Up to the Mountain to Pray

Many thanks to Randy Harris for taking time from his busy schedule to come inspire us at our summer retreat. For those of you who were there, you know the blessing it was to hear Randy. He has a great gift for communicating God's truth in fresh and challenging ways.

If some of us look a little drowsy this AM, it’s from too many late night conversations in Bergton at the retreat center. They weren't quite all-nighters, but certainly all of us have "pulled an all-nighter" or two through the years. Usually it is something very urgent: a school paper or a work project that has come down to the last minute. There is a sense of urgency, and we know it’s time to pull an all-nighter to address this pressing need.

Imagine feeling that way about prayer. We have records of Jesus pulling all-nighters, and it was to pray. The pattern of city to desert, desert to city is a good one to use to describe this...Jesus is in ministry in the city or around the town and then the next thing you know, he is up all night at the mountain praying!! How about that for an all-nighter?

Here are some Scriptures that speak of it:

Matthew 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone . . .

Mark 6:46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

Luke 9:28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.

Bergton is perhaps not a "desert," but it certainly is a wilderness compared to the urban, belt-way existence we all lead here in Northern Virginia. So, as a church that just came from the mountainside, hopefully we return with a sense of urgency that things in our spiritual life simply cannot wait or be put off any longer. Perhaps we will be inspired to pull a proverbial all-nighter or two because of it...and if we do, ironically, we will emerge from those sessions with souls less tired and more rested than ever.

Mark and Matt