And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, "Everyone is looking for you." And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
(Mark 1:35-39 ESV)

Prayer is a powerful privilege given to us by God.  Prayer is the opportunity to communicate to Him all of our burdens and anxieties while receiving from Him strength, endurance and direction for the journey that He has in front of us.  Preaching and ministering at the point of need are important, but they will become powerless and ineffective without prayer.  Prayer must be a priority in every Christ follower.  In fact, if we don’t pray, we are not following Christ because He prayed and left us that example to follow. 

We can learn much from this paragraph of Scripture. 

• We learn that although the needs of people are great, we can not neglect prayer to minister.
• We learn that there are times that we must get alone in a quiet place to pray.
• We learn that there is a time to pray and a time to work.
• We learn that prayer is a place to refuel and refocus.
• We learn that prayer is a place to receive direction and confirmation.

Know that you are loved,
gaj