Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 84

March 25;      Mark 6:46;       34/260(IV);        ‘A Man of Prayer’

Mark 6:46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.

The ministry of Jesus was now so popular that wherever He went the multitudes would follow Him and find Him.  Verse 31 tells us that Jesus and His disciples were so busy they did not have time to eat.  The Lord tried to lead them to a deserted place to rest, but the multitudes found them.  As always Jesus was moved with compassion and began to teach them.  Late in the day, the people were still there and the disciples told Jesus to send them away so that they could find something to eat.  The Lord said they would not have to go into the surrounding towns to find something to eat.  He took the small amount of bread and a few fish and used them to feed the multitude.  Once they had eaten, Jesus commanded the disciples to get into their boat and cross over to the land of Gennesaret.  Jesus then sent the huge crowd away.  You would think that because of the incredible pressure upon Jesus to minister wherever He went, that the Lord would rest or maybe sleep all night.  No, Jesus went up on a mountain and prayed.  His diligence to ministry was amazing.  In a short period of time Jesus was accomplish so much as He taught, preached and healed all of the people.  There is an important lesson here.  The ministry is work.  Prayer, study, travel time, ministry itself and in this case more prayer time.  None of us are Jesus and in this chapter, even He was looking to rest awhile with His disciples.  We too will need rest.  What I am trying to say is that the work of the ministry is just that, work.  We have the honor and responsibility to teach others the Word of God.  Prayer, study, teaching the message and ministry to the people is sacred.  Jesus was serious about this, us too.