When this happens, we must turn from all that offends the Lord and renew our commitment to seeking God and His grace for our daily lives (see Luke 18:1).

“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed,” (Mk 1:35).

Jesus took time to pray. Finding time to pray is not easy, but prayer is the vital link between God and us. Like Jesus, we must break away from others to talk with God, even if we have to get up very early in the morning to do so!

There Is A Place For All Night Prayer
“Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God,” (Lk 6:12).

All night in prayers. Again and again Jesus sought to be alone with His Father in prayer, especially at times of momentous decisions (see 5:16, note).

• His entire night of earnest prayer produced tremendous results (see Jas 5:16, note). Following this night of prayer, Jesus chose the 12 to become His apostles (Lk 6:13-16), healed many who were sick (vv. 17-19) and preached His most quoted sermon (vv. 20-49).

• If Jesus, the perfect Son of God, spent a whole night in prayer to the Father in order to make an important decision, how much more do we, with all our weaknesses and failings, need to spend nights in prayers and in intimate communion with our heavenly Father.

The Example Of Apostle Peter
“The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour,” (Acts 10:9).
“Peter went up upon the house to pray.” The Holy Spirit, the author of the scriptures, has revealed that the New Testament Christians were a people devoted to much prayer. They understood that the kingdom of God could not be manifested in its full power with only a few minutes of prayer a day (1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 6:4; Eph 6:18; Col 4:2).

i. The pious Jew prayed two or three times a day (cf. Ps 55:17; Dan 6:10). It was the custom of Christ followers, especially the apostles (6:4), to pray with the same devotion. Peter and John went up to the temple “at the hour of prayer” (3:10, while Luke and Paul did the same (16:16). Peter prayed regularly at noon; God rewarded Cornelius for his faithfulness in keeping his hours of prayer (vv. 30ff).

ii. The scriptures urge believers to continue faithfully in prayer (Rom 12:12), pray always (Luke 18:1), pray continually (1 Thess 5:17), pray everywhere (1 Tim 2:8), pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers (Eph. 6:18), persevere in prayer (Col 4:2) and pray powerfully (Jas 5:16).

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