“And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. 46 And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.” – Mark 6:45-46

Jesus is the ultimate example of leadership that we will ever discover on earth. The principles by which He led are timeless and apply to every situation we will ever face as a leader. I am not just talking about the spiritual truths He taught; I am referring to the manner in which He led and conducted His life on earth. This is one of those times. If Jesus had not made the decision to send the disciples away and disperse the crowd – they would have stayed there all night long.

The Scripture does not say this, but I have to wonder if Jesus had recognized the weariness of His body that was setting in after being with people all day long. It could be that spiritual and emotional fatigue had begun to take its toll on Him as well where He took the initiative to tell the disciples that it was time to wrap this up. It is time for us to move forward because if we don’t – these people are going to continue to pull from us and drain us of all that we have to offer.

I realize that all of us want to touch one more life. We want to talk to one more hurting soul and reach out just a little more to people. But Jesus recognized there had to be an end to this. If He didn’t end it – it wouldn’t end. So He took the initiative to make something happen and wrap things up so He could spend time alone with His Heavenly Father.

Think about that: the very Son of God recognized the need of alone time with God. Without that time, He knew He could not continue to pour out to people and would eventually burn out unless He was spiritually replenished. After the last person had walked away – this was His time.

I challenge you to do the same. There are times in life you have to send people away or stop doing what you are doing so you can spend time with your Heavenly Father. You are at a point where you need to be spiritually replenished and filled up again. Unless you take that time…you will become depleted and be unable to effectively reach out to people around you.

So today we bring the Prayer Storm to an end, send the crowd away. Quiet the dialogue that is going on and plug into the power of God. You need it more than you realize!