The ire of the scribes and Pharisees against Jesus had reached a new height, they were now conspiring with the Herodians as to how they could “destroy” Jesus. From that point Jesus had to withdrawn, not from people but from the religious form, He was still surrounded, in fact, He was more followed than ever before but now He found himself along the sea and in the mountains rather than in the towns and in the synagogues. The multitude that now followed Jesus was large, diverse and seem to have been quite demanding. As people with sickness and diseases pressed against Him to receive what they desired, others, possessed by demons would be thrown to the ground as the demons would manifest and cry out from the sight of Jesus. The scene had become so unruly and so dangerous that Jesus told His disciples to have a boat in the sea ready for Him in case the crowd should “crush” Him. From this scene of being completely demanded upon Jesus escapes for a night of prayerful communion with His Father. Jesus did not go to all night prayer because He needed answers or demanded power to continue His work, His nights of prayer were about communion and connection with His Father. Prayer was His connection point of relationship, as it is meant to be ours. From this time of prayer Jesus received direction but I don’t believe that direction was the purpose of the night, that turned out to be the fruit of communion with the Father. From this place of prayer Jesus appointed the 12 apostles from His many disciples. The 12 were appointed by Jesus to preach, to have the power to heal sickness and disease and to cast out demons. As we studied tonight, the baptism of the Holy Spirit gives all of us the same appointment. We have been set apart and in-filled or “endued with power from on High” to do the work of Christ, the same work that the apostles were set apart for. The anointing of the Holy Spirit gives us both direction and unction but the very presence of the Holy Spirit means that this is our appointment, to do “great works” than even Jesus did for His glory and through His Spirit. I pray that tonight’s study will stir our hearts to recognize even more clearly what Jesus endured to be a man and to bring us redemption, the power and beauty of prayer for the purpose of communion and the appointment that each of us filled with the Holy Spirit has been given. The appointment alone does not give us freedom to go as we please but it gives us the calling to open our hearts and lives and wait for the anointing of the Spirit to lead us into all truth and to use us in the very same way that Jesus worked while on the earth as a man: to seek and save the lost and to destroy the works of the devil.