pray like Jesus

everytime i come home for break, my dad always makes us wake up and attend the early morning services with him and my mom. it's sad, but it's one of those things that i DO NOT look forward to upon homecoming. honestly, who likes to wake up in the dead of night? i am not a morning person and get grouchy if woken up in the middle of a sleep, and lemme tell ya- today was just one of those days.

but now that i replenished in my lack of sleep, tummy full, and mind somewhat back to normal, i gotta ask myself. didn't Jesus like this too? he prayed in the dead of morning when there were nobody else, it was just Him and God.

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed" - Mark 1:35.

i know as christians, we are to live like Jesus Christ, to set an example by living how he did. but why is it so hard to do a simple thing like praying? i take it for granted that we can pray directly to our Father. you know, some religions and countries don't even let you do that! some people are persecuted so heavily, that they can't pray without having the fear or being discovered and shot. i can't even begin to imagine how that'd feel like...

but anyway- pray like Jesus. i know that sometimes it's really hard, because there are times when you try to pray but prayers won't come out! i asked my dad why that is, and he said, it's Satan suppressing your heart and your tongue.

omg. that made perfect sense. satan doesn't like us praying, he is always constantly trying to block our relationship with God, and guess what- prayer is like a portal to our relationship with our Heavenly Father! smart enemy.

Jesus taught us how to pray; it's all in the bible. he taught us how to pray in joy, thanksgiving, anguish, anger, or even out of just peace. He is the example to follow in prayer. don't be like the pharisees who pray loudly and just say big, fancy words..be like Jesus who prays in darkness where nobody can see/hear Him, because that's when you truly connect with God. there's no worry about how you appear to others, because it doesn't matter how other people see you as a "pray-er".