Alone with God (Part I)
Every Christian agrees that we are all called to pray but few understand the importance of intimacy with God in prayer. We all agree that prayer means talking to God, but the spiritual explanation goes a step further because while we pray, our spirit is in communion with the Spirit of God. It's a bit like the relationship of a married couple; there is an intimacy that can only be done in their bedroom away from everyone. It is this intimate relationship that with time eventually causes the fruit called "child." The relationship in the privacy not only produces a child but it strengthens love in a married couple.
God is the founder of relationship and when He created a human being, he wanted above all to build and develop a relationship. This is the best explanation of prayer. Prayer is not just talking to God but it’s all about maintaining an INTIMATE relationship with God and any intimate relationship with God eventually produces fruit and simultaneously strengthens love and communion.
In this teaching, I will show you by the scriptures that God wants His child to have a solitary place away from everyone and spend time with him. This has always been the case even in the Old Testament when Moses had to retire to Mount Sinai away from everyone to meet God (Exodus 34: 2-3), and even Daniel had to retire to his home praying being alone with God (Daniel 6: 10). But today we are more interested in Jesus as our perfect model. Did Jesus pray? Obviously the answer is yes, but how much time did he spend in prayer? I will give the details of Jesus' prayer life in the second part of this teaching but I can already tell you that Jesus rose every morning to pray before going out to meet people.
Let’s read in Mark 1: 35-37 "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a SOLITARY PLACE, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”"
It is said that Jesus woke up very early in the morning while it was still dark (before the sunrise) and in the Middle East it’s around 4 a.m. He was away from Simon and those who were with him at night and the verse shows us that they had trouble to find him. It is said that he went off to a solitary place. The word "solitary" is translated from the Greek word "eremos" which means "lonesome".
Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5: 17 that we must pray without ceasing but many people have misinterpreted this verse believing he meant we should pray every minute of the day (speaking to God), but you know that when we spend an hour with friends for lunch and laughing, we are not speaking to God (so we cease praying). When watching a soccer game for 90 minutes with friends, we are focus on the game and not on God. When one is in a class following a teacher for an hour, his attention is not on God but on the teacher. If prayer only means "speaking to God," it is clear that Paul did not say "speak to God without ceasing" but he meant that we must remain in communion with God and spend time with Him every single day (exactly like Jesus did).
You will get the details in the second part
Chris Ndikumana
