Alone With a Purpose

How much alone time do you have in a day?  The answer to this question can be as varied as the types of people who answer it.

Even if you do find time alone, what do you do with it? It’s so easy to interact with our cell phones, turn on the tv, read a book or browse a magazine.

It's good to be around people, but even Jesus sometimes made it a point to be alone. Matthew 14:1-13 tells of the beheading of John the Baptist. It says after John’s disciples buried his body, they came and told Jesus.

When Jesus heard it, He got in a boat to go to a deserted place to be alone. But as often happened, people followed Him, and once again He had a crowd to teach and people to heal (Matthew 14 and John 6).

Luke said that Jesus, after being surrounded by crowds and ministering to them, often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed (Luke 5:15-16 NKJV).

If Jesus needed time to pray alone, what about us? I remember as a child my mother would go into her bedroom to pray. She would leave the door open, kneel by the bed and cover her head. She taught me that was her signal not to bother her unless it was something very important.

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray. He took His disciples with Him and after settling the first group in place, He took Peter, James, and John a little farther, asking them to watch and pray. Then He moved away to a place He could be alone.

He came back from prayer three times to find Peter, James and John sleeping. We are familiar with His teaching on that point: Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Mark 14:38 NKJV).   

There’s nothing automatic about quiet time or prayer. If Jesus made time to be alone to pray, why wouldn’t we need to do the same?

Feeling stressed, burned out, confused, or pressured? Help is available. It’s time to get alone with a purpose - - - and pray!