“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35).
It is good to pray together because there is strength when two or three agree in prayer. It is good to capture fragments of time within your busy day to talk with Jesus Christ, the bible says to pray without ceasing. It is also good to come together in worship and praise, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4). However, there is more to learn.
Although we have the best of intentions—to grow closer to the Lord—committing to obey the Lord in every area of our lives is one of the most challenging obstacles facing Christians today. We’re overscheduled and undernourished in the richness of fellowship with Jesus Christ. Before we were inundated with technological advances in our society, people actually carried on conversations. It was commonplace for families to gather on the back porch or outside even under the stars to talk. I remember sitting out on the porch until way after dark, and I promise we didn’t run off to our rooms in front of a video game or computer screen.
Times have changed; but, God has not changed. I’m thankful that we can gain the victory over our time in prayer. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, and he’ll never leave us nor forsake us. Are we hungry for his presence? It’s time to separate ourselves into a solitary place of prayer. All of our day to day dilemmas can be eradicated if we learn to use our weapon of prayer.
It’s his desire that we spend time learning to listen to his voice that will speak peace to our souls. Relationships take nurturing. If we neglect to pay attention to the most precious gifts that the Lord has given to us, we’ll miss out on some of the greatest blessings. Too often, when the glory of the Lord arises in our lives, we’re too preoccupied to embrace it and let the light of God’s love shine into our soul.
We may ask God for his anointing and for direction in the decisions that we must make; but too often, we do our own thing, and then expect the Lord to get us out of trouble when it doesn’t work. Thankfully, he is merciful and understands that we are like sheep, so he helps us to find our way back into his will and presence.
I have heard it said that our time—two hours and forty minutes of every day—belong to the Lord. This time is usually spent getting to church or studying a Sunday school lesson, or even writing the Lattereign. When I step back and see it through the Lord’s perspective, I find that I’m guilty of not spending enough quality time with Jesus. I’m BUSY being a Martha, but the Lord desires me to be a Mary, and to sit at his feet and learn of him.
In this week’s Lattereign, we are encouraged to keep holding on to God’s mercy and truth.
In the Time of the Lattereign 