Overcome the obstacles of prayer (Matthew 1:35)
Contents
There is no truth that does not change as the saying goes, “No one believes in Jesus and has not changed.”
A born-again Christian who believes in Jesus experiences amazing changes in many areas.
One of them is the desire to pray. It's just like when a child comes out of its mother's womb, it breathes automatically regardless of consciousness.
Whether a born child breathes or not is the most basic verification to determine whether there is life or not. Whether or not to breastfeed well, or whether to sing well or not, has nothing to do with life or death verification. However, whether you breathe or not is directly related to whether you are alive or dead. The same is true in our spiritual life.
The first desire of a born-again Christian is to pray.
(Romans 8:15) Ye did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but because you received the spirit of adoption, we cry, Abba, Father.
Jesus, the life, prayed. Jesus taught prayer. Jesus set the example of prayer. When the disciples saw Jesus praying, they immediately asked, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ (Luke 11:1) The prayer taught in this way is the Lord’s Prayer.
1. The Desire of Prayer
Today's text depicts the Lord's prayer life in the early days of Jesus' ministry.
Prayer in the life and work of the Lord, who was the Son of God and came in human form
It was the most important life, ministry, and driving force of ministry.
The fact that the Lord got up and prayed at dawn shows how eager the Lord was to pray before he spoke of the importance of prayer.
There are many believers who know the importance of prayer. Few people have the desire to pray.
The reason we fail in our prayer life is not because we do not know the importance, but because we do not have that desire.
However, having a desire to pray does not necessarily mean praying.
So, how can we realize that longing for prayer?
2. Airway obstruction
It must overcome obstacles. Most of the saints know the importance of prayer and also have a desire for prayer. So I have to pray. However, you will see that many people are living day by day pretending to have lost their prayers. Contrary to its splendid reputation as a praying Korean church, recent statistics show that the Korean church is losing its prayers.
The average prayer time of Korean church members is 5-10 minutes for lay people. Weaving takes 10-15 minutes. And the priests came out on average in 20-30 minutes. Being a priest makes no difference.
Why do we fail to pray even though we know the importance of prayer and have aspirations?
It is because they did not overcome obstacles in prayer. We must overcome this obstacle of prayer.
Do you know what the most common obstacles to prayer are?
It is busy and tired. We live so busy. And I'm tired. So, the prayer life fails. But that's an excuse. The Lord has challenged us to keep us from making such excuses. Our Lord, who had an unusually busy and tiring day, did not stop praying because of his busy and tiredness, but rather overcame it with prayer because he was tired and busy. Now, look at today's text.
(Mark 1:35) In the early morning, Jesus got up and went out to a secluded place, where he prayed.
Where did Jesus pray? When did Jesus pray?
Be sure to grab a word that is easy to miss here. What word is it? ‘
What does 'rather' mean?
According to verse 21, he entered the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath. Did you just eat and rest? The Lord entered the synagogue and taught. It means you did a job.
'Everyone was amazed at his teaching, how passionate he taught. Did you just teach? See verses 23-28. You meet a man possessed by a dirty demon. The Lord healed the demon-possessed man. Then he left the synagogue and went to the chamber. Peter's mother-in-law was ill with a fever, and he healed her. The sun goes down.
Did you go home, shower and rest in bed? See verses 32-34.
At sunset, many sick people wait for Him to touch them. The Lord healed them all. He cast out demons from those possessed by demons. It was the next day.
Please read verse 35 again. “In the early morning, he prayed … in the twilight”
It was a very busy and tiring day on the Sabbath the previous day. But Jesus got up early in the morning and went out to a quiet place to pray.
I want to learn about Jesus who overcame the busyness and fatigue of the previous day through prayer.
Luther once said that too. “I pray for three hours every day. But these days I am so busy that I pray for five hours.” How biblical and paradoxical is this?
3. Preparation for the realization of prayer
In addition to overcoming obstacles, the Lord further made two preparations for the realization of prayer. One was the preparation of the place and the second was the preparation of the time.
You went to a quiet place at dawn. And he prayed there.
That's right. Quiet times and quiet places should be prepared if you want to pray. You have chosen the so-called Quiet time, Quiet Place. According to Luke 22:39, the Lord had a very habitual prayer life. The word self-discipline is a habit. Even before he was crucified, he went there. Habit of holy water on Sunday Habit of going to church on Sunday A habit of reading the Bible A habit of praying habit of evangelism. It's a very blessed habit.
In this way, it is necessary to expect results along with the desire for prayer, overcoming obstacles, and preparation.
4. Ministry vision as a result of prayer
What did the Lord pray for? He said to his disciples, ‘Let’s go to a nearby village, and we will preach there too. You have proclaimed a great vision to spread the gospel throughout the world. Please remember that the Lord's proclamation of this vision began with prayer. Prayer is a power-charge time that allows us to know God's will and direction of action on that day and receive power for ministry. Therefore, the Lord cannot go out of this kind to his disciples through anything other than prayer. Pay a tithe of prayer.
“You are really too busy when you are too busy to have time to pray.”
Prayer requires an understanding and aspiration of importance. You can't just have aspirations.
You have to overcome obstacles. We must overcome the obstacles of being busy and tired like the Lord.
This time, it was an opportunity to confirm that the elderly can do it, the young people can do it, children can do it, even if there are children who are far away from home. And if you are ready, it will come true.
And there must be a clear vision of the ministry. If you think you have nothing to do, there is no reason to feel the need to pray.
I hope that all of you will overcome the obstacles in prayer.