Day 1 - Prayer
Author: Lena Hall
It’s the very first day of 2021. I sit down in my normal quiet time spot, ready to start a New Year with the Lord. I am tired and weary from 2020, but on the other hand, I am also full of hope and expectant for the future. I didn’t sleep well the night before, my mind clouded with anxious thoughts and feelings of fear. I wake so early it’s still pitch-black outside. I had decided the day before that I was going to start my Bible reading in the book of Mark. I have no direction and no plan. I know I’m just going to start with the first chapter of Mark. I begin reading and stop at this verse:
“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.” – Mark 1:35
I underline it and just sit with it for a moment.
This past year has been so noisy, wouldn’t you agree? Social media, news, constant notifications, emails, our ability to be accessible at any moment’s notice – it is so deafening sometimes. I am so weary from all the noise. And my Father knows it – and He gently reminds me in this quiet, dark morning of the New Year of the way back to Him and His peace…it’s through Him.
It is so easy to be caught up in our busy schedules – our noisy lives – that we neglect times of solitude, individual worship and prayer. In this New Year, I am following Jesus’s example in the following ways:
- I will seek the Lord before my busy schedule takes over my thoughts.
- I will withdraw from noise so I can focus on God.
- I will follow Jesus’s attitude of regular communion with my Father.
- I will reflect on the priorities Jesus had for His life.
- I will determine to pray on a more regular basis, not just in times of crisis.
If prayer was important for Jesus, then it must really be important for His followers!
PRAY: Father God, thank you for the gift of prayer. Help me to see prayer not as just some sort of religious babble – instead let me see it as a conversation with a loving and caring Father who adores me abundantly. Lord, you are speaking to my heart. You are inviting me into your love and grace. Give me the courage to quiet and stop the noise around me and open my ears to Your loving voice. I say yes to You today. Amen.