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"Meditate on these things, give yourself wholly to them, that your profiting may apprear to all"
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The Gospel According to Mark
Jesus' Encounter With The Father (part 1)
Scripture:
Mark 1:35-38
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
There are many teachings of Jesus that have to do with prayer, and they would all be worthy passages to study and emulate, BUT Mark takes a different tact. Mark decides that a picture is worth a 1,000 words. He focuses on Jesus in prayer, doing prayer, showing his disciplines and dependency on God.
A life powerfully touched by God is a life that is in touch with God. Jesus could do no miracle of himself. His miracles were a direct result of his God-encounters prior to the people-encounters. A.W. Tozer said it well; "If you want to be a man of God you cannot spend all your time with men."
Jesus did not have a cheat-sheet. He did not bend the rules. He lived by the rules. He preformed everything in his life by the same rules as we do. His miracles, his authority, his power came directly from his intimate relationship to his Father. In the Gospel of John Jesus said so. He told his disciple so. It was true. He laid aside his deity to become a man. He took on himself the form of a servant and became obedient unto death.
- Could Jesus have preached and taught so powerfully without prayer?
- Could Jesus have been fully obedient to God without prayer?
- Could Jesus have loved the God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength without prayer?
- Could Jesus have done the miracles he did without prayer?
- Could Jesus have cast out demons by his word as he did without prayer?
- Could Jesus have lived a holy life without prayer?
- Could Jesus have gone to the cross without prayer?
If the answer is 'NO' for him, then how much more is the answer is 'NO' for us.
Jesus said, "Without me you can do nothing." "I am the vine you are the branches. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you will and it will be done unto you."
The question repeated asked by the religious authorities was, "From where did he get such authority and power?" He got his power from his intimate relationship with the Father.
John 14:10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
How is it that we can do greater works than he did? It is possible because it is not we who do the miracles. It is Christ living in us that does the miracles.
Continued... tomorrow
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