Wake Up.

41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

What happened to the Disciples in the Garden that night? Were they laying back on their fluffy Serta sleepers with down filled pillows, covered with Ralph Lauren comforters? Certainly not! They were in a Garden outside the city. They were fearful and confused as to what was going to happen to this man, Jesus, who had been leading them for the past three years. Certainly they weren’t in any state of mind, or comfortable position to fall asleep. So what was Jesus worried about?

Jesus was worried about their spirituality. He wasn’t concerned that they’d fall asleep and get some physical rest. He was concerned that they’d close their mind’s eye to what His purpose was and miss the point! “Watch and pray”: there is so much to that. He told them to watch, but what? Watch Him! Pray! Pray against temptation. Jesus wanted them to see Him praying for His Father’s will to be done. He wanted them to see the struggle within His fleshly body and understand fully the burden He was about to carry. He wanted them to pray against the temptation that He knew would come. The temptation to take the easy road. The temptation to avoid hard times. The temptation to avoid the will of the Father when it hurts or gets tough.

One sentence was a rebuke to Peter, John, and James. The next sentence described what He was going through. Perhaps He wasn’t speaking of their spirit and flesh. Maybe he was talking about His own! Jesus, 100% man and 100% God, could very well have been telling them that His spirit was willing, but His flesh was weak.

His command was to watch and pray. Am I doing that today? Are you? Is anyone? Are we looking to Jesus for our example and then praying to the Father that we don’t fall into temptation? Are we watching the world around us, keeping our eyes open and our minds ready for the enemy’s imminent attack? Are we trying to be like Jesus? Are we looking to Jesus for leadership? Or are we spiritually asleep, living as the world, blind and completely unaware of the spiritual war around us!

I recently heard a pastor preach a sermon on “Keeping the Morning Watch”. How appropriate that he chose the word “watch” and not “prayer time”. Sometimes prayer time can become legalistic and ritual. We write lists and keep to them, praying for Billy, Jane, and our country, but we forget to keep our eyes open and hearts open to the Spirit of God and what He is doing. Keeping watch implies being a solider, being vigilant, searching and scanning for the enemy. That’s our job as Christians; to keep watch over the King’s property and to pray that we don’t fall into temptation.

I can’t say it any better than Jesus did; “Watch AND pray!”