Mark 14:37
” 37 And He came back and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Were you unable to keep watch for one hour? 38 Keep [actively] watching and praying so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the [l]body is weak.
Prayer is a vital part of living a victorious Christian life but sadly it is one of the most neglected Christian disciplines. One of the challenges many pastors face today is to get the congregation to attend prayer services. If as a pastor you can get half your church to come for prayer, you are experiencing revival, but then again, for many, how can you do consistently in public what you are not doing in private? Many pray out of routine or just to fulfill a religious obligation but there is really no depth and connection in their prayer. Yesterday we talked about pride and that is followed by laziness and prayerlessness.
Peter, James and john were supposed to be in prayer, was that not the reason Jesus had taken them with him? Instead they fall asleep. Jesus question tells us a lot about His expectations. “Were you unable to keep watch for one hour?” Jesus expected that they would be able to keep watch with him for at least an hour and he is surprised when they don’t. Are you able to keep watch for an hour?
Unless we watch and pray, we will be susceptible to fall into temptation. The reason we have weak Christians is because they cannot tarry and pray. Laziness and lack of prayer is a sure way to fall back.
When the soldiers come up to the garden to arrest Jesus, Peter takes out his sword and cuts off someone’s ears. When we are prayer less we will always act in the flesh as opposed to the spirit. We will lack discernment and revelation, and we will try and accomplish things in our own strength because we will not know the will of the father. Jesus surrendered to the will of the father in the garden as he prayed.
1 Peter 5:8Amplified Bible (AMP)
8 Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.
The devil is always looking for whom to attack and bind thus we are to be alert, we are to watch and pray we are to be sensitive in the spirit and the way to do that is through prayer. We must connect with God because our strength comes from him. To be a prayer less Christian, one who is in slumber and lacks discernment is to be a weak Christian one who the enemy will always attack.
Are you always so quick to react in the flesh? Watch and pray!
