Priority of Prayer (Devotional)

"And rising early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed." (Mark 1:35)

This is a description of what was a regular habit of Jesus throughout His earthly ministry. Although He never ceased to be God in His essence, He did the things that He did in this world as a man led by God's Spirit. If prayer was significantly important in the life of Jesus, how much more so should it be in our lives?

In almost every major world religion, prayer is all about how to manipulate God to do something that a person desires or wants. In the Christian faith it is about ordering our will and priorities to God. If we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts, the psalmist said. That is because when we delight ourself in Him, our desires become a reflection of His will.

God created and designed us and knows what is best. His interest in our lives is for us to discover His absolute best. Sometimes His answers are "No" because He knows what we desire is ultimately harmful or less than His best. Sometimes He says, "Wait" because He wants to teach us to trust Him. When we manage to pray that which is His will, His answer of "Yes" comes even before we say, "Amen."

When Jesus comes out of His prayer time, Simon says to Him, "Everyone is looking for you." What is interesting is that Jesus does not respond to that and go where they are looking for Him.
God has given Him another priority and He does God's will. So should we.