Luke 6:12-13 reads, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles” (ESV). Immediately, I am struck by the clear and unmistakable implication of the passage. If the Lord could look into the hearts of men and women and know their thoughts (cf. John 2:23-25) and still felt the need to pray all night, who am I to think that I don’t need it? Based on the comparisons, if we had to assess the needs, we should pray more earnestly and longer. That kind of prayer is hard work and many are trying to get out of work. This should be a wake-up call to all of us. Men have spent countless hours preparing for gospel revivals, sermons, lectureships, and Bible classes. Preachers who are worth their salt will spend much time in preparation for their sermons and overhead projections. But, how often do you hear of anyone praying all night long? When is the last time you heard an announcement, saw an advertisement, or an email that invited brethren to gather for prayer all night?
The second implication of this text is that Jesus didn’t go to the mountain to “say His prayers.” I am convinced that if we would spend time with Jesus like the Apostles did, we would be asking HIm to teach us pray like Him (cf. Luke 11:1). I have witnessed the difference prayer makes in the lives of those so engaged, after they have repeated all the cliches and slogans that are heard in public prayers of our churches and in the Book of Common Prayers. If, by some means, they could be forced to continue after completing them, you would see an earnestness and a genuineness that some have never experienced. Some have admitted that they had never experienced anything like it. This, my friends, is the secret and explains the value of praying all night. I don’t think Jesus had to “say His prayers” before he could pray earnestly, but I do believe that today’s “Christian” knows only what is experienced in a church service. Other passages reflect the importance of this work. Acts 6 has the Apostles telling the saints in Jerusalem to choose the seven men to wait on tables so they could give themselves to (1) Prayer and (2) Ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4). James tells us that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much (James 5:16). During the persecution is Jerusalem under Herod, we find Peter going to a house of Mary where saints were praying (cf. Acts 12:5,12). More could be cited but these should be sufficient to suggest that if we find ourselves lacking in power, confidence, faith, and in our service to others, it may be linked to our failure to pray as we ought.
When Jesus begins the new day, he calls His disciples and selects His Apostles. Luke names the twelve apostles by name. This selection was no small matter. These men would be hand-selected to become his ambassadors when he returned to the Father. His work would only last a few years, while theirs would continue much longer. They would provide the foundation of His work. Paul wrote, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22). This metaphor places the apostles and prophets at the foundation of the spiritual building, surrounding the cornerstone, Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Peter 2:6). Guided by the Comforter, who was also sent in the name of Christ (John 14:26), the Apostles revealed the mind and will of their Lord. Their place in the building is fixed, true, and plumb. The evangelists, pastors, and teachers that form the layer on top of them are also true and plumb. Each “living stone” has been built upon that foundation.
The importance placed on the selection of the Apostles by staying up all night in prayer ought to be sufficient proof that this was a critical decision. The text doesn’t say that He stayed up all night because of his selection the next morning, but it does appear to be a pivot point in the life of Christ that involves concern not only for their selection but for the mission that they are called to perform and the suffering that must be endured (cf. Luke 6:20-26). In addition, we should be praying over any decision of great consequence that will affect our future and/or the lives of others. James 4:13-15 reads, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” The person who makes such decisions without God reflects self-centeredness and arrogance that set them as stones in another building (James 4:16). If we, like Jesus, should be talking all things over with the Father as the ordinary way of life, failing during critical decision-making when so much is on the line manifests the true condition of the heart (Luke 6:43-45). Let us examine ourselves, and start a new day with a new resolve to make time for our Father in prayer. We need Him so much.