10 Bible Lessons from the Lord's Prayer: 1 Time and Place
Now it came to pass, as He was Praying
in a certain place, when He ceased, that
one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord,
teach us to pray as, as John also taught
his disciples.”
So He said on to them, “When you pray
Say:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”
Luke 11:1-4 NKJV
The above underlined portion of scripture tells us that Jesus was praying “in a certain place.” The Bible never gives us frivolous information. Mentioning that Jesus prayed in a certain place should not be glossed over by us. The lesson to be learned is that even though we can pray anywhere and at any time, the time and place of our prayers are significant.
Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12, these are all examples in scripture where we are told the place, or place and time, of Jesus praying. Whether you are alone, in a place free from distractions or in the middle of a crowd, where and when you pray is important.
We live our lives with a multitude of urgent and important things competing for our time and attention. Our “right now” time is a precious commodity and should be spent more carefully than our money. Even if we have learned not to let the present moment be encumbered by the past or diluted by the future, it still may be difficult to defend the necessity of the important from the tyranny of the urgent.
Our prayer life is important and the time and place we set aside for that time is like a castle where our prayer time resides. Prayer needs protection from the urgent, and not so urgent, assaults on our ability to be in the present moment. Speaking with God and hearing Him is the most important activity in a Christian life. The enemy seeks to constantly assault our prayer time and the castle of our time and place needs to be fortified and protected.
How often do we find ourselves suddenly feeling sleepy, interrupted by random thoughts or distracted by people, when we have set aside time to pray. These are common assaults on our prayer life. These assaults are such that God will even wake us up early in the morning, or call us to prayer at unexpected times, to facilitate an environment for prayer.
Obedience to the time and place of God’s calling to prayer and maintaining a consistent practice of sequestered time for prayer is crucial to achieving and maintaining a victorious Christian life.
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