But [Jesus] withdrew to the wilderness and prayed. (Luke 5:16)
While it’s true that prayer can involve requesting what we need from God, it’s so much more. Jesus spent time in prayer because He loved His Father and wanted to communicate with Him and spend time in His presence. That’s what personal relationships are all about.
Here’s what I wrote in Give Up Worry For Good…
The fact that Jesus withdrew implies that it was a conscious decision. His desire to pray was not accidental. Just like each of us, the Lord had to make a choice—to pray or to do something else. How many times do you struggle to fit prayer into your busy life? After all, there are just so many hours in the day. It took me many years to get to this point, but now I wouldn’t think of letting a day go by without praying. It’s how I begin each day, whether I feel like it or not. Jesus knew that prayer was not so much an action but a relationship.
Let not your heart be troubled!
~Gary
