How Important Is Prayer?

Then Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. [Matthew 26.55]

Something stood out to me today as I read the Gospels' respective accounts of Jesus' arrest. Jesus asked why they did not arrest Him in the Temple where He taught every day.

Why didn't they arrest Jesus in the Temple?

As with every question Jesus ever asked, He did not need an answer - He already knew the answer. But rather, like every question His Father God also asked, Jesus was pointing out a question to give those He questioned the opportunity to reflect and answer that question for themselves.

Here is what Jesus wanted His captors to realize:

First, because so many people hung on Jesus' words, the religious leaders cowardly decided they should not arrest Jesus there for fear of revolt by the people. The reasoning was probably correct based on their previous refusal to answer Jesus about the baptism of John, The religious leaders were cowards.

I believe however, there is a deeper, more sinister reason for Jesus being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. It has everything to do with the importance of prayer. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus experienced perhaps some of His most intimate fellowship with the Father. Jesus often withdrew to pray because prayer was the intimate foundation of every work Jesus did and every word Jesus spoke. And, even if it hadn't been in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus was arrested, it remains noteworthy that it was in Jesus' "place of prayer" - the place of Jesus' intimacy with the Father - that His arrest took place.

As Satan was the driving force of the religious leaders who arrested Jesus, it becomes clear that Satan wished to disrupt Jesus in His most intimate time with God...

With this in mind, should we not understand how desperately Satan wishes to disrupt our prayer and fellowship with the Father? Should we not, therefore, be protective of that time more so than any other practice in our lives?

Not only should we be protective - even jealous - of this time with God for ourselves, we should likewise promote and protect that time of intimacy with God in the lives of those with whom we have spiritual influence.

Mmm, this is good.

Father help us to be very protective of our times of intimacy with You. Help us likewise to honor and protect others' times of intimacy with You. So be it.