Read Mark 1:35-39 Key Verse: While it was still night, way before dawn, (Jesus) got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed.
We cannot underscore the importance and power of prayer in our lives. We have as our model Jesus, who made time to pray. Jesus felt the need to stay connected with God, and gave us the model of using prayer as worship and prayer as way not only to talk with God, but to listen for God as well. Jesus' every word and miracles was connected to the way He spent time in prayer. Time spent with God in solitude and quiet prepared Him for the loud distracting noises He would encounter during his daily life.
A second key verse would be verse 39 of the power Jesus used after He prayed to "preach and to cast out demons." (paraphrase mine). Imagine how much more we could do if we spent more time in prayer, talking and listening to God.
Stop for a moment and consider all the people all over the world who are in prayer for the coming General Conference. Each is asking for God to lead, bless, and direct the future of our Church. Each is asking a blessing to come your way. Won't you join in and ask God to bless the one praying for you?
PRAYER: Loving God, may Your rich and wonderful and sometimes unexplainable blessings for this reader be made evident today. May we all join together in praying for our Church to reach more and truly be the Church You called us to be. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
