Watch and Pray

⁴¹ Stay awake and pray for strength against temptation. The spirit wants to do what is right, but the body is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

Good afternoon and welcome back to the Panhandle. I have been away for awhile because of camps and recovering from them 😁. The camps were great and I was blessed to have several in my two camps come to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. So definitely worth the lack of sleep.    

Today as we continue our look at the 49 General Commands of Christ Jesus we see that Christ Jesus while in the garden just before His arrest asked Peter, James, and John to leave the others and pray and keep watch while He was praying. But after the announcement at the Passover meal and due to the late hour they were wiped out and couldn't stay awake. Okay, time for truth telling here, have any of you fallen asleep or dozed off while praying or while listening to someone else pray? ✋ I have. Some times its hard and Christ Jesus knew this. But still He cautioned us to stay awake (alert) and pray. 

Come on in sit down and lets do a little Bible surfing. Got your Bible, comfortable? Then lets look at God's Word a bit closer.

After instituting the new covenant and the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, Christ Jesus with His disciples minus Judas; went … to a place known as Gethsemane. It was named Gethsemane which means “an oil press,” because it was a field covered with olive trees and oil presses used to extract oil from the fruit. It was not unusual for folks who had come for the Passover to camp out in Gethsemane. I think that is part of the reason Judas had to lead those who were going to arrest Christ Jesus to Him. There were more than just Christ Jesus and the disciples in the olive orchard that night. 

When they got a fire going and got settled in, Christ Jesus left His disciples—except for Peter and James and John, who went with Him, and He began to pray. They were His closest friends. Each of them has insisted he would stand by Christ Jesus whatever happens. As Christ Jesus is filled with grief, He asks them to keep Him company. To stay and keep watch with Him, in the hour of His greatest need the Lord wanted those with a sympathetic understanding to be praying with Him.¹

Falling prostrate on the ground, Christ Jesus prayed. He asked His Father that the dreaded cup of suffering might be removed from Him. But, just as He has taught others, He submitted to His Father with the words, ‘As you will.’

When Christ Jesus returned to the three, He found them asleep. He woke them up and reprimanded Peter for his inability to stay awake with Him as He prayed. Only a short time before, Peter had twice said he would never forsake the Lord (vv. 33, 35) and yet he could not even pray with Him in His greatest need. Peter’s boast in vs. 35 is quickly proving empty.² Christ Jesus encouraged them to keep watching and praying, but He did acknowledge the weakness of the human flesh (v. 41).³ 

Even after Christ Jesus' question the disciples were unable to keep awake. After waking them a second time Christ Jesus lets them sleep, only rousing them when He heard Judas approaching with an armed mob.⁴ The failure of Christ Jesus' disciples to give the support Christ Jesus needed was not caused by cowardice (that will follow), but by sheer physical weariness.⁵

If we cannot endure a little fatigue when there is no suffering, how will we do when the temptation, the great trial of our faithfulness and courage, comes? How by Watching—so that we will not be taken unawares; and pray—so that when trials and temptations comes we will be able to bear it.

The spirit—is willing, but the flesh is weak; Our intentions may be good—we may be truly sincere; but our good intentions can be overpowered by your fearfulness if we don't remain in Christ Jesus. We want to continue steadfast in our attachment to our Master; but our fears can lead us astray. And to be honest we may, probably will go astray for a bit, but when we watch and pray it is easier to get back on the narrow road. 

Thanks for dropping by today. I Pray that our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus will bless you and yours mightily today.

 

Biblesurfer

 

 

1 Louis A. Barbieri Jr., “Matthew,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 83. 

2 Mark E. Dever, “Church Discipline,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1548.

3 Louis A. Barbieri Jr., “Matthew,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 84.

4 Andrew Knowles, The Bible Guide, 1st Augsburg books ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 2001), 438.

5 Richard T. France, “Matthew,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 940.