Where do you pray?
Is it really that important where I pray? Evidentially it is; Jesus specifically mentioned where we should and shouldn’t pray.
Where not to pray: Standing in the church and on street corner. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full (Matt. 6:5, NIV).
Where to pray: In private in your room. “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matt. 6:6, NIV).
In this instance in Mark, “Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed, ‘Everyone is looking for You’” (Mark 1:36,NIV). Mark paints the picture that Jesus went away in seclusion to pray and that everyone was trying to find Him. Obviously, He didn’t stay close and He wasn’t easy to find.
Here is a pattern that begins to develop and that Jesus will teach the disciples: where should you pray, when you should pray, and who should hear you when you pray. Jesus answers these questions pointedly with the disciples. For now, he lets His example teach. I wonder if they perceived it? Pray early. Pray in secret. Pray to your Father in heaven. Pray not to be heard by man, but by your Father, who is in secret.
The secret to prayer is to pray in secret
This is the great secret to prayer: pray in secret. Prayer is meant for the Father; we don’t pray to be heard by men.
Most Christians have heard the term their entire Christian life, quiet time. It goes by many names in various denominations and movements: daily devotional, 7-minute quiet time, the morning watch, and on. All of these stand for the same precept, coming to the Lord in the early morning, seeking Him, and committing in prayer our day to Him. It is the spiritual discipline of communing with our Lord. The names of the daily devotionals that are meant to encourage us in this communion are so familiar to us. Just hearing their titles conjures up memories of seeking and finding the Lord in the early morning hours: My Utmost for His Highest, Jesus Calling, Streams in the Desert, The Book of Common Prayer, and so many more.
We see this pattern of early morning prayer with our Lord beginning at the start of His ministry. He repeatedly departed to a solitary place, either in the hills, out of town, or some remote garden. There He found a place where there were no distractions. There he shows us, secret prayer must be made secretly.
The Word of God and history of the church give us clear evidence that men and women who want to be used of God must know what it is to encounter the Lord and be in His presence.
Abraham: “Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD” (Gen. 19:27, NIV).
Moses: “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Ex. 33:11a, NIV).
Isaiah: “My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you” (Is. 26:9a, NIV).
Solomon: “I love those who love me; and those who seek me early shall find me” (Prov. 8:17, KJV).
David: “In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly” (Ps. 5:3, NIV).
“A desire for God which cannot break the chains of sleep is a weak thing and will do but little good for God after it has indulged itself fully. The desire for God that keeps so far behind the devil and the world at the beginning of the day will never catch up.” ~ E. M. Bounds
Symmetry
The great contrast here in Mark is Christ’s public and private life. His public life was one filled with great crowds, the power of the spirit in operation, and teaching with authority. His private life was one of solitude, prayer and listening to the Father. How does your private life match up to your public life? Is there symmetry between the two?
My pastor is a man full of the grace and mercy of the Lord. He is known for being gracious in his dealings with others. He is not perfect; he makes mistakes like any of us. We had been working on a project conjunctively and he missed a point of information and made an incorrect decision. I really felt like he needed to know what he had missed and it was important, but who wants to correct your pastor? After much prayer, I decided to make him aware of his misstep. His reaction? Totally predictable. His immediate response was, “What do we need to do to correct my mistake?” How can we make sure this doesn’t happen again?” It wasn’t a few weeks later that I listened as my pastor revealed for fifteen years he has been fasting and praying every Monday. This one statement told me a great deal about my pastor’s private life; I have seen his public life. Believe me, they are in symmetry. And, as I always say, “You tell everything about where a person stands spiritually by how they receive instruction or correction.”
He prayed to His Father—we know that. He prayed for His disciples. Because He was a man, He likely prayed for Himself as man, that He might be strengthened for service. The lesson Jesus teaches us is so clear. Prayer was His daily priority. He understood the need for time in the secret place to hear from the Father to start the day.
His life and the word teach us about prayer. The teaching is so simple and clear it is outrageous.
Mark 1:35: “Rising a great while before day—So He labored for us, both day and night.” And He is still laboring for us.
The question of the hour is, “Do you pray?” I don’t mean a quick blessing at the dinner table, a traditional good night prayer with your spouse or a child, a rote prayer at church as the pastor leads the congregation, or so many other “quick fixes.” No, I mean do you have a consistent place you go almost daily, where you wait on the Lord? A place where you speak to Him and He speaks to you? A place where you are still and look deeply into the Lord as He looks into you? Are you intimate with the Lord in prayer daily?