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3rd October 2024
ThursdayReflection
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'Brandon Bramlett'
'was called to preach at the young age of 15'
"When God Prayed"
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That annoying alarm wakes us up.
We grab a shower and a cup of coffee, then we're out the door on our way to work.
And soon enough, it will be time to go home.
We go home, do a few things around the house, and then we're off to bed to restart the process.
But here's a pressing question: when did we stop and talk to God, and really spend some time praying to Him?
I've got a Bible reading plan that keeps me in line.
But prayer ... that's another story.
It is difficult for me to find time in my busy day to really spend time with God.
I read something in the Scripture today that drove me to prayer this morning.
Luke notes that Jesus prayed at His busiest moment at the beginning of His ministry. It reads in this way:
"But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray"
Luke 5:16
In this passage, Luke records Jesus cleansing a leper saying that once He healed this leper,
"But the news about Jesus spread all the more widely, and crowds of people came to hear him and be healed from their diseases"
Word got out about His healing power.
Because of this, crowds came to hear Him preach and teach, and they came to be healed of their many diseases and infirmities.
He would withdraw Himself from the crowds, to places where He could be alone, and He would pray.
There are several passages of Scripture in the gospels that tell us that Jesus prayed alone, prayed for others, and prayed long prayers.
The fact that Jesus prayed is astounding for two main reasons.
First of all, because He was God in the flesh, and still prayed.
It would make you think that Jesus would not need to pray, but it is very apparent from the gospels that prayer is something that He needed and something that He did.
Though Jesus was God, He prayed to His Father and He made use of prayer.
Second, it is astounding that Jesus prayed because He was occupied with more tasks than any of us ever will be, and He still found time to pray.
We might say,
"But Jesus didn't have a full-time job like I do.
Jesus didn't cook supper for children, or pick them up from school every-day like me.
Jesus didn't have emails to send and receive."
But let me tell you what Jesus was involved in doing:
Jesus was teaching crowds of hundreds of people every-day, and they were increasing as He became more popular.
When is the last time you taught growing crowds of people multiple times a week?
He was healing all kinds of diseases, people were coming to Him to be healed of all their infirmities and sicknesses.
When is the last time you cleansed a leper?
He was calling and teaching His disciples.
He was dealing with the persecution of the religious rulers. Everywhere He went, He had to walk.
When is the last time we did any of those things?
And here's the biggie: no one else could duplicate Jesus' ministry.
No one else could do what He was doing.
It would be different if Simon Peter could heal the same way Jesus was, and teach the same way He was.
But there was only one Son of God, and there was only one ministry that could do all this: Jesus' ministry.
Jesus was one busy man.
So even though Jesus was God, and even though He was unbelievably busy, nothing seemed to deter Jesus from spending extensive time in prayer.
So we need to reflect now on our own prayer life.
In light of this passage of Scripture, what is keep us from spending time in prayer?
Whatever it might be, we need to get it out of the way and spend time alone with God, taking our requests to Him, praising Him for His blessings upon us, and praying for His grace and enabling to be obedient.
I've said it before, and it's something I have to constantly remind myself of: if you are too busy to pray, you are too busy.
Let us pray, and let us devote time to prayer. Jesus did, so should we.
><(((°>
This is an edited version.
The full article, and Bible references, is avaiable on request
'Brandon Bramlett '
received Jesus as His Saviour and was called to preach at the young age of 15 years old.
Since then, he has preached and served in churches both big and small, throughout the western Kentucky area.
He currently serves as the pastor of Bandana Baptist Church, in Bandana, Kentucky.
He holds an Associates of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Boyce College of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Contact the Rector
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