"The Key to Vision is Prayer: Planned, Private, Prolonged”

Mark 1:35-45

February 20, 2000

Introduction: Tom Landry died a week ago Saturday (February 12, 2000) at the age of 75, having been married for 50 years to his wife, Alicia. Coach Landry set an NFL record with 20 consecutive winning seasons with the Dallas Cowboys from 1966-1985.
A former safety with the Cowboys was quoted as saying of Coach Landry, “The thing I remember about my rookie season was he asked us players on the first day of training camp what our priorities were. He said, ‘I don’t know what your priorities are, but mine are God, family, and the Dallas Cowboys.’ That made quite an impression on me, because I thought football was going to be his top priority.”
Because his relationship to God was his highest priority, the famous coach had a formula for success in life. “The way you react to adversity is the key to success. People who succeed are the ones who respond the right way.”
Tom Landry had other priorities, one that was evident every Sunday he was seen on the sidelines. He is perhaps best known on the football field for always seeming to be in control, no matter what was happening on the playing field. His idea of leadership was that “it was a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you are in control, (the players) will be in control.”
At age 70, while flying a small Cessna that began sputtering over Ennis, TX, Landry calmly and in control landed in a dirt field next to a high school. He and his wife and two other family members walked away without injuries or any damage to the plane.
The famous coach was known by a few for even other priorities, though he may not have articulated them so clearly. He worked with FCA, spoke to hospital patients, and visited with prison inmates.
Gil Brandt, vice president for personnel with the Cowboys for many years, said, “I think Tom did more for the city of Dallas than any person could (have), because there was a stigma (about Dallas) after President Kennedy was shot here. I think that Tom, more than anybody, helped erase that just because so many people thought so highly of him as a person. It was amazing how somebody had time for everybody. I think that is how many, many people will remember Tom Landry…”
The legacy of Tom Landry grew out of the priorities he lived in life. At his death, many would easily remember what had been important in his life.
Priorities. What are ours? What sort of legacy are we building? At our homegoing, what will others remember about our life?
Two weeks ago on Sunday morning, we looked at Nehemiah’s vision, his priorities for a particular season of his life. We saw how God led him into a project the details of which are recorded for all eternity in the Scriptures. God’s vision for Nehemiah and that project gave purpose and meaning, direction and energy to everything he did. And the same can be true for each of us.
We want to continue addressing this issue of vision over the next few weeks as we gather here on Sunday mornings. I do want us to finish the Thessalonian letters soon, and Lord willing, we will. But for the next few weeks, let’s explore together this thing called vision. Maybe it is the very thing many of us need as we seek to follow the Lord Jesus and make our contribution to the kingdom of God. Perhaps it’s the very thing many of us are looking for to give direction and meaning to our lives, to establish priorities worth living for.
As I have been spending time in the Book over the last few months, I’ve been tuned to this issue as I’ve read and studied. Recently, I passed through Mark 1 and was struck by something Jesus said about His purpose in His life. His purpose gives us some clues to His vision that God the Father had set before His eyes.
What we find Jesus saying will help us with our desire for God’s vision, for priorities that satisfy and fulfill, for a life that leaves a legacy of success.
Mark 1:35-45 – “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. When they found Him, they said to Him, ‘Everyone is looking for You.’
But He said to them, ‘Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.’ And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.
Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’
However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.”
Our passage from Mark 1 shows us the place that prayer occupies in any grasp of vision. If there was ever a Man with vision, Who knew what His purpose in life was, Who ordered His day around His vision-oriented priorities, it was the Son of God. Let’s look at the role that prayer played and learn some lessons we can apply.
There are three issues that flow out of this portion of the Word of God that we want to benefit from.
First, Prayer is a critical priority. The Lord Jesus was phenomenally successful in His short three years of ministry because of the place He gave to prayer. In Jesus’ life, it was planned, it was private, it was prolonged. More about that in a moment.
The second issue leaping out of this text is Prayer clarifies purpose.
Thirdly, and finally, Prayer prepares the heart for the interruptions of the day. No one, not even Tom Landry, can control all that floods into a life in the course of a day. So how do we fold those interruptions into our purpose and vision? How do we know what is a distraction and what is a detour taking us away from the call of God?
As we think about the priority that prayer can have in a successful life, we see an amazing development here in Jesus’ experience. According to verse 35, when Jesus goes to pray, it is early in the morning, while it is still dark. If we look back into the previous day, the day before this early morning, we see an awfully long day. In fact, if this day began in verse 14, this may have been the longest day in Jesus’ ministry.
And if verse 32 gives us any clues, that previous day had extended long into the night. That day had been a Sabbath, where burdens could not be carried. But after sundown, a new day started and in this case, Jesus’ day simply gets longer. So many who are ill and demon-possessed are carried to the Savior. We don’t know how long into the night the healing went, but we do know the whole city of Capernaum has gathered at the door of Peter’s house.
All of these details give new meaning to the phrase, “And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”
How did Jesus do that? We can only conclude He had a plan. Suzie and I had desert with Ted and Karen Kluck last Saturday evening at the Cracker Barrel. Ted told us that he is often in bed by 8 p.m., for some of his mornings start at 3:30 (a.m.). He is a corporate pilot with Pizza Hut and though the Klucks live in Hartford City, he flies out of Fort Wayne. To be a responsible pilot, Ted has to have a plan.
The Lord Jesus had a plan here in Mark 1. He planned to do what was a critical priority in His life. No one takes on this kind of draining ministry and then gets up early the next morning unless this praying business is important. Notice that His plan was for private, prolonged prayer. Now the Gospel writer doesn’t give us many more details about this time Jesus spends alone with the Father, but he does show us the outcome of that time of prayer.
That brings us to the second issue regarding vision that we see here in this text. Prayer clarifies purpose. When Peter and the other disciples find Jesus after searching for Him, they convey the fact that everyone is looking for Him. And notice what Jesus says: (vs. 38) “Let’s go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”
How can Jesus turn from the needs of this town, from the fruitful ministry of helping people, from the expectations of His disciples? How can Jesus turn down the demands that arise from so many who are demon-possessed (3 references to demon-possession are found in the previous few verses)? How does He retreat from so many possible victories over the powers of the Dark Kingdom? What is it that draws the Son of God away from Capernaum to the other towns nearby?
Though Mark doesn’t say it outright, the way he has placed these snapshots along side of each other demonstrates that Jesus’ time of planned, private, prolonged prayer has given Him clarity of purpose. No one leaves the known, the successful, the fruitful for the unknown and all its risks apart from vision, vision that sprouts out of the seed bed of prayer. Verse 39 tells us that vision pulls the Lord Jesus onward with a razor sharp conviction that this is what He is to be about.
Prayer that is a critical priority will always clarify purpose. When prayer becomes important, vision is just about to become sharply focused and absolutely certain.
The third issue related to vision that we find in this passage is the way that prayer prepares the heart. When a leper appears out of nowhere, Jesus has compassion on him, actually touches him, and the man is healed. Jesus could have walked on by as He did to a woman I want to tell you about next week. The Lord could have spoken a word and healed this man without stopping to talk to him. But instead, He stops, He touches, and He heals.
What moves the Son of God to touch a leper? In our days in Indonesia, we saw some of the most disfigured people we have ever seen in our lives. We were always moved to compassion to give them something… To this day our two kids have compassionate hearts because of the way they were marked in their youth by these experiences. But none of us were ever so moved by our compassion to the point of actually touching these hurting human beings who had no noses, or ears, or some other body parts. How did Jesus do it?
My guess is that His time in prayer earlier that morning had prepared His heart for what the day would hold. My imagination suggests to me that the vision the Lord Jesus had for His purpose and His ministry grew out of His time of prayer earlier in the day.
But prayer not only prepared the Lord’s heart to move in compassion. It also prepared it to suffer the consequences of disobedience. Notice that the now-healed leper is sternly warned to take a certain course of action. This newly healed man is to go to the priests, offer the sacrifice that Moses had commanded, and thus be a testimony to them. This new man has an opportunity to share in the ministry of the King!
But he disobeys. And Jesus is now confined to desert regions. According to verse 45, Jesus can no longer publicly enter a city. Well, so much for helping someone!! Thanks expressed in disobedience is hardly gracious. How does one respond to this turn of events? What had coach Landry said? “The way you react to adversity is the key to success. People who succeed are the ones who respond the right way.” If he has risen early to pray (planned, private, prolonged), his heart has been prepared for what he didn’t know early in the day.
If prayer was a critical priority to the Lord Jesus, if prayer clarified His purpose, if prayer prepared His heart for the unknowns of the day as He followed His vision, how much do we need it in our quest for God’s vision, for God’s call upon our lives?
Some practical lessons for us, for those of us who want to hear God’s call, who want to know His vision for our lives… Vision is given to those who pray. Consider some of these New Testament experiences: Zacharias in Luke 1 is told, “Do not be afraid…for your petition has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son…” (Interestingly, while Zacharias is serving in his priestly functions, the whole multitude outside the temple was in prayer...) When Zacharias comes out of the temple speechless, everyone recognizes that he had had a vision.
Then there was Jesus and His disciples praying on the mount of transfiguration in Luke 9. As a result of that prayer, Moses and Elijah appear in glory and talk with Jesus about His departure soon from Jerusalem.
Or how about Cornelius in Acts 10? He has a vision in which the angel of God says to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man who is called Peter…”
Peter in Acts 10 and Paul in Acts 9 (11-12) are further examples. Paul is described as “…a man from Tarsus (who) is praying and (who) has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him…”
As God is still in the business of revealing His will for this world, it behooves us to be about the matter of prayer. Vision is always a direct result of our willingness to pray.
So let’s make a plan. When will we pray? Where will be find it on our schedules and calendars? Where will we pray? How much time will we allocate to it? What will we ask for? Will we ask God for direction in how we can be a part of what He is doing? Will we approach Him with a willingness to receive what He wants to give? Let’s be sure to leave time in our praying for listening! It is tough for those of us who are so active to be quiet, to be passive, to slow down and wait with patience!
A second lesson…Vision is not someone else’s dream for us. The disciples in our passage thought that today would be a continuation of yesterday. The disciples had some stature to gain in the eyes of the local people by finding and bringing back to town the One Who could do miracles of healing and deliverance. How nice to be buddies with the Big Guy! But because they were not praying, they didn’t know what the heavenly Father had in mind by way of purpose and dream and intentions. Because Jesus was praying, He knew very clearly what His purpose was in order to glorify His heavenly Father. Prayer will clarify our purpose and prayer will keep us from being led along to suit someone else’s dream!
Practically speaking then, be careful of your headstrong, aggressive, assertive friends. Be vigilant that God is your leader. Be cautious of those who want to draw you into their pond. Don’t be so quick to say ‘yes’ at all the invitations that come your way. Pray first, even if you have to get up earlier than everyone else!
Vision is not someone else’s dream for us!
A third lesson…Vision will be costly! I’m convinced, friends, that Jesus’ compassion, a direct result of time spent with the Father, not only led Him to touch a leper, it also left Him living in the desert! If we want a life of satisfaction and real fulfillment, we have to get on God’s path. He has a perfect plan designed uniquely for each one of us. That plan we could call His call or His vision for us. If we are willing to pay the price, we can know it and enjoy it, but it will not be easy and it will not be cheap. When we usually think of ‘cheap’, we think of money. What I have in mind is not money; it’s emotional energy that will be drained. It’s coming into contact with the unlovely, it’s touching them… It’s faith and fear and taking risks that move us out of our comfortable ‘cities’ into the uncomfortable, barren, desolate, forsaken ‘deserts’ of life.
But- it will –be- worth- it!!


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