary for us to do what Jesus did and to separate ourselves from from others? I believe one main reason beyond the obvious, distractions and this and that, one main reason is because secret prayer testifies to God that we long for intimate communion with him.

Secret prayer testifies to God that we long for intimate communion with him. It says, I take all the attention off of others. I even take attention off of myself and I give it all to you. That's what it says. It's very hard to be a hypocrite in secret prayer.

It's easy to be a hypocrite in public prayer. Now public prayer is important, but it's it's much easier. The temptation is much stronger to be in a room with other people and to pray. Didn't Jesus say that in Matthew six? When you pray, go into your room, shut the door.

Don't be like those who go into the corner of the streets and who make a display of their prayers. Later on in Mark, don't be like those who with the sake of pretense, they make long prayers so that they can be seen and heard. When we are in public, the temptation to be hypocritical in our praying is heightened. When you are in private, it's very difficult to try to show off. Very difficult.

Now it's still possible. We're very creative in our wickedness. It is. I can pray really loud in my room so that my brothers hear me that I'm praying. Right?

I can pray a certain amount of time and record my time so that if anybody asks me how long you pray, I pray for two hours. But it's much more difficult. And maybe that's why people don't like private prayers so much because you can't show off. Because there's nothing for the flesh there. Public prayer.

Yeah. I can I'd love to come to public prayer. Lord, and then let me speak King James even on top of it. Thou ist. Right?

But that's why it says he sees in secret the father not that he doesn't see in public, is that when you and I choose to pray privately, God goes, okay. I see you. I see you. I see what you're doing there. I see that you are after me as your primary and sole audience.

And that's why the reward is in secret prayer because he sees that you are detaching yourself, that you are eliminating all other things and solely coming before him and saying, Lord, the eyes of my heart, I want it to be set on you alone. You are my only audience. So here's my heart. I bring it before you. And it's not so much about the location as much as it is about the inner attitude.

Because that sanctuary can be in your Honda Civic. That sanctuary can be on the the the subway. That sanctuary can be in in your kitchen. It can be anywhere. For me, it's it's give me a a park and that place will become the holy of holies to me.

It looks different for all of us, but it's more about that inner attitude. And when he sees that, when he sees that you're willing to separate yourself and actually stop all the busyness, to give him your praise, and to pour out your heart, that's where the reward is. That's where the reward is. You know this very well. Well, you know, people say I love to pray, but it helps me, it helps me stay focused.

That's fine. You can know God to a certain capacity with your brothers and sisters in the same room calling him. God will bless that and he will honor that. But you know very well that if you want to get to know anybody on a personal basis, you can go on all the group dates that you want, but there's nothing like that one on one time. There's nothing like that face to face, no other voices, no other interruptions, just you and him.

That's what God is asking of each of us. He really is. And I get it. I can almost hear the thoughts. Easy for you to say, preacher, you're a full time job.

Could I pray all you want? Not really. Actually, you'd be shocked to know how many pastors don't pray at all. The prayerlessness among pastors is is is scary. But I know what it's like.

I personally know what it's like. I was not a pastor from my mother's womb. Okay? I know what it's like. I remember doing an internship in school where I had to wake up six in the morning, and then I had to take three different forms of transportation to get back to my apartment, and I would walk back in the frigid cold of that Toronto weather in the month of February bone tired.

Bone tired. And I I lord, I don't know if I can do this. I mean, six to six on average sometimes and lord, you won't I I I don't know when I'm gonna spend time with you the way you you call me to spend time with you. I'm exhausted. I'd be so frustrated.

When I was a student before my internship, It was like heaven on earth. But then when this came about, I got it. I understand. And I believe the Lord gave me a taste so that whenever it came to this point in my life, I can look out to a crowd of people and not say, well, you better pray. No excuses.

I get it. And the Lord through that in many ways, but mainly through the scriptures, comforted me. And I wanna use the same scriptures that comforted me to comfort you. In Mark 14 turn with me there. In Mark 14 verse six, this is when Mary of Bethany anointed the feet of Jesus.

A beautiful sacrificial act of worship. But she was criticized. There are some people who have the gift of criticism. It's amazing. No matter what you do, you give a little, they criticize.

You give everything, they criticize. In Mark fourteen six, Jesus defends her. I love this story because Mary of Bethany never defends herself. She she doesn't try to make a case for why she did what she did. Jesus defends her.

And look what he says in verse six. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. Keep that in mind.

She has done a beautiful thing to me. Oftentimes what is beautiful to the Lord is criticized by other people. She's done a beautiful thing to me, For you always have the poor with you and whenever you want, you can do good for them, but you will not always have me. Now look what he says here in verse eight. She has done what she could.

She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. That phrase, mother of those babies, father who makes long commutes, person who's working two jobs a week, she has done what she could do. Whatever Mary did, she did to the best of her ability. And you know what Jesus said to that?

It's a beautiful thing to me. That is a beautiful thing to me. And the Lord brought that to my heart. Give me what you can give me, and I will see it as beautiful. And I did.

Lord, in this season, this is all I can give you. Now somebody can take that verse and say, I'm not gonna give God anything, and that's what I can do. It's better to give God something than nothing. Always remember that. Lord, you know and I know my heart testifies before you the honesty of my context.

This is all I can offer you, and I wish I could have more. I wish you can blow the walls off of my schedule so I can have this sweet time with you, but this is all I can give you. And that has a fragrance to him. Be free from legalism. Be free from legalism.

And realize the richness of his mercy that he considers and he is mindful of your responsibilities and everything else. Not to excuse things that we consider busyness when it's really silliness, But to say, Lord, just like this guy in his college years, very frustrated with the context of my situation and wanting to give more, just do what you can do and I'll bless you. That sacrifice of a pigeon, according to Leviticus one, was the same value as the sacrifice of the bull. Different sizes. Different sizes.

But why did God give those instructions? If you can't give a bull, give a goat. If you can't give a goat, give a pigeon. What was he saying? Give what you can afford and no matter what size it was, no matter how much it costs you, if it was all that you can give, it was the same offering in God's eyes.

Give what you can give him. The remoteness of his of his praying, he separated himself and he sought the father. Let me end with the reward of his praying. Let's go back to Mark one and we're gonna end it here. Mark one verse 36.

And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him. And they said to him, everyone is looking for you. You go to Luke, and it's told that the people came after him. So it wasn't just Simon and the disciples. You had a crowd chasing after they were on a hunt for Jesus, which gives me the hint that that's how long he was praying for.

I mean, he was praying before the sun rose, and he must have been praying until the sun came up when everybody woke up. That's incredible. And then people realize Jesus is not here, and they open the door, they open the room, so they they go on this chase for Jesus and they find Him. And Simon says everyone is looking for you, and I looked at that and I thought to myself, what an insight, and here it is. Be aware that when you set yourself to pray, things will be looking for you.

Sin is not the only thing that's gonna keep you from praying. That's easy. Good things will try to find you to keep you from praying. Okay? Remember that.

These are the needs of the people. These are demands. There's a schedule to be kept, and all of this found Jesus. But here's what I love. The Lord already knew that.

The Lord already knew what was coming that day. The Lord already knew what situation he was in in ministry. That's why we were told earlier he woke up very early. Right? Very early.

So that by the time the needs and the persuasions and all these things came to him, he was already prayed up. He's already saturated in the presence of God. And he comes with the crowd, and I want you to see Luke's description of it. Go to Luke very quickly in chapter four verse 42. The same incident with a different perspective.

And it's in Luke where we see what they were trying to do with Jesus. Luke four forty two. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place, and the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them. So they were not just trying to find his whereabouts to make sure he was safe. They were trying to find him so that they can keep him in Capernaum.

This was a persuasion. This was this was popular demand. This was an attempt to keep him in one place when, as we read earlier, he says, let us go to the next towns. And when the opportunity presented itself for Jesus to stay, The context is prayer. Jesus was already so in tune with the will of God.

He says, no. I have to move on. Here's the first reward that you can expect when you prioritize prayer as Jesus did. You will know a protection from the persuasions of daily temptation. You will know a protection.

You will know a strength to be able to look at things that are trying to steer you away from the will of God and say, God said something else. I must obey God. Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation. Now Now what's incredible is that this happened on more than one occasion with Jesus. After he he fed the 5,000, in John chapter six you don't have to turn there, but listen to these words.

In John chapter six verse 15, it says, perceiving Jesus perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. So he perceived that the people were trying to make him be a king that would overthrow Rome and be this miraculous king who can supply their needs. They don't have to work again. They don't have to do this again. And perceiving that, realizing that this multitude of people are gonna turn and try to force him, he retreats and he goes to the mountain.

It doesn't say it in John, but in Mark with the same account. It says he went to the mountain to pray. Lord, this is not your will. And we don't know what he said, but he knew as a man I have to get along with God because I know what is coming. And because I know what is coming, I need his strength.

If you just knew what was coming every single day, I'm fully convinced not just when I step out of the front door of my house, when I get out of my bed, there are things waiting to persuade me away from the will of God. I need to meet with him. Lord, I know there are things coming my way. I may not know the nature of it. I know may not know the intensity of it, but God Almighty, prepare me, strengthen me.

That is the reward that we see here. But let me give you the second one. He says that as I said earlier in verse 38 of Mark one, and he said to them, let us go on to the next towns that I may preach there also. That is why it came out. Prayer not only keeps you on course in the will of God, but it clarifies the will of God for tomorrow.

It clears the air. And I am not gonna stand here and tell you that every single time you pray, you're gonna get an audible voice or an automatic response to some need for direction. But what I can tell you based on the authority of the word of God is that when he sees a man or a woman who so takes seriously the will of God for their life, serious enough to say, Lord, I wanna make sure that I'm in step with you, God will ensure that you will never step outside of his will. Oh, he will open. He will shut.

He will protect. He will prevent. He will provide. He will supply. He will subtract.

You would be amazed to know how God will work on behalf of a praying man, a praying woman. The man on his knees has no fear in life. The woman on her knees has no concern in this life of where they're headed tomorrow. There's a phrase I just finished reading the book of Daniel. And there's a phrase there when Gabriel appears to Daniel to give him a revelation based on his praying.

Daniel, greatly beloved. Greatly beloved. Greatly loved by heaven. Why was he so loved? There's many reasons.

Who was the beloved disciple out of all the 12? John. What was so unique about John? He put his head on the bosom of Jesus. He was so intimate with the Lord.

And you have Daniel and John, both recognized as the beloved of the Lord. And interestingly enough, Daniel and John receive apocalyptic revelation of the end times. But these two men were intimate with the Lord. They prioritized his presence. And God honored that.

And he guided them. And he revealed things to them. I'm done. I have only one prayer for us tonight, or rather this afternoon as a congregation. God would touch our prayer lives.

That's it. And you would have, you know, you can get to the point. You can get to the point where this thing called prayer is so real and so enjoyable that when you miss it, there's an ache in your heart. Not condemnation. Not which you haven't prayed the past three days.

Which you were distracted. None of that. None of that stuff. Lord, I miss you. I miss you, Lord.

I haven't had the time that I would want to pour my heart out to you and worship you. I miss your presence. You want God to do that in your life? You know what will happen? Things won't be so entertaining as they used to be.

The color of this world becomes gray. And then there's something that's deeper than the flesh, deeper than the senses that brings a joy and delight to you, and it's the knowledge of God. Most of the problem with sin in Christians' lives is not because you have a computer in your room or an iPhone or this or trauma. There's a lack of satisfaction in God. It's as simple as that.

There's a place where you can get to in God, where you so receive a satisfaction, taste and see that the Lord is good, That it fills you to the degree that even temptation loses its grip on you and doesn't have the pull that it used to have. I'm telling you, you can come to a place in your prayer life where when it is not met, it doesn't make you feel condemned. It makes you miss the person. That's what I want for you. That's what I want for you.

Lord, we thank you. We have all fallen short, Lord, of this, And we've heard that you are jealous, jealous for that time alone with you. Lord, this speaks of your heart for us. We thank you for that. Lord, we just simply ask that you would enlarge our hearts so that we can call upon you.

Quicken us that we can call upon you. And Lord, all we ask is that you would you would woo our hearts to the degree that prayers of the light not just a duty. And that we enjoy your presence and that our prayer lives are not just a grocery list of things that we need. Help us, Lord. Help the fathers.

Help the mothers. Help the students. Help the ones who are working paycheck to paycheck. And teach us how to give you what we can and to believe that that is beautiful in your eyes. Lord, if somehow condemnation was able to sneak into our hearts through a message like this, by the end of the service, would you replace it with a passion for intimacy with Christ?

And Lord, we just trust that these verses would be implanted deeply in us. And that they would meet us day by day. We trust you. We trust you. We've done what we can and we trust you.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And we stand and worship the Lord.