Prayer and discipleship

“And it came to pass as he was praying alone, his disciples were with Him, ...He said to them ...The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected ...” (Luke 9:18.22)

After the Lord Jesus had provided food for 5000 men, Luke shows Him to us again directly afterwards as a dependent man in prayer. In chapter 9 verse 18 a new section begins in this Gospel. Although Christ, as the Lord (Yahweh) of the Old Testament, provided His people with bread (see Ps 132:15), He was nevertheless rejected as Messiah by the mass of the people.

From that moment on, in prayer, He took the place of the One who was rejected. He then spoke openly to His disciples for the first time about the sufferings that awaited Him in Jerusalem. From then on the disciples were no longer to proclaim Him as the Christ (Messiah). His way led through suffering to glory - and this is also the way of every disciple who wants to follow Him today (see Luke 9:23)!

We are only able to deny ourselves, to take up our cross daily, and to follow the Son of God if we realize our dependence on Him every day in prayer. The grace and strength we need to follow Him is found in practical communion with God. If we do not realize and live out this fellowship in practice, through prayer and the study of God's Word, discipleship quickly becomes an empty routine or a legal constraint. This is why our prayer life, especially with regard to daily discipleship, is so fundamentally important!

Consistent discipleship is connected with resistance from the world. Unfortunately, however, experience shows that the headwind often comes from "our own ranks". Paul writes, "Indeed all who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Tim 3:12). How important it is that we, as born-again Christians, stand together as one - like one man! As brothers and sisters in Christ and as disciples of the Lord Jesus, we can pray together and thereby strengthen each other's hands for good. Instead of biting and devouring one another (see Gal 5:15) and going through life as lone fighters, God wants us to have love for one another and to be of one heart and one mind.

When the first Christians were threatened from outside at that time, this drove them to pray together, raising their voices to God with one accord (see Acts 4:24). Prayer welds together - and moves the arm of the Almighty!

Is following after the Lord Jesus more a compulsion or more a privilege for you (see Acts 5:41; Phil 1:29)? How do you show your love for those who are born of God and belong to His family? Try, as far as possible, to pray more together with other disciples of the Lord!

J.P.S.