“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)
As we read the Gospels and look at the life of Jesus, we see that Jesus was always willing to make the required sacrifice to be in God’s will for His life and to meet the needs of the people around Him. We read that Jesus developed the habits of spending time in the predawn hours in solitary prayer seeking God’s will. Here, we see that He willingly sacrificed additional sleep, comfort, food and companionship to spend time alone in prayer. I’m confident that as He prayed that morning, Jesus asked God what His “To Do List” included for the day. A few verses later, we read that rather than return to the house for fellowship and breakfast Jesus declared His purpose for the day – to preach the Gospel and He promptly departed.
I’m always puzzled when Christians talk about their desire to grow spiritually and have John 10:10 abundant lives, but are unwilling to renew their minds, adopt kingdom thinking, make the necessary sacrifices and create the essential habits that a life of abundance requires.
As I grow in my faith walk, I’m discovering that I sleep less and less. In fact, God called me to get up at 2 a.m. to write this latest volume of devotionals. I seldom look at the clock anymore when I get up to read my Bible, or spend time with God in my prayer garden. I know God will give me all the grace, strength and power I need plus my marching orders for the day. I’ve simply decided to stand with David in agreement that an offering and life with God must cost me something starting with a small sacrifice of sleep. How about you? Will you give up sleep for Jesus? (See 1 Chronicles 21:22-24)
Lord, thank You for teaching me the importance of willing sacrifice and the need for the habits of faithfulness and obedience. Help me to be willing to give all that You ask of me joyfully, including some sleep. Through the blood of Jesus and in the name of Jesus I pray, amen.
