“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.” Mark 1:35 (NIV)
Before the miracles, before the crowds, before the authority that silenced demons and healed the sick, there was prayer. Mark 1 tells us that Jesus healed, delivered, and changed many lives. But then the scripture pulls back the curtain and shows us the source of that power. Early in the morning, long before daylight, Jesus slipped away to be alone with the Father in prayer.
If revival is ever going to flow through us, it must first be formed in us. God does something in you before He does something through you.
Jesus had specific times to pray. Prayer was not squeezed in when life allowed it. It was scheduled. It was protected. Jesus was not too busy or too successful to pray. He understood that if you never make deposits in prayer, you cannot keep writing checks of power, wisdom, and strength. That is why Luke 5:16 says, “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (NKJV). His prayer life was steady, faithful, and consistent.
Jesus could stand before kings because He first knelt before the King of Kings. He could face pressure in public because He had met God in private. And if the Son of God needed a time of prayer, how much more do we.
Jesus also had a place to pray. Mark tells us He went to a solitary place. Sometimes it was a garden. Sometimes it was a mountainside or a field. But it was a place set apart for meeting with God. Prayer needs space. It needs a place where distractions are pushed aside, and your heart can listen. Your place may not look like anyone else’s. It might be a chair, a bedroom, a quiet walk, or a corner of your home. What matters is that it becomes holy ground to you. A place where burdens turn into breakthroughs and prayers turn into testimonies.
When you make up your mind to pray, everything begins to shift. Time with God realigns your heart, sharpens your perspective, and restores your strength. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength” (NKJV). Renewal always flows from waiting, and waiting always happens in prayer.
Prayer: Lord, I make up my mind today to pray. Teach me to guard my time with You and to create a place where I meet You faithfully. Do in me what only You can do, so You can work through me for Your glory. Renew my strength, awaken my spirit, and draw me deeper into Your presence. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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