In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12 NABRE
In a beautiful passage we read of Jesus going up a mountain to pray, to be with God. There is some similarity to Moses who would go up Mount Sinai and speak to God and then come down the mountain and speak to the people about God and the things God wanted the people to know. In the case of Moses we get an idea of what was discussed. When Jesus goes up the mountain He returns to teach the people but we don’t know anything of the conversation with God or if there even was a conversation. We can think of Jesus going off to be alone to pray just as we might do today. There are many forms of prayer that we can pray alone; mediation, contemplation, vocal praise and even reciting memorized prayer. Regardless of how or what we pray when we are alone with God, we should see it as a chance to hear from God, as Jesus surely thought of those times He was alone with God. In this passage we read Jesus spent the night in prayer. A challenge for me, I tend to fall asleep praying all night (perhaps Jesus fell asleep sometimes as well.) After spending the night in prayer Jesus comes down from the mountain and we read in the following verses He selects twelve of His disciples to be apostles. No doubt Jesus used His prayer to discern which of His disciples would be the twelve (a not insignificant number.) Whether Jesus heard from God or was inspired by His prayer, the twelve became important people in the start of the community of Christians. Even the “bad apple” of the group, Judas, had a significant role in launching the movement Jesus came to begin.
Never under estimate the power of prayer, so follow Jesus’ example, and go be alone in prayer.
Have often to do you pray? How do you pray?
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