THE STORY OF JESUS: Luke 6:12-16
“Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God.” (Luke 6:12)
When is the last time you spent a whole night praying?
Or if not a whole night, spent a long period of time praying for something.
I’m guessing it was a big decision or major crisis that led you to pray like this.
Jesus is on a mission from God, and He is picking His successors.
How He spent His time on earth, and who He spent it with, was very important.
I’m convinced Jesus did not just receive a list of names of God, who to pick.
He wrestled, He thought it through, He saw their gifts and grow areas.
He knew what they would face, how they would struggle, suffer and die for joining Him.
The key thing I want to highlight is how seriously He took His mission.
Are we as eager and active in pursuing our kingdom purpose?
Was the last time you spent a long time praying for the mission, or for your own desires?
Is it the things of God, or the things of ME, that keep me awake praying?
“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
God will provide guidance and support for us as we pursue our mission, His kingdom.
He will provide the necessary resources and supports for what He wants you to do.
If we are not sure what God wants us to do…
Maybe that is the first thing we should spend a night praying about.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, I want to be more eager and excited for seeking You and Your kingdom. As I make a personal retreat today, may my passion be renewed by Your Spirit.
I wish I could pray like this. I seriously feel like I need some form of deep washing spiritual prayer (if that even exist). I want to be able to spend an entire night praying, instead of an entire night crying and fighting the on-going whispers of lies. I’m desperate for Jesus to come in whatever praying I do manage to do lately, and I want him to tell me everything is going to be okay. It drives me nuts when someone says, well just listen and He will make it clear. Well how do I differentiate what is clearly from Jesus and what is clearly from the enemy – When all the voices blend in, all the whispers of lies seems to be truth? Too much noise, no room for peace. Maybe I just have a really messed up brain. Anyways, to answer this question. No I am not eager or actively praying in pursuing the kingdom purpose because I am not entirely sure what that even entails. And even if that was a hypothetical question and not supposed to be answered out loud, oh well. I don’t mind admitting it.
And yes, maybe we ought to spend a night praying about what God wants us to do.
Lol this is so not an uplifting post – my bad 😀