Straight from the Source

“During those days He went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12).

Jesus went away to pray. How many times in Scripture have we read that Jesus went away from the crowds, even went away from His friends to pray to the Father in solitude?

Why does Jesus do this? He doesn’t do this to parade His holiness. He does this because He’s modeling a practice that we are meant to copy. We discussed in our previous devotion the blueprint Jesus gives us for living like Him. The first practice that Jesus models for us is this: look up to the Father.

Jesus illustrates time and time again the importance of drawing near to the Father, particularly through prayer. It’s not a suggestion for sons and daughters—it’s a necessity. In John 15, Jesus tells His disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper” (John 15:1). We cannot produce fruit when we are not being cultivated by the vineyard keeper.

In other words, it doesn’t matter how good we try to be because none of it matters if we aren’t growing from good soil. How do we make sure our soil is good? We must meet with our Father. We must be saturated in Him.

If we truly want to be used by God, He must do a work in us before He can do a work through us. We can’t give fruit that we don’t have. We can’t love fully until we learn His love. We can’t give abundant grace until we realize how gracious He’s been to us. We can’t tell someone that they should abide in Him when we aren’t abiding in Him.

When Jesus is teaching His disciples, He doesn’t begin His ministry by telling them to perform miracles and spread the gospel. He begins by showing them how to abide in the Father.

Before we try to do anything on His behalf, we need to learn His voice and know His heart. Never make the mistake of thinking that there is nothing left to know—that’s the trap that many Christians fall into after they have been saved for years. They think they’ve got it. But we can never run out of God—there’s always more of Him to soak up, so we keep coming back and keep seeking Him over and over so that we will be filled.

He is the source of every good thing. In Him alone is where good things grow. If we want to live lives worth emulating, we must go straight to the source.