“Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.””(Mark 14:37–38)

Could there be a greater admonishment in one of the darkest hours in history? Christ was wrestling with the will of the Father in the garden of Gethsemane. This is the first and only time we ever see Jesus in agony over the will of the Father. His life was about to brutally end in perhaps the most inhumane way ever imagined by the sinful mind, and His soul was about to be crushed as an offering for the sins of the world (see Isaiah 53:10).

Oh! — the temptations to give into human weakness were greater here than they ever were during Christ’s 40 days of prayer and fasting. How many times did Jesus slip through the crowd, who tried to make Him King, or walk through the mobs who tried to have Him killed? Could He not easily escape from the Mount of Olives to live another day? He could, but this was not the will of the Father. How then does Jesus overcome such a great temptation as this? The answer will always, forever remain the same: prayer.

Christ’s closest disciples, however, still did not understand the great spiritual discipline of prayer. As Jesus seemingly sweated large drops of blood in prayer, Peter, James, and John were catching a catnap. Three times Jesus gives them opportunity to join Him to watch and pray in the spirit, and three times they chose to sleep and succumb to the flesh.

But I often wonder what a difference it would have made had, for instance, Peter chose to agonize with Christ in private prayer. Maybe Peter would have never drawn his sword in an outburst of wrath, which resulted in chopping off the ear of one who was trying to arrest Jesus. Maybe Peter would have never given into his threefold denial of knowing Christ while He faced His trial. Maybe Peter would not have hidden behind closed doors in fear after Christ’s death, but would have instead anticipated the resurrection as Jesus had foretold.

How much do we relinquish when we fail to pray? We lose our spiritual sight and our spiritual ears. We can no longer see the things of God and we can no longer comprehend the Word of God as certainly without prayer. No good ever comes to a kingdom when its guards on watch have fallen prey to distraction or sleepiness. Likewise, the enemy of our souls has a keen eye on a sleepy Christian, and that is when he loves to strike the most.

No doubt, the once sleepy Peter turned into the apostle Peter would never forget his lesson that night, for it was he that wrote:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

You can almost feel the intimacy of Peter’s words as he speaks from experience in this verse. We must learn to always be in a spirit of prayerfulness, and we must always be ready to act in prayer. Without prayer, we face more temptations, more impulses to the flesh, and more stumbling blocks along the road.

This is why the apostles of Jesus Christ spoke so much about the exercise of prayer in the life of the Christian. So much so, we cannot afford not to pray any more than we can afford not to breathe. Consider the words of the apostles.

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—” (Ephesians 6:18)

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving…” (Colossians 4:2)

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18)

“Continuing steadfastly in prayer…” (Romans 12:12)

“… The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16)

Christian, will you watch and pray today?

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