We begin a new series of messages tonight on "Back to the Basics." The longer I stay here as your pastor the more impressed I am with the pastoral leadership you have had in the last few years who has taught you the Word of God and lead you as a church in right ways. However, as a pastor, I am responsible to make sure you know such things and that is why these first seven months or so will be to continue to lay foundation.

Again, I cannot overestimate the importance of a foundation. I believe from the life of Jesus there are certain disciplines we need in our lives to ensure the foundation of our Christian life. If our Lord needed these as the perfect Son of God, how much more do we who are sons of God but far from perfect.

The first is the discipline of a daily devotional life and as always, our example is Jesus. Look at Mark 1: 35.

Notice the setting, and then the sequel, to our text. Jesus had a very busy day and was in need for a long night’s rest. Yet, God’s perfect Son considered it necessary to rise early for prayer. Look at verses 21-34; Jesus had cast out a demon, healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and then all the city came to his door for healing. If a man ever had a busy schedule, Jesus did. If a man was ever doing good, Jesus was. In light of such an example we cannot excuse our lack of a daily time with God on the grounds of a busy schedule. The God-man needed times of regular prayer, how much more do we!

Then look at verses 36 and following. Peter and the others found Him in the quiet place of prayer and immediately let him know "Everyone is looking for you." Yet this did not let him from his prayer time.

All great men had such a priority. Abraham rose up early in the morning to worship (Genesis 22). Jacob rose up early in the morning to make vows (Genesis 28: 18). Joshua rose up early in the morning to sanctify himself (Joshua 3:1). Gideon rose up early in the morning to seek God’s answer (Judges 6: 38). Samuel rose up early in the morning to ask for guidance (I Samuel 9:26). David rose up early in the morning to battle for God (I Samuel 17:20). Our text is the supreme example.

Let the priority of our devotional life take priority over all else. A Christian without a devotional life daily will be like a grape that should be flowing with life and sweetness instead with wither like a raisin.

Jesus had a purpose of his devotional life – He went to pray and meet with His Father. G. Campbell Morgan observes that the verb "prayed" is more than asking. It suggests the going forward of desire, not only for God’s gifts, but for God Himself.

Look at Isaiah 50: 4-5 for three reasons for the devotional life of prayer:

"He awakens My ear to hear as the learned."

This is an openness to the voice of the Father. Our request should be the same as young Samuel, "Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth."

Open yourself to God and His Word. Let Him know of your adoration, of your commitment, of your willingness to know Him.

"The Lord has opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away."

The supreme word in the Christian vocabulary is obedience. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams." I Sam 15:22

Obedience is the supreme test of our love.

"The Lord has given Me the tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary."

The natural overflow of a devotional life is the ability to speak a word in season to needy men and women around us. The Bible reminds us that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Matthew 12: 34

What overflows is obviously what occupies the heart and mind. Moses did not have a shining face of God with a hurried call at heaven’s gate; it was obtained by dwelling in the Lord’s presence for forty days.

Mark says that Jesus "went out and departed into a solitary place and there he prayed." The Lord had no convenience for securing quiet and privacy – but He made them. The hilltop was His closet, the sod His praying mat, and the darkness His bolted door.

Jesus taught in the Sermon of the Mount that we are to enter the closet, shut the door and pray to the Father in secret.

Solitude means you and God stand eye-to-eye; alone. That can either be a frightening thought or a glorious thought.

This meant silence – waiting for the Lord’s voice and not always you speaking.

This means sincerity. Insincerity can never live in the shadow less presence of God. That is why hypocrites never pray in secret. Prayers that are a pretense require an audience; but prayer in the solitary place requires transparency, withdrawal from things and people. You can pray with your wife or your family and still be hypercritical. But when you get along with God hypocrisy dies.

The problem with men today is we are too much with the world and not enough with God. No wonder we have weak Christians, weak churches, and weak offenses against sin.

"And He prayed."

Christ did not teach us how to pray, but to pray. You need to spend time with God in prayer. How do you do it? Just like you are talking to a friend or family member. In fact, I most often speak aloud when I pray because I have better mental comprehension that way. Also, I would never expect another person to read my mind, so I talk.

But the rudest person on earth is the one who dominates all the conversion. You must learn to be quiet and listen.

You need the Word of God in your devotional life. I would suggest you read through the Bible or read through a book of the Bible or a selected passage. It is never how much you read but how much you remember. How much or long should you read? Until God speaks to you.

Then write it down. I encourage you to keep a spiritual journal. Write down your prayer requests, your praise reports and what God says to you. We’ll talk more about this later in two sermons about Bible study, but use a Bible version you can understand and that you like.

In your time, do three things:

Talk it out

Write it down

Pass it on