Awaken The Dawn

AWAKEN THE DAWN!

facts of Jesus’ words and anguished experiences in prayer, the example He set in praying, and His teachings about prayer all point to the fact that the Father truly intended for us to examine Jesus’ sacred concept of pri- vate prayer. Forgive me if I seem presumptuous, but read for yourself and see if you too will not arrive at the same conclusion, perhaps even experience the nine concepts about Jesus’ personal prayer which I have outlined in this chapter and the succeeding one. First Importance Concept 1. Jesus regarded personal prayer of primary importance. There is no doubt that Jesus put His daily communion with His Father at the very top of His priori- ty list; it was as necessary to His spiritual life as breathing is to a human body. His ministry was rooted in prayer, and all that He accomplished was merely the fruit from a tree which drew its full sustenance from the soil of God’s presence. In today’s world when ministers and religious workers seem more inclined to work long and hard, considering prayer only as an afterthought, the life of Jesus presents the supreme example of prayerful, ministerial vocation. It wasn’t that Jesus Himself did not work long and hard, for He was most certainly a worker extraordinaire. The won- der of Jesus and His ministry is that he was molded, moti- vated, and maintained by an astounding, dynamic per- sonal life of prayer. I wish I could relive my ministerial life. I would probably work just as hard, but I would work smart. I would pray more, obey more, and trust more. I would not talk about 84