Silence, Solitude and Supplication

Mark 1:35–45 ESV

35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. 40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Luke 5:16 ESV

16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

This verse and other similar verses are short yet significant. This statement in the Gospel of Luke is sandwiched in between the two amazing miracles that we drew some application from last week.

Quick review of the past few weeks.

The Cleansing and Healing Hand of God

Have you been cleansed and healed?

Are you bringing others into the presence of the Lord to be healed?

It is still the power of God, the act of God that does the healing of souls, but He has chosen us as ministers, used at various times to bring people into His presence for healing.

Sometimes the work of bringing people into His presence is difficult, but necessary work.

Ready to Roll?

Are you ready to follow after Jesus, as fishers of men? This question of course follows immediately after Simon has fallen down and recognized his own sinfulness and depravity. Recognition of our depravity is a necessary step in coming to understand the incredible grace and mercy our Savior extends to us. HIS LOVE IS EXTRAVAGANT!!!

Luke 5:9–11 ESV

9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Christ the example for His disciples and for us! We are shown a number of spiritual disciplines by our Savior and Lord. He demonstrated to us the life that we ought to live by the life that He lived and through His teaching and discipleship of those who follow Him.

One of those disciplines was the practice of Silence/Solitude.

Luke 5:15–16 ESV

15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Silence and Solitude: Rollin’ to Desolate Places

The Lord Jesus Christ made it a habit of going to desolate places and He was lead by the Spirit into places of solitude and quiet, which was done to prepare himself accomplish the ministry that was ahead of Him.

He was not a recluse- He was not always avoiding people but He would withdraw!- Solitude is a necessary and vital for our spiritual health and well-being. It is also necessary and vital for the fruitfulness of our service and ministry efforts. Christ exemplifies for us a balance of being among the people and being silent and seeking solitude before God. This is a healthy balance, that we ought to seek to emulate in our lives, for our benefit and for the glory of God.

Celebration of Discipline-is a good resource to help us understand the disciplines as a path to Spiritual growth. In the chapter on Solitude/Silence Foster quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer addressed the need for variety in the disciplines of our lives, in his book Life Together

“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community . . . . Let him who is not in community beware of being alone . . . . Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.”

It is necessary for us to seek out solitude to make fellowship meaningful, and conversely, we must seek out fellowship and accountability if we want to be by ourselves in a safe and healthy manner. These two work in concert with one another, as Christ evidenced in His perfect humanity.

Praying- It’s how we roll!

Prayer- A tool that God uses, to empower human endeavor with supernatural results.

To put it into words of an auto enthusiast- Prayer is like the rear differential on a race car. It is a useful part, or plays a functional role in putting the engine power to the tires, that propels the vehicle forward.

The engine/power source is clearly GOD, the act of prayer transfers that power to the wheels and tires that thereby allows the car to move forward. It is a functional part in the will of God being accomplished.

Jesus taught his disciples this by His own example, as He often spent time in earnest prayer, talking with the Heavenly Father, opening Himself up to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, being guided into truth.

Prayer is like the electrical impulse that travels from your brain to your muscles.

I have caught myself and others making the statement when facing a difficult situation, “all we can do is pray.” and the heart behind that statement, is that I’ve either tried everything else, all the other options have been attempted and they have failed. I gave it my best shot but now that all else has failed, I probably ought to pray about it, or I really have nothing more I can give or there is nothing I can do to remedy the situation so I guess I will pray about it. However, I would like to offer you a different way to think about prayer.

Prayer isn’t the only thing we can do, it’s the first thing we should do!

As I said earlier, prayer is something that is exemplified by Christ and is seen as a necessary element in the life of a believer. Several times in the New Testament we are commanded to practice prayer, it is assumed by Christ that His followers would pray. Jesus said, “And when you pray . . .”

One of the great missionaries of the past once stated,

“Prayer- secret, fervent, believing prayer- lies at the root of all personal godliness.” William Carey

If we want to experience the blessing of godliness (partnering with God in displaying His glory ie: God-like-ness), then we must be actively, fervently, earnestly pray.

James 5:16 ESV

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

There are some difficulties that we can experience as we pray.

Distractions, we lose our train of thought, we begin to day dream, we lose focus and start to formulate our own plan of action. We fail to know what to say. We ask with wrong motives and so on and so forth, but that should not be an excuse to stop praying. Instead it ought to encourage us to grow in our faith and grow in our ability to pray.

Prayer is something we grow in, and grow through.

In other words, as we pray we grow in our ability to prayer biblically and effectively and and as we mature in our understanding of biblical prayer, we grow in Christlikeness.

Prayer takes practice- Praying in faith doesn’t always happen easily and isn’t 2nd nature to us. It is a discipline that we grow in and as we grow in it, we are transformed by it.

Such a thought is something that can be “liberating”.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray. I have found it very beneficial to pray each of the phrases of the Lord’s Prayer, as I pray. I am not suggesting that we recite the Lord’s prayer in a vain repetitious way, but rather take each of the phrases, and pray them earnestly and with sincerity.

This is one way that allows us to learn how to pray.

Foster used the example of a TV. If we turn it on and we don’t see anything on the screen or we get a fuzzy picture, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t electronic frequencies being broadcast, it may be that there is something wrong with the TV receiving the transmission. We should look for problems or deficiencies in our prayers, when we don’t seem to be getting the results we expect.

James 4:1–10 ESV

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

WE hear this verse quoted a lot these days. Unfortunately, we are not necessarily willing to apply this entire verse to our lives.

We may leave out portions of this verse, when we seek to apply it to ourselves.

For example we might say in our hearts-

“If my people who are called by my name will pray and seek my face, then I will hear from Heaven and will heal their land.”

We leave out the part of the verse, that we need to humble ourselves, and turn from our wicked ways, and that God will forgive our sin.

Prayer is something we grow in, and grow through.

Matthew 6:7 ESV

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Humility, confession, quietness and repentance are ingredients to the acceptable sacrifice of prayer, that is a pleasing aroma before the Lord.

Silence, Solitude and Supplication

Each of these are active ingredients to an effective and fruitful life of a follower of Christ.

There are various forms of prayer- Not all prayer is supplication (it was just necessary for alliteration.

Discursive- Reflection

Mental-

Centering-

Quieting

Relinquishment

Guidance

Intercession

Supplication

Praise

Thanksgiving

Confession

Recommended Resources

Celebration of Discipline- Richard Foster

With Christ in the School of Prayer- Andrew Murray

Power of a Praying Parent . . . Husband . . . Wife- Stormie Omartian

Practice the Presence of God- Brother Lawrence

Christ’s Example-

Luke 3:16 ESV

16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Luke 5:16 ESV

16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Luke 6:12 ESV

12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

Luke 6:28 ESV

28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Luke 9:28 ESV

28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

Luke 9:29 ESV

29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.

Luke 11:1 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

Jesus teaches us to pray!

Luke 11:2–4 ESV

2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

Matthew 6:7–14 ESV

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,

Silence Solitude and Supplication

Sometimes we need to be quiet and listen as we pray.

Turn off the phone, music, TV, tablet, computer etc. . . etc. . . etc. . .

Go somewhere desolate

Quiet your heart and mind (not emptying your mind as in Eastern religions)

We live in a broken world, where people have some very real and desperate “infirmities”. People have problems, people have hurts, people have sickness, and are dying. People need the Lord!!! We can join in the ministry of God to heal and restore and redeem, as we pray.

Luke 5:15–16 ESV

15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Christ our example spent time in solitude, silence and supplication, even as He fulfilled His glorious purpose, why wouldn’t we do the same?