Lonely Places

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. ~ Luke 5:16

If anyone knew what it is like to be surrounded by people all day it was Jesus.  I don’t even know if I could imagine what it would be like to be followed around by hundreds and thousands of people.  Something that Jesus did though was to withdraw to lonely places and pray.

When was the last time you withdrew to a lonely place to pray?  This verse tells us that Jesus did it often.  How often is often? I am inclined to say as often as he needed to.

How often do you need to withdraw to a lonely place to pray?  I am inclined to say that you are not doing it as often as you need to.  I know I am most certainly not.

Something that I have noticed though, is that when I come out of the lonely place and come out of my prayer I feel refreshed and rejuvenated in my heart.

2 minutes sitting away from my computer screen somewhere quiet is all it takes to refocus my mind during a day at work.

5 minutes sitting somewhere quiet with a cup of coffee is all it takes to prepare myself for the day ahead.

And 10 minutes knitting in bed (all by my lonesome self) is all the time I need to pray for the night and day ahead of me.

Can you imagine how powerful your prayer life and spiritual life could become if you just take those extra 5 to 10 minutes to withdraw to a lonely place and pray?

I challenge you to try it twice a day for a week.  5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening – retreat to a quite place and pray.  Then if you want, post the outcome (negative or positive) in a comment here.

You don’t need to pray for people.  You don’t need to pray for anything.  Just talk to God like you would talk to your best friend.  Talk about the day ahead.  Talk about what is bothering you.  Talk about what is going on in your heart.  You may not hear him speak back, but I know that 99% of the time I feel at peace after I have spoken to him, and I believe that peace comes directly from him.

May God Bless All of my readers!