O.T.V.-B JOB 7:1-4, 6-7; I COR 9: 16-19, 22-23; MK 1: 29-39 

The Book of Job is an intense meditation on the problem of innocent suffering.  Job compares human life to a drudgery because of his suffering and restless nights.  His ‘comforters’ tell him to repent, believing (as people did at that time) that all suffering was because of sin.  Job who is innocent refuses to give up his trust in God's love.

The Gospel presents “Jesus as the hand of God's compassion stretched out to us.”  Jesus spent most of his time ministering to the needs of others, giving healing, forgiveness and a new beginning to many. Yet, Jesus rose early morning and went off "to a deserted place" to pray, in order to assess his work before God his Father and to recharge his spiritual batteries. 

Jesus was convinced that if he were going to spend himself for others by his preaching and healing ministry, he would repeatedly have to summon spiritual reinforcements. He knew that he could not live without prayer, because his teaching and healing ministry drained off power. For example, after describing how the woman who had touched Jesus’ garment was instantly healed, Mark remarks: “Jesus knew that power (energy) had gone out of him” (5: 30).If healing drains the power off, he had to refresh himself for further service. Our daily activities drain us also of our spiritual power and vitality. Our mission of bearing witness to God requires spiritual energy which comes to us through daily anointing by the Holy Spirit. Hence, we, too, need to be recharged spiritually and rejuvenated every day by prayer – listening to God and talking to Him.

How often do we spend time alone with God? When are you alone?

Not when we are at work. Not when we are on the phone.
Not when we are on-line. Not when we are awaiting a return text-message. Not when we are watching TV. Not when we are listening to the news. But then when are we alone? Are we too busy? B.U.S.Y stands for Being Under Satan’s Yoke. Am I under Satan’s yoke? Most of the time at the end of the day we are burned out. Burn out is not the result of too much activity. It is the result of the wrong kind of activity. One saint said: A Christian should pray at least half an hour every day, except when he is busy, when he is busy he should pray an hour.

Take some time to energize our life and the life of others by taking time to pray. Faith is a social practice, but one that requires solitude and silence. It is not too much to say that all real growth in the spiritual life-all victory over temptation, depend upon the practice of secret prayer.

A father took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunchtime arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer." Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?" With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, "How do I know? It was a silent prayer."

Max Lucado says: Prayer reminds us of who is in charge. We don’t take our requests to someone with less authority. We take them to someone who outranks us in the solutions department.

The same is true in prayer. We don’t pray just to let God know what’s going on. He’s way ahead of us on that one. We pray to transfer “my will be done” to “God’s will be done.”  And, since he’s in charge, he knows the best solution. Prayer transfers the burden to God and He lightens our load. Prayer pushes us through life’s slumps, propels us over the humps, and pulls us out of the dumps. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. With prayer we can accomplish in half a day what we can accomplish in half year. Prayer is the key which unlocks the door of God's treasure-house.

Why are many Christians so often defeated?  Because they pray so little.  Why are many church-workers so often discouraged and disheartened?  Because they pray so little.

Most of the time why we don’t pray is due to lack of confidence that God will answer our prayer.

A traveller in China visited a heathen temple on a great feast-day.  Many were the worshippers of the hideous idol enclosed in a sacred shrine.  The visitor noticed that most of the devotees brought with them small pieces of paper on which prayers had been written or printed.  These they would wrap up in little balls of stiff mud and fling at the idol.  He enquired the reason for this strange proceeding, and was told that if the mud ball stuck fast to the idol, then the prayer would assuredly be answered; but if the mud fell off, the prayer was rejected by the god.

We know we don’t have to take chances like that. All the petitions we throw out at our God will be caught by him and none of them will fall to the ground and remain unanswered.

In his life Jesus had time for prayer, time for healing and time for reconciliation. Let’s keep in mind, that we cannot succeed without slowing down and finding quiet time with God. Let’s resolve now, not only our community prayer in the Church but our personal prayer will be placed on the priority list.