Praying Through The Hinge Points

Mark 6

[6.45-46] As soon as the meal was finished, Jesus insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead across to Bethsaida while he dismissed the congregation. After sending them off, he climbed a mountain to pray.

Lord Jesus-- Was it dark when the crowds finally left? The last person leaving...with a touch on the shoulder and a last word to them as they walked away in the dark.  The stars just coming out with a clarity that only a night sky can have far from the city.

It has been a long day  filled with words and work. You are the only one on that lonely stretch of beach just beside the sea of Galilee. You start the climb up the mountain.  Was there a breeze off the lake as you climbed? Was it a hot night?  What were your thoughts as your footfalls touched on barely seen rocks.

You climbed the mountain in the dark to spend time with the Father...time for reflection, mediation and connection.  Night was the time to seek out the Father...it was a time when others were sleep. Night was not to be feared but embraced as a time to seek out hope, help, communion with the heart of the Father.

Why it is that I skip over this time you spent with the Father?  I don't usually linger on the reality of time spent with the Father.  I have seen these interludes as filler sentences... in-between times to the main event. When actually they may have been the main event.  This incident when the masses had their needs met and knew where the bread came from was a turning point in your work.  You sought out time with the Father to sort out the onward rush of events?  Or, was it a dull ache in your heart for just a bit of home as you looked out in the night sky so far from the Father's side? Did the stars look the same to you as they had when you were with the Father? Could you pick out the constellations of home?

Lord Jesus--Prayer is not an in-between activity.  It is not filler to the main events of life. Prayer brings meaning to the whole.  It is from the time spent in connection with you that the the rest of life's events makes any sense at all.. That mountain may have been dark with the stars above but it was there that the Father met you.

Who are the people that need the focus of prayer right now?  What situations do you call me to pray about today?  Lord Jesus--Train my heart to the real  work of prayer.

Peterson, Eugene H. (2006-06-15). The Message Remix 2.0: The Bible In contemporary Language (Kindle Locations 30745-30752). NAVPress