Jesus Praying in Lonely Places

Jesus praying in lonely places is seen many times in the New Testament. He often made time to get by himself and pray despite pressing demands.

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Many times we use the excuse that we are too busy to pray. While it is true that our lives can be filled with activities, responsibilities, and random emergencies that demand our attention, can we afford not to follow Jesus's example of making time to pray?

Jesus's three years of ministry on the earth was jam-packed with action. John 21:25 says, Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

A section of Scripture that portrays Jesus's busy ministry is found in Mark 6:30-56. You can read it later but here is a summary:

Jesus's disciples had just come back from their two by two missions of healing the sick, casting out demons, and proclaiming the Kingdom of God in near. Jesus decides they need some rest, so he attemts to take them to a quiet place but the crowds find out where they are going and follow. Jesus sees the crowd and doesn't have the heart to turn them away, rather he has compassion on them and spends the entire day teaching them.

As time passes, the Disciples realize it is getting late and ask Jesus to send the crowds away so they can get something to eat. Instead, Jesus instructs his Disciples to give them something to eat, as Jesus blesses and breaks one lunch to miraculesly feed 5000 plus people.

As soon as everyone had been served Jesus sends his disciples on a boat to cross the lake so that they can get the rest they had initially sought out. Jesus stays behind to dismiss the crowd and then we see Jesus praying alone on the mountain. He stayed and prayed all night until just before dawn. Even after he saw the vision of his disciples struggling to row their boat to the other side because the wind was against them, he didn't go out to them right away. He finished his praying, and then he went out to them.

After his all night prayer meeting, Jesus proceeds to walk half way across the lake, on the water, into the wind and waves to get to where the disciples are. Jesus gets in the boat, the wind stops, and they make it to the other side of the lake that morning. At this point everyone had been awake for at least 24 hours. Just when they think they are going to get their much needed rest. The people recognize them and began to bring the sick and demon possessed from all around to be healed. Another full day of ministry!

In these two days Jesus didn't have time to sleep, but he made time to pray. Jesus's high priority on prayer led him to seek out quiet places in the midst of his action packed lifestyle. Let's look at the examples of Jesus praying in lonely places and be inspired to follow in his footsteps. Let's make time to connect with God everyday no matter how busy our lives seem.

Quote: I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.

-John Wesley