There are so many things in life where we are powerless. This can leave up feeling helpless. As a Christian, we have an avenue we can take to overcome those feelings, prayer. Finding power in prayer is one of the essential habits a believer must develop. This was the source of Christ’s strength while on earth and it can be ours as well.
Matthew 14:23
After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.
Make it a Priority
Jesus made prayer a priority during his ministry. He would minister all day long and then go up to a mountain and pray all night. This reveals the source of his strength. It wasn’t getting enough sleep but instead, it was connecting with his Father and getting strength from him. Too many times we limit our prayer time to casting our burdens on God but leave short of getting the strength we need. Prayer should be our filling station for our daily walk.
We see two important principles here. First, Jesus got away. Prayer has to be done in a place where we can focus. The mountains weren’t special; they were a place where he wouldn’t be disturbed. Nature didn’t get him closer to God it got him away from the hustle of life. He was by himself. If you want to find power in your prayer life, then you need to make it a priority and get to a place where you are alone with God. In the Gospels, it is called a prayer closet.
Invest the Time
The second principle we see is that Jesus committed a good chunk of time to prayer. He prayed “well into the night.” So Jesus ministered all day and then went to get alone with God and was there well into the night. Do you want to find power in prayer? Spend some time doing it. Maybe you can’t pray for more than five minutes. Start there and build on it. Commit to spending ten minutes next week. Write a list of requests you want to pray over, sing a worship song, or read a Psalm out loud. Doing this consistently will increase the time you are able to pray. Finding power in prayer takes getting alone with God and spending time while you are there.