John 7:53-8:1
And every man went unto his own house. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
One of the things that separated Jesus from everyone else was that when they went to their homes to relax, Jesus went to the mount of Olives to pray. When Jesus was done with the day, the disciples went home to be with their families, but you could go to the mount of Olives in the late hours of the night and see Jesus praying to the Father. We could say that Jesus was used mightily because He was the Son of God, but this is not the reason. He took on the form of man to show how to do the mighty works of God in the flesh, and the way He showed us how to do those mighty works was to pray while others were enjoying the comforts of home.
In the verses above, two destinations are described. One is a group of people who went to their homes to relax. The other is Jesus going to the mount of Olives to pray. The one group who went to their homes were likely not bad people, but God did not do the miraculous through them. Jesus, who went alone to the mount of Olives, saw the great and mighty power of God work through His ministry and life, which was a result of spending time with the Father at night in prayer.
Where you go does matter. You cannot do what everyone else does and see God working through you. It is when you go to be alone with God in prayer that you will find the power for God to do His mightiest works through your life. It is often when you are alone in prayer where you find the power to do God’s work. Those who see God use them in mighty ways are those who learn the value of spending much time alone in prayer.
I am reminded of Moses and the children of Israel. Moses went to the top of mount Sinai to spend time with God, but the children of Israel were in the valley playing. Moses’ time resulted in the glory of God shining on his face, while the time the children of Israel spent playing led them to worshipping a golden calf and losing their clothing standards. The crowd wanted fellowship, while the man of God learned the value of fellowshipping alone with God in prayer, and it was Moses’ time alone that allowed God’s glory and power to rest on his life.
God talks about prayer over one hundred times in the New Testament. Apparently, prayer must be critical to God doing something through your life for Him to talk about it so many times. You will never see God use you mightily if you don't learn to get alone with Him in prayer. You can try and manufacture a way to get new ideas for God to use you, but all the ideas in the world will do you no good if you don't spend much time alone with God in prayer. It is in the time alone with God in prayer where you find the mind of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to do God’s works in a mighty way. You may be a good person, but good people still need God’s power for Him to do mighty works through them.
Let me ask, how much time do you spend alone with God in prayer? Are you one of the crowd that goes home at night to relax, or are you the one who goes to pray? Are you one of the crowd that goes to the valley to play, or are you the one who gets alone with God to get His glory to shine on your life? Do you desire God to use you mightily? The only way you will find the wherewithal to do God’s mighty works is by spending much time in prayer. Yes, you need to stay busy doing the works of God, but you also need to spend time alone in prayer to get God’s power to do those works.