“The Setting” (Luke 6:12)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/12/2026 9:27 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  “The Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  Luke 6:12

            Message of the verse:  It was at this time that He went off to the mountains to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

            There are time when I think Satan gets  involved with me writing my Spiritual Diaries, or perhaps it is just me who can do some very dumb things.  At any rate last evening, and this is not the first time it has happened to me, instead of clicking on save to save by SD, I put copy which makes the entire SD go away, and so this morning I had to rewrite last evening’s SD.  I waited to this morning to do it because I was a little, or a lot upset last evening.  At any rate this morning’s SD will be a short one.

            “The word time does not refer to calendar time, such as a specific day, week, or month, but is a general term for season, era, or period.  It describes here the time of Christ’s intensifying conflict with the scribes and Pharisees.  They first appeared in Luke’s account in 5:17, and their hostility toward Jesus quickly manifested itself (v. 21).  Since that first incident, their opposition to Him had been steadily escalating (v. 30; 6:2, 7, 11).  In view of that mounting hostility, which would culminate in His execution less than two years later, the time had come for Jesus to choose the men who would carry on His earthly ministry after His death.  He knew that they needed intensive preparation and training in the time remaining before the cross for their roles as His official representatives.

            “Recognizing the critical importance of His choice of them men Jesus went off to the mountain alone to pray (cf. 5:16).”

(cf. 5:16)

“16  But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”

“The specific mountain of which the Lord prayed is not known, but there were many in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee.  In His humanity, having set aside the independent use of His divine attributes (Phil 2:5-8), Jesus sought the Father’s will in choosing the Twelve.”

(Phil 2:5-8)

“5  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

“So important was this decision to the future course of redemptive history that Jesus spent the whole night in prayer to God.  Dianuktereuon (meaning, ‘to spend the whole night’) appears only here in the New Testament.  It denotes an activity that continues throughout an entire night.  The Greek phrase translated in prayer to God is an unusual construction, and could be translated ‘in prayer of God.’  Jesus spent the long hours of darkness in unceasing, fervent, persevering, inter-Trinitarian prayer to the Father before selecting the twelve apostles.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  First I would have loved to hear that prayer conversation that Jesus had with His Father.  Wonder if they had different choices to go over, but probably not.  Perhaps the prayers for the Apostles were about getting them ready to do this all important job of getting the Church started.  This was an awesome responsibility and certainly was in good hands. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have heard of people spending the night in prayer before and one of them, I don’t remember his name was involved in a prayer meeting in Russia right before the Soviet Union was to collapse were out in the woods hiding and praying the entire night. 

            I was praying for an hour about getting money for our church members to pray that we get enough money to pay the loan off for the church, and also giving $100,000 collected to get they Dye translation of the Bible translated.  Praying is difficult work, and yes it is work because one’s mind can wonder when you are praying.  I am  trying to be more consistent in praying for my wife’s cancer problem and as stated it is hard work. 

6/12/2026 9:55 AM