During the week before Jesus was crucified, He went to work every day.  He was in the temple from morning until evening explaining God's Word.  He did not hide Himself away but was publically available for all who wanted to hear Him (Mark 14:49).  And many people did.  He became a magnet for those who were seeking truth, and yet, at the end of the week, they were to cry out "Crucify Him, crucify Him" (Luke 23:21) - as though the truth He spoke and the character He displayed meant nothing at all.  But they could never deny that they had heard the truth - and subsequently many repented at Pentecost (Acts 2:36 -37) and became the first members of the church.

After evening prayers, Jesus had another appointment, this time with His heavenly Father.  It has been a characteristic all through His ministry, that He would spend the night-time talking with Father God, alone (Matthew 14:23; Luke 6:12).  He climbed up the Mount of Olives and spent the night in prayer.  

The task ahead of Him was so crushingly great that He needed more than sleep.  He was sustained by the intimacy of a transparently conversational relationship with Father God.  Through it He received strength to keep on track with the divine plan, knowing that His ultimate work on earth was to become the sacrificial Passover Lamb and die for the sins of the world (John 1:29), the climax of His ministry and pleasing to His Father. There was no conflict between the daytime teaching and the night-time praying; both were in His Father's Will.  That is why a few days later, Jesus wanted His trainee apostles to watch and pray, but they did not understand and fell asleep (Matthew 26:41).  

When there is a major issue on your mind, what do you do?  Some people panic or withdraw into isolation, some throw themselves into their work to divert their minds from the big issue and others struggle to pray.  But Jesus did none of these things. He did not use His important daily work as a diversion away from the cross; it was all part of pleasing Father God and fulfilling His commission.  Neither did He allow the pressure of crucifixion at the end of the week to stop His public teaching work.  Although the pressures we face are very small compared with what the Lord Jesus experienced, we will always have episodes of pressure which threaten to crush us.  As they emerge in one area of life or another, only an intimate, share-everything prayer life will prevent us from distorting our life and service for the Lord and others (Philippians 4:4-9).  But with the assurance of God's full approval, we can fulfil everything that the Lord has entrusted to us.