Daily Reading and Devotional from the Gospels
Mark 1:35–45
35And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. 36And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. 37And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. 38And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. 39And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. 40And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 41And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. 42And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. 43And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; 44And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 45But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.
How important is prayer?
Look at the example of our Lord. In the previous verses, after dark they brought many needy people to him. The crowd was so large that the Bible says the entire city was gathered together at the door of the Simon Peter and Andrew’s home.
Mark 1:32–33 32And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. 33And all the city was gathered together at the door.
I don’t know how long our Lord worked that night but considering the crowd, I imagine it was a late night. One thing that Mark seems to emphasize was the constantly busy life of Jesus.
In spite of the long night the Bible says, “in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there he prayed.” (Mk 1:35)
It would not be surprising to read that he woke up late the next day. Would we be shocked to read that he postponed prayer time because he needed to catch up on his sleep? It is, after all what we would do. Jesus obviously felt that his alone time with the father was a crucial part of his day. His prayer time was a priority. Our Lord considered his busy schedule a reason to pray not an excuse to skip out. Father forgive me! If your son thought prayer time too important to skip, if he saw alone time with you so important that he would prioritize it so, then surely, I should too!
I must remember like Jesus that I am not too busy to pray; I am too busy not to pray.
If you need a little extra motivation to wake up and walk into your prayer closet in the morning just look at the next story in our reading. A leper came to Jesus pleading for help and the Word of God says that Jesus was “moved with compassion” and honored his requests. At the word of Christ, “immediately the leprosy departed” from the man. When we pray, we must never forget that we are coming to one who cares deeply. The one that is the same yesterday, today and forever is still moved with compassion and he can still respond with the same power.
Jesus prayed so we should pray. Jesus cares so we should pray. Jesus has power to answer those prayers, so most surely, we should pray! I for one will be setting my alarm clock, how about you?