Prayer Must Be A First Priority

That Is Why We Must Pray
(Mark 1:35-39, Preaching: Pastor Nathan Snyder, July 22, 2018)

[35] And rising early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. [36] And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, [37] and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” [38] And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” [39] And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

There is an unfortunate saying that we sometimes use when we think there is nothing more we can do to help in a particular situation.  We say, “Well, I guess all we can do now is pray.”  This implies that prayer is a last resort.  Do all you can do to work something out, and when all your efforts fail, then pray.  The saying also seems to imply that it is unlikely prayer will actually accomplish anything.  If prayer was merely talking to the wall, then of course it wouldn’t accomplish anything.  But when we pray in faith, we come before the God of all wisdom, power, and love, who created, sustains, and governs all that exists.  Prayer to God can do anything God can do.  In prayer we seek the gracious work of God, and there are no limits to what he can do except his own good pleasure.  Maybe instead of viewing prayer as a last resort, we should make it our first priority.  Today’s Scripture text shows us that this was the perspective Jesus had on prayer during his earthly ministry.

Jesus rose early in the morning while it was still dark, and went out to a desolate place to pray.  This was the first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath day.  The previous day had been a hectic day of ministry.  Jesus had taught in the synagogue of the town of Capernaum (1:21).  While teaching, Jesus was confronted by a demon-possessed man.  He commanded the spirit to leave the man, and the spirit obeyed.  The townsfolk were amazed and word began to spread of what had happened.  After leaving the synagogue, Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever.  At sundown the whole town of Capernaum came out to him.  Jesus healed the sick and delivered those who were in bondage to evil spirits.  Now a new week had begun and Jesus began the week by getting up early, before the crowds mobbed him again, and getting away to a deserted place to pray.  Apparently the people of Capernaum were looking for Jesus as soon as they had risen for the day, as were his disciples.  Jesus, the new miracle-working preacher, had become an instant celebrity, and people were out their doors in the morning eager to see him again.  The disciples found Jesus before anyone else did.  Maybe he had told them to find him outside the town.  They informed him that everyone was looking for him.  Jesus responded by calling his disciples to come with him as he left Capernaum that they might travel to other towns.  He intended to preach the good news of the kingdom of God throughout Israel, not just in Capernaum.  Thus he told the disciples that the reason he had departed from Capernaum was to preach elsewhere.  So he continued throughout Galilee, following the pattern of teaching in the synagogues and delivering people from demons.  Implicit in verse 39 is the fact that Jesus was continuing to heal people of physical illnesses and disabilities as well.  But deliverance from demons is what Mark chose to highlight here, as if to emphasize the importance Jesus placed on setting people free from spiritual bondage, which is far more important than being free from physical illness.  Jesus was preaching the good news that the kingdom of God had come (1:14), and his ministry of deliverance for those enslaved by Satan backed up this claim.  Jesus is the fulfillment of what the prophet Isaiah wrote 700 years earlier, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isa. 61:1).

Jesus had ministered to the people of Capernaum, but there were more people who needed to hear the good news of God’s kingdom.  More people needed to be set free from Satan’s oppression.  Now imagine you were Jesus.  You have just had a busy day of ministry and you are about to travel on foot to other towns to continue the same ministry throughout the region of Galilee.  How would you spend your morning?  Some of us might just sleep in as much as possible, then rush out the door and be on our way.  Not Jesus.  Jesus knew that he needed time in prayer before continuing his travels and ministry.  Prayer was not a last resort for Jesus, but his first priority.  Jesus knew the truth of Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.”  He knew the power of prayer to set prisoners free from Satan.  As he explained later to his disciples who had not been able to drive a particularly stubborn demon out of a man, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (9:29).  Jesus knew the effectiveness of prayer when it is made with confidence in God’s power and willingness to answer the prayers of his people.  “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (11:24).

If Jesus, the very Son of God, committed his own ministry work to his Father in prayer, if he sought the Father’s power to drive out demons, if he prayed in faith to remove mountains in the way of the kingdom of God, then should we not also make prayer our first priority?  Are there still people who need to hear the good news of God’s kingdom?  There are, and that is why we must pray.  Are there still people who need to be delivered from spiritual bondage and oppression?  There are, and that is why we must pray.  Jesus has poured out his Holy Spirit on his Church to empower the Church for ministry to a needy world, and he has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church.  We must never think that this means we do not need to pray, that since final victory is assured, prayer is unnecessary.  On the contrary, prayer is one of the primary ways God intends to build his kingdom and deliver people from the domain of darkness.  The Holy Spirit works by moving his people to pray, and then God deploys the Spirit forward to new conquests in answer to those Spirit-motivated prayers.  Paul writes about spiritual warfare in his letter to the Ephesian church, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places...  praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Eph. 6:10-12, 18a).

Considering that we are to pray “at all times,” this does raise the question of what this looks like in practice.  Did Jesus spend all his time in prayer and nothing else?  No.  As we just read, he carried on his calling of preaching and driving out demons.  Yet I am sure he was continually lifting up every situation to his Father in prayer.  We also ought to pray for wisdom, patience, courage, humility, and whatever each situation calls for.  We can pray for the people we encounter, and the situations.  What would it be like if we consistently brought matters to the Lord in prayer before rushing into them in our own strength?  Not only must we live a continuously prayer life, but it is also important that like Jesus, we carve out time to spend alone with God in prayer.  One advantage of doing this is that it gives us time to strategically bring before the Lord various needs and burdens in our personal life and vocation, our family and friendships, our local church, the worldwide church, our community, nation, and world.  There is another important reason for spending time alone with God in prayer.  Through such times, as we meditate on God’s Word and talk with him in prayer, we find our own spirits refreshed for the work ahead of us, that we might carry out the good works he has prepared in advance for us to do.  God uses these times to rejuvenate us.  In the midst of our daily work and ministry, we must not lose sight of the fact that our first love is God himself, not the work we are doing for God.  Communing with him in prayer, in which we not only bring our requests to him, but our thanksgiving and praise, is necessary so that God stays central in our lives and hearts.  And if God is central in our hearts, you can be sure his Spirit will bring forth fruit in our lives, for the glory of God.  Jesus spent time alone in prayer with his Father not simply to seek his Father’s guidance and power in his ministry, but because of the relationship of love he has with his Father.  We also, through faith in Jesus, have been adopted into God’s family and drawn to his love.  God loves us and wants to satisfy us with his love.  This is why we must pray.  After all, it is the awesome love of God that is the basis for the good news of his kingdom and deliverance from the evil one.  If we wish to see his kingdom advance and more people be rescued by his love, and if we wish to be used by him, we must pray.  Prayer unleashes the saving power of God’s love while drawing us deeper into the enjoyment of his love.