<p>6:15 <i>So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself</i>- &quot;Take him by force&quot; could even imply kidnapping, taking Him away to be their puppet in a revolution against Rome. The Lord clearly felt the need for intense personal prayer at this time; the temptation to attempt to become an immediate Messianic King was great for Him, and this was a recurrence of the wilderness temptation to that same effect. John doesn't record the wilderness temptations, but he records how the same temptations returned to Him throughout His ministry, in fulfilment of the Synoptic observation that the devil of temptation departed from Him only for a while, implying it returned later.</p><p>Prayer in one sense has to be a lonely experience. This is all surely why the Lord Himself is frequently pictured by the Gospel writers as making an effort to be alone in prayer to the Father (Mk. 1:35; 3:13; 9:2; Mt. 14:13,23; 17:1; Lk. 6:12; 9:28; 22:39,41). This is all some emphasis. Be it rising in the early hours to go out and find a lonely place to pray, or withdrawing a stone&rsquo;s throw from the disciples in Gethsemane to pray&hellip; He sought to be alone. Jn. 6:15 emphasizes this repeated feature of the Lord&rsquo;s life: &ldquo;He departed again into a mountain himself alone&rdquo;. The fact He often &ldquo;again&rdquo; retreated alone like this is emphasized by three words which are effectively saying the same thing- departed, himself, alone. Much as we should participate in communal prayers or in the prayers of our partner or our children, there simply has to be the time for serious personal prayer in our lives. And I have to drive the point home: <i>Are you doing this?</i> Putting it in other terms- are you alone <i>enough?</i></p>