Right before Jesus was crucified, He had a simple request of His disciples, that they would “watch and pray with Him for one hour” (Matthew 26:40), but they were overcome with sorrow and slept… “When Jesus finished praying, He got up and went to His disciples and found them all asleep, for they were exhausted and overwhelmed with sorrow. ‘Why are you sleeping?’ He asked them. ‘Get up and pray so you will not fall into temptation.’” (Luke 22:45, 46)
Jesus’ question to them, “Why are you sleeping,” wasn’t because He didn’t know they were tired. The question was posed to remind them that they had been invited into a sacred moment - to join heart to heart in prayer with Jesus before He endured the cross… but they slept instead.
God’s children today aren’t any different than the disciples, maybe even worse, because we’ve trained ourselves to disengage when stress comes. To “zone out” to get our minds off the issues at hand. Our phones and TV’s have made this detachment easier than ever. But, we’ve been given a Divine invitation-invited to armor up and rise up in prayer in these dire times. “So then, let us not be like others who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6).
May it be said of us when we get to heaven that our prayers strengthened more saints than we ever knew of, and that evil was held at bay because we rose up in prayer. Illnesses or accidents that Satan intended to destroy us with were turned into strength of character, and a resolve to draw nearer to God, because we didn’t sleep away our problems, we prayed!
Friends, this is our moment! Stay awake! Stay strong! Be people of prayer. May we respond to His precious invitation with a joy and eagerness to do as He’s asked. It changes everything.
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