Matthew 14:9-16

9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.  13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”  16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

Jesus response to the death of John was to get alone with the Father, He withdrew into quiet solitude. During sorrow we withdraw, but often we just withdraw into ourselves just us and our hurts. Jesus took His sorrow to His Father, He went to a solitary place, a place we seem to want to avoid, yet we frequently find God in the silence and solitude. Jesus intentionally got alone with the Father using a boat. I like that because in the pain we need to get out of and get into.  What is your boat, your vessel to transport you to the heart of solitude with the Father? Is it time to get into and get away from?

Jesus does not have long alone, when He lands He sees a large crowd, notice His response was not one of annoyance but compassion. He healed their sick yet the disciples wanted to send the people away “Jesus replied, ‘They do not need to go away”  When we get empty we want to send people away, we stop seeing people through the eyes of compassion, we stop focusing on their needs and we start focusing on the problems. Our conclusion stop serving, send people away, but the people were hungry they needed compassion. Are you empty trying to feed others? You will never be able to feed others from a place of emptiness. Jesus is the one who fed the crowd and when they were finished eating they were full and there were leftovers! He told the crowd to sit down to be still. He longs to fill you, are you willing to sit down with Him? As you feed others ask yourself the question have you eaten today?

Sandwiched between sorrow and service is silence and stillness with God!

Are you running on empty? Is it time to get Alone with God?

Luke 6:12-14

12 One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. 13 At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles

At some point in life everyone has some big decisions to make, you might be in the middle of a big decision right now. Jesus was faced with a decision that would shape the rest of history, talk about a big decision. He was getting ready to select 12 men who would be trained and carry on His ministry when He left. Think about it for a while, where would Christianity be today if the apostles had failed – just given it all up as a failed experiment and gone back to their old professions of fishing and tax collecting? Where would the church be today who would have shared Christ with you?

Do you ever feel the weight of decisions on you? Feel that the whole world – or maybe your whole future rests on this one decision? Jesus felt that pressure He understands… So what did He do?

He got alone with God and spent the whole night in prayer. How often do you pray about the decisions of Life? Notice Jesus spent the whole night in prayer. God the Father had time for Jesus and He has time for you. God cares, He is interested in you and the things that are going on in your life. He wants to hear from you what you are thinking – what you are struggling with. He wants to help you and He has all night for you. How long do you spend praying about the decisions of your life? 5 mins per day? 10? 20? 30? Are you facing a big decision? How much time are you willing to spend talking to God about it? He is waiting for you.