March 15, 2023

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

We are . . . prone to make our own plans or decisions before we pray, but we should pray about everything first.*

As a supervisor, I made the decisions about who to hire for my department. I got to choose who to fire as well, except there was this one time . . . I had a new employee who seemed to be working out pretty well – until his probationary period was up. Within a few months, my boss finally told me that I had to fire the guy, but I asked her to give me one more day – it was a very busy time, we were short-handed, and I needed someone to load a truck. That day, while loading the truck, he faked an injury and we were on the hook for his Workman’s Comp claim until his benefits ran out.

Luke tells us in this verse that Jesus went out to a mountainside and prayed all night. Next morning, he chose his staff of twelve. Perhaps Jesus spoke to his Father of other things besides who was going to be in his inner circle, but it is clear that there was a connection between his night-long vigil and the important business decision he made the next day. How much better my story could have turned out if I had thought to follow the example of Jesus and prayed about whom to hire - and when to fire them.

We should bring all our important decisions to the Lord. Nothing wrong with praying about the not-so-important ones as well. Sometimes the little things turn out to have a big impact on our lives and the lives of others. Is it enough to mention the matter in our daily prayer time prior to the big decision – or is it necessary that we stay up all night praying about it? Jesus never gave precise instructions about how long our prayers should last in order to be effective, but his long nights in communication with God should tell us that quantity, not just quality, is important. After all, prayer is more about getting to know God than about getting things from him. Thank you for today. And please help me make a wise decision tomorrow, doesn’t seem conducive to relationship-building, does it?

His life was encapsulated by prayer. It wasn’t because he felt he had to meet some spiritual requirement. It was a relationship.*