more decisions

Thinking about decision and prayer, I did some searches through the gospels trying to find the times Jesus withdrew to pray alone. obviously He prayed a lot in public and with His disciples but when did He pray completely alone. Luke says jesus often withdrew to pray, but there are a limited number of times actually recorded. Note this was done using some word searching on the computer, so there may be some missed out.

I found this mentioned 11 times in all the gospels, but with some things repeated, so from that - 4 separate times were recorded as Jesus being alone to pray (until He chose to come back). Often all night by the way.

1 Dealing with grief
He sought seclusion after hearing about John the Baptist death. (Must have been devastating given the connection - the only man who really understood him.) This was interrupted by a crowd of 5000 which He feed, but He then dismissed them and sent the discipled away.

2 Getting strength to obey
In gethsemene before facing the Cross

3 Decision ??
He prayed all night before choosing the 12

4 Decision ??
He prayed alone before asking the Disciples who they thought He was, and Peters subsequent confession. It also marked a dramatic shift in His teaching and direction (toward Jeruselum and death)

As an aside, it is interesting the way Jesus dealt with grief (extreme grief), no counseling sessions, but alone with His Dad. And similarly whilst facing the cross.

Regarding 3 & 4, when I think about it, it could be argued they probably were the main decisions as such that He had to make. Given that He knew what He was on earth for all His life, choosing the main carriers of the message, and when it was time to go to His death are quite crucial. He did it by spending the night with God