Again, I received feedback about our need to recharge. I hope our reflection today offers further insights.
Siblings, the fact is – God always desires to meet with us. The issue is whether we wish to make it a regular occurrence. If there aren’t enough hours in our day, probably it’s time to meet God at night. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Luke 6:12 NIV
[12] One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
All-Night Prayer Meeting
For many of us, the words ‘all-night prayer meeting’ are not part of our routine or vocabulary. It may be part of our faith tradition, but it isn’t part of our lives. For those of us who have been before, we might be saying, Try it before condemning it. I agree with that approach, as it invites us to ‘taste and see’… (and you know that that phrase inspired our devotional, Holy Nougats, so if it’s about a God experience, let’s give God a try).
Self-Check
What was/is our first reaction to the thought of attending an all-night prayer meeting? Why?
Digging Deeper
Siblings, Y’shua is our example. We may not be divinely equipped to do everything He has done, because He was still fully God when He was physically here. But, by God’s grace and in God’s strength we can do exceedingly more than we could ever ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20). That includes making or participating in our own all-night prayer meeting.
For Jesus an all night prayer meeting was essential. It was guaranteed to offer the privacy and intimacy He needed with God. We remember that He once tried to recharge during the day, and the crowds got to His quiet spot before He and the disciples did (see Matthew 14). That crowd could be seen as our current distractions. It does not make them negative people – Y’shua meet their needs, despite His grief – but their presence added to His long, busy day. So it is with the things that get in the way of our time with God. Hence, the all-nighter. And while we know that Nicodemus met Y’shua at night, that visit seems to be more of an exception rather than the rule.
So, we’re back to Y’shua’s all-nighter.
He had serious decisions to make, He was about to select His twelve mentees (also known as the Twelve Disciples). Among them would be ones who would doubt Him, love Him beyond death, call others to follow Him, rebuke Him, seek to replace Him, and betray Him. The selections had to be perfect to match those job descriptions. Y’shua didn’t attempt to make such a corporate-level decision without discussing the situation with God first. It was a long meeting. But the outcome was as desired, even with the selection of Judas.
Have we considered that selecting Judas required that Y’shua had to treat him like everyone else for those three years? As if He didn’t know that Judas would eventually betray Him?
Let’s allow that to stay with us. That was certainly cause for prayer.
We now have a sense of two agenda items for Y’shua’s special all-night prayer meeting. It was not a regular recharge retreat. He took those anywhere He could, even in a boat during a storm (see Mark 4 and Matthew 8 for more details). It tells us that;
a) if we truly desire to recharge, we can make the time; and
b) some decisions require a stepping away from the natural, to spend time with God, our Supernatural CEO.
It may require an all-nighter, or some intentional time away. It could even mean taking an extra 5 minutes in the restroom for a ‘power prayer’, as we would with a power nap. We must discern which is best suited for the situation, and make the necessary time to use it. A power prayer has the potential to transform ordinary moments into divinely inspired ones. All-nighters can transform our entire life. Perhaps we should try one for ourselves. Whichever end of the spectrum our prayer is at, let us maintain a healthy relationship with God through our prayer lives.
Point to Ponder
If Y’shua always found the time to commune with God, how could we even think of doing otherwise?
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May all we seek be found in Christ
