Where is the Source of Power

Mark: According To

Part 10 Mark 1:35-39

It had been quite the Sabbath, the man with an unclean spirit healed in the Synagogue and then Peter’s mother-in-law was healed after the worship service had ended. Then after sunset, for hours upon hours the people came to be healed by Jesus.

³⁵ Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

“Early in the morning” this was a commonly used term in reference to the last watch of the night, which started at 3:00 am and lasted until 6:00 am. It being early summer, when these events took place, the sun would rise about 5 o’clock with the first light of dawn visible about 3:30.

Older versions of the Bible used the phrase “A great while before day” which would indicate deep in the night. Jesus must have had but little rest that night considering all the activity at Peter’s home the after the Sabbath was past when the whole town showed up to be healed by the great physician.

Jesus rose early, sought to be alone, where the throngs of people could not find Him and their He could pray and communicate with his heavenly Father.

As we read through the four gospels we find that there are 68 references to prayer. Jesus is either praying himself, teaching us how to pray or giving us examples of how to pray or not to pray. It is obvious that Prayer must be very important since it is referenced to many times. Then for us, it should come as no surprise that after such an exertion of energy, we found Jesus in prayer, recharging his batteries as it were from the source of all power, and that is his heavenly Father. This same power that Christ tapped into is available to every person. It is there for the taking, all we need to do is bow in prayer and like Christ, submit to the will of God.

Yet whether pastor or church leader or one that just fills the pew, few of us take advantage of this power.

The disciples along with Simon Peter, searched for Jesus and when they found him said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”

It is almost as if the disciples expected Jesus to carry on the work. He may have started the work but he leaves it up to His faithful followers in all ages to carry on the work. He has promised us the same power that He Himself displayed while on earth, and gave us his example of daily communion with God the Father through prayer.

“But He said to them, ‘Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.’”

All too often we start the work and continue on until we have created huge churches, yet find that it is still just a few within the large congregation that carry on the work. Christ by example showed us that it is not good to remain in one place. Let those that have just heard the message begin to help others to Christ. We should be creating little communities of believers wherever we go. It is clear by Mark 1:39 that we are to go about preaching and teaching throughout all the land, restoring one another to Christ, so that the unclean spirits will have no one to possess, no one left within their control.

What communities for good this would be! All achievable if we follow Christ example of prayer, communing with His Father and our Father on a daily, even hourly basis. Then spreading the love of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit wherever we go. Let this be the desire of our life, “To Love God, Love Others, and Serve the Community as Christ did.