Set Priorities, Pray!

Today in church I appreciated the Pastor's message on prayer. I do have a habit of doing my own homiletic on whatever the passage is being taught, while listening to the Pastor. I don't do it as a judgment of any teacher. It is just what I do, maybe because my gift is teaching too. The conclusion of this practice is I can come up with points that are my impetus for a spiritual exhale from the Lord.

Mark 1:35-39, was the text that caught my attention, while the Pastor hung out on verse 35-36. As I read and reread I started thinking of how Jesus prioritized his life and ministry. I did read some of the verses prior and could not pass up the healings and fast pace of Jesus' early ministry. I thought how easy it would be to think these works would become his focus. We go day to day and think what we did yesterday must be our priority today. We get into ruts of what we have made our priority and don't stop to allow God to set our daily need, to-do, and schedule. We go about our day absent minded, in many cases. We get up, we might shoot up a prayer, and we go. We return home, we might shoot up a prayer, then we go to bed. We might do spiritual works, that are convenient for us. Yet we've set that schedule. We haven't allowed God to interrupt. We don't rise early to pray. We don't stay up late to pray. We don't put down our phones to pray. We don't turn off the television, and on and on, to pray.

If you read verse 36, the Disciples got caught in the rut of Jesus' works. They assumed his plan, or purpose was giving himself to those looking for him. The disciples were sure the new day of verse 35 would look like the days before. People were looking for healing, and Jesus' would wake up and get back to it. Why do anything different, if what's being done is already good?

What if God does have something different for you, in the middle of your routine?

It is easy not to set our lives forth with prayer. Maybe we've got caught up in the familiar. Maybe we don't expect anything different so we just get up and give ourselves to those who are looking for us, and never stop to give ourselves to God. Maybe our lives have become humdrum with our priorities because we haven't done what Jesus did. "Rising very early in the morning... he prayed." I'm not going to beat the drum of what time we should pray. But that we pray, changes everything.

When Jesus rose to pray, he received instructions that prioritized his day. He disabused his disciples, who were ready to go back to their expectations. Jesus allowed the priority of The Father to lead him, "let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." Did he still stop to heal folks and cast out demons? Yes! The point isn't that God changes everything we will do, but he may point us toward things in our day we had not planned to do. I am not speaking about Jesus, because teaching was his plan. I am making the point that we, don't always know how God wants to interrupt our routine. If we slow down, and pray, we may find out.

We plan our days without looking for God to change things or to make impact. How can we allow 2020 to be a year of prioritizing God's direction for our regular everyday routine? We can each make the decision to prioritize prayer.

For those who like steps:

1. Plan for your day to move ahead, but with expectations to stop and hear from God.

2. Prepared for him to give you marching orders. There might even be new instructions. Prayer opens you to hear from God. Whatever he says will line up with his Word. Maybe it will be to speak to a co-worker you have not met. Perhaps it will be to offer a neighbor a helping hand. It could be anything he wants to change about your day. Just be open to "go."

3. The best way to be ready for his priorities, as Jesus did, is to offer him your day through prayer.

The result: Setting ourselves up for spiritual priorities will impact our regular day. First step is rising to pray.