Luke 5:16 (NASB)
But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

Luke 6:12 (NASB)
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

When you question the power of prayer, you only need to go to Luke. Luke records that Jesus would “often” slip away to be alone in prayer . He also noted that Jesus spent the entire night in prayer. The human side of Jesus needed that communion with the Father to sustain Him, to give Him the power that flowed from Him as He ministered to the people and trained His disciples.

In Luke 6, the amazing thing about His night in prayer was what followed. The next day, He picked twelve of the many disciples to be His apostles. He and the Father must have had quite a discussion that night about that. Jesus knew that many people would be gathering the next day to hear what He had to say. It would be a demanding day, because large crowds had gathered from all of Judea, Jerusalem, Tire, and Sidon. All were being healed because power was coming from Jesus in an astounding way. Luke noted that Jesus then turned His focus on His disciples and began teaching them what is known as the Beatitudes, the blessings awaiting us as we follow Him.

I think about my feeble attempts at prayer and the power that could come from them through Jesus. It’s not the amount of time that is important, but the level of faith that is present when I pray. I know what is possible, but my faith is weak, especially compared to the faith of Jesus. I know that it has grown over the years, but it is still so small that a mustard seed would look like a mountain compared to it.

Father, I know my faith is weak. I pray that You would increase my faith each day. I pray that as it increases, power would flow to show your Glory. Make me a conduit of Your power. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,