Jesus' Night of Prayer

Text: Mark 3:13-19 NASB  ​13  And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14  And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, 15  and to have authority to cast out the demons. 16  And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), 17  and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, "Sons of Thunder"); 18  and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; 19  and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him. 

Cross References:

Read the below cross reference verses

Luke 6:12-16

Matthew 10:1-15

Questions to Consider:

​1. When was the last time you lost sleep in order to pray? 

2. What does it mean to you that the Son of God would lose sleep and pray to the Father on your behalf?

​3. Read Job 33:13-18. Has the Lord ever spoke to you through dreams or visions in the night? What does that look like? 
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13  And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.

​12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: Luke 6:12-13 NASB

​When Jesus heads up to the mountain where He ends up calling the original 12 apostles, Luke describes to us what Jesus did right before He summoned the twelve. Luke 6:12 tells us that Jesus spent a whole night in prayer. This was not an 'off-the-cuff' decision that Jesus was making. He spent a whole night in prayer before deciding on which 12 apostles He would choose to send out and eventually become the pillars of the first church. Jesus took that much dedication and time to make this decision that pertains to us, His disciples. He realized that this decision of who was going to be a part of the foundations of His church was massive, and He did not take it lightly. 
Let me remind you, Jesus does not take lightly what He has has called us to do. We may take it lightly, others may take it lightly or disregard it; but our Father in heaven does not. To whom much is given, much will be required; and we have been given much from our Savior. Jesus, being all knowing surely knew who to choose and who not to choose; yet He spends a whole night in prayer with His Father dedicated to that choice. This should awaken our passion for God and serve as proof to us that Jesus cares so much about us and what He has called us to do that He would dedicate a whole night to prayer on our behalf. What a thought to ponder on that the Son of God would lose sleep for me. While other men were sleeping, Jesus was praying. While other men could care less about the kingdom of God and the church, Jesus devotes a whole night to prayer specifically for that purpose. Some of us may understand losing sleep on behalf of ourselves and the trials we are facing, but Jesus was not losing sleep for only Him, but with us in mind. 
If Christ would do that for us, should we not do that for others? If Christ is so dedicated to the success of His beautiful bride, shouldn't we be as well? 
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