“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective”  ( James 5:16)

The prayer life of Jesus teaches us a lot about what is the most important key in our lives for a victorious life. We notice, “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). Of course since Jesus had taken up the human body there must have been times when all seemed like a chore. But then he knew the most important gateway to any day had to start by talking to his father in heaven.

In another instance we also notice that while Jesus aware of the road of tribulations ahead, couldn’t help but go out to pray, it did not come so easily to his disciples. “Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” ( Mathew 26: 40-41). In fact, after leaving and getting back, “he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing”       ( vv 43-44).

Now, these disciples were men who had walked with Jesus and knew a thing or so about the power of prayer. But here they were struggling. “Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? ..” (vv 45).

Like them, we too can struggle in our prayer life. Maybe on some days there is no need for prompting, but there could also be those slow days. Prayer takes effort and will. Jesus had all that; and we could do well to model our lives on his prayer life!

Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, victory starts with prayer and where sometimes the body is weak, may your spirit sustain me in prayer, to lead a victorious life in you, this I pray in Jesus’s name.