I’ve recently been studying the Gospel of Luke during my quiet time with the Lord, and I came across this verse that really made me think.
“One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” -Luke 6:12
A normal person sleeps about 8 hours a night. Jesus spent at least 8 hours praying to the God of the universe that night. And I don’t believe this was some repetitious prayer that so many people repeat from memory.
How much time do we spend praying to the one who loves us so much that He died on the cross for us? I’d have to say that I don’t do it nearly enough.
Another thing that strikes me is the fact that He went to a lonely mountainside to pray. He went alone; no followers, no friends, no teachers of the Law, nobody. It was just Him and God; no distractions.
How many times do we as true followers of Jesus get distracted with all the noise around us? For most of us (including me) the answer is a lot. We tend to start praying then all of a sudden we hear something that catches our attention, and Jesus is forgotten. And then maybe a few hours later we remember that we never finished praying. “Oops, sorry, God. I won’t do that next time.” But odds are we probably will.
“When He (the Lamb of God) had taken it (the scroll), the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.” –Revelation 5:8
Focus on the last part of that verse for a moment. “…golden bowls full on incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.”
God loves us so much that when we pray to Him; He puts our prayers in a golden bowl. Our prayers must be really precious to Him if He does that with them.
Prayer isn’t just a quick thing you say before a meal, or bed. It’s a communication with God Almighty. He talks to us through His word (the Bible), and we talk to Him through prayer.
So why can’t we spend more than 5 or 10 minutes talking to Him, but we can spend hours talking to our friends?
He loved us enough to die for us. We can show our appreciation and love by spending more time in prayer with Him.
As a side note, I have a page on this blog called More Testimonies. I created this page because I believe Testimonies of how a person came to know Christ in a personal way are very powerful. At this time I have only 3 testimonies on that page, but if you or anyone else you know would like to share your testimony with those who visit this blog please just shoot me an email at revitalize_our_youth@yahoo.com. I will then post your testimony up on Revitalize Our Youth. Thanks!! God Bless!
