Alone In Prayer!
- Jan 10, 2025
- 6 min read
We are back in Matthew 14:22-36. We find Jesus on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus has spent the day healing and teaching the people, but now the day is drawing to a close. The time has come for the rest of the disciples to learn more about trusting Jesus in all situations.
What would that mean for you and I?
At the outset of our time with God today just listen to this song.
Matthew 14 is in a section that’s all about discipleship.
Reflecting on last week’s blog, I wonder whether Jesus was concerned about the disciples becoming part of the crowd and therefore part of the problem! Remember, the crowd wanted to ‘make Him king ’ (John 6:14).
Text for today -
Matthew 14:23 ‘And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.’
Alone after the most amazing miracle of feeding thousands of people!
The Lord is in the mountains, in the place of prayer. The disciples are down on the Sea of Galilee in a storm. What a picture this is of our own day. Our Lord is in heaven seated at the Father’s right hand interceding for us. We are down here on earth as it were, tossed about by the storms that roar!
We don’t know what Jesus was praying!
We could understand that part of His prayer would include the needs of the 1000s of men and women who had been with Him that day.
Notice what was said in v14, "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick."
He had given out so much that day before feeding them.
I accept the feeding of the 5000 is the story that’s told so often. But, prior to the feeding there had been the healing of the sick. So much must have overwhelmed Jesus’ heart, so He went to pray alone with His Father.
Think about it! Right now, God is concerned for you. Not just for those who grab the headlights, but also for those that make up the crowds, people like you and me, and His son is praying for us.
Just stop and think for a moment what it means for you that Jesus is praying to the Father on your behalf. The amazing intercession of Jesus -"who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us" (Roms 8:34).
Just in case you’re thinking ‘I’m not worthy of such’, 1 John 2:1 says, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
We have an advocate, which literally means "one who comes alongside to help.” Amazing!
Jesus is praying for you, He is mediating with Father God on your behalf.
1 Timothy 2:5 says, "For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, a man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself a ransom for all…"
Perhaps another aspect of Jesus' prayer included His own personal needs.
We believe that Jesus was fully God but He was also fully man, and therefore would have had needs like any other person.
Can I just refer you to the sequence of events. I’m sure Jesus would still have been troubled over the brutal death of John (see ch 14:10-13). You will note that when He heard the tragic news He immediately withdrew: "he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place" (v13).
No sooner had He done this, the crowd appeared. So, Jesus hadn’t time to grieve the loss of John.
Not only was He feeling the loss of John but also that tiredness that comes from giving out and ministering. Perhaps He was completely exhausted from spending most of the day caring for those who were hurting, and healing those that were sick. Is it any wonder He needed time alone with His Father.
Some commentators make note that Jesus had gone away, alone to pray for the disciples. I am sure that Jesus was completely aware of what was ahead of them crossing the sea. Even though He had told them they would get to the other side, He didn’t tell them it would be through a storm and through their own heartache and struggles. Jesus knew all their needs and I’m sure He would have prayed to His Father on their behalf.
We are not told in this story whether in the disciples' greatest need they stopped and prayed.
I’m concerned that whilst so many reading this blog will pray and do that regularly - daily even, bringing your requests and thanks to God - but, are you spending time with Him as your Father? Are you alone with Him, having that heart-to-heart, Spirit-led prayer encounter with Him? Do you know Him and does He know you?
Franz Baker once said: "No matter who we are, if we haven't personally learned what it is to pray, we will meet an unknown God after death."
Interestingly, Matthew 14 is the first place that we read of Jesus praying.
He prayed on the mountainside alone.
Jesus had to be alone. He knew that until He withdrew from the day, from the crowds, even from His own disciples, He couldn’t have that precious, powerful time with His Father. Let me ask you, is this how you spend your time in prayer with Father God? Alone, seeking His face, knowing His presence, being reassured of His promises?
Being alone means we have to deal with just two people, ourselves and God. Going up the mountainside to pray alone with his Father was essential for Jesus. We need to come to the same conclusion. There has to come a time when all distractions are dealt with and we approach our ‘mountainside place of prayer’ alone with our Father God.
Let’s stop and get alone with God
“Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matt 6:6).
Perhaps listen again to the song we played earlier.
Susanna Wesley, the mother of 19 children, had a special way that she sought to have private time with God: she would flip her apron over her head when she was having her "secret" prayer time, the children knew to be quiet if the apron was over her head!
Getting alone with God is so essential for our daily walk as Christians, no matter how it’s achieved!
Do daily times of prayer and solitude form the foundation of your relationship with God? Solitude and prayer draw us closer to God. The thing is, we cannot be drawn closer to the heart of God without having our own hearts changed.
Dallas Willard said, “The Bible also informs us that there are certain practices—solitude, prayer, fasting, celebration, and so forth—we can undertake, in cooperation with grace, to raise the level of our lives toward godliness.”
I'm so taken by that final phrase“to raise the level of our lives toward godliness.” Imagine at the start of 2025 we all made a concerted effort in response to God ‘to raise the level of our lives’ where to? “Toward godliness.” Wow! What an amazing thought!
Do you know, Jesus is totally capable of handling your life if you let Him; He longs to create in you a godliness that has no explanation other than God has touched your life! But it must begin with a submission to Him.
May we know what it is to have our lives centred on God, and allowing Him, at the start of 2025, to transform our lives so that the ordinary becomes the extraordinary for His glory.
De Young said, "The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God's glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency."
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness" (2 Pet 1:3).
No more excuses!
Prayer by Thomas Merton
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
God Bless You
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