Christ Church Daily Devotion Oct 30 2023

Jesus made his disciples go ahead in a boat while he prayed alone. This happened between two major events in Jesus' ministry. It teaches us the importance of private prayer for strength and power. The speaker has a routine for daily devotion but sometimes gets distracted. Prayer is like sharpening a saw. The personal worship option is to set aside tasks and pray, listen to God, and then go. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for October 30th, 2023. Today we will be reading from Matthew chapter 14 verses 22 through 23. Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on the mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night he was there alone. The passage comes between right smack in the middle of two huge events in Jesus' ministry. Earlier in the day he had fed the 5,000 and later in the evening he would walk on the water of the Sea of Galilee. No small things. I find it interesting that Matthew tells us about this private break that Jesus took between those events. There is a huge lesson in this for us. Jesus needed the power and strength made available to him by his Heavenly Father in replenishing times of private prayer. And if Jesus needed that, how much more do we need our own times of prayer? Being a good, so to speak, Methodist, I have a routine for my morning time of daily devotion. I usually head to my study with a cup of coffee in hand, read a passage of scripture from my devotional guide, open my prayer list, and spend quiet time in prayer. But sometimes the events of the day ahead press in upon me and I jump right into my work. Inevitably, when I do that, things just do not click. So I back up and spend my time in prayer. Prayer time is a bit like taking time to sharpen our saw. Today's personal worship option. You may have many things to do and are eager to get on with them. I encourage you to push those things aside for now and open your heart in quiet prayer. Ask God for what you need. Pray for others and then really listen to what God has to say to you. Then go.