Topic: ‘Watch and Pray’
Text: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matt. 26:41).
Prayer was habitual to Jesus in His earthly ministry; He started with prayer and ended with it. He indoctrinated His disciples then into this practice. In this vein we also as His disciples now have been admonished to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17).
Shortly before His unjust arrest which culminated in His crucifixion, He took three of His disciples, Peter, James, and John with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The disciples couldn’t tarry in prayer like their Master, they were easily falling to sleep. Jesus knew what was about to happen, but the three didn’t; He hence said to them, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation…”
Why do we need to ‘watch’ and not to just to pray? This is because the enemy is always lurking at the corner, looking for an opportunity to pounce. A similar warning alert is repeated thus in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom to devour.” If you fail to pray, you may end up being a prey to the devil, the chief predator.
Whenever your soul is willing to pray, but the weak flesh is not, cry out for strength through the Holy Spirit. Prov. 24:10 says, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” The strength of Peter, James and John failed in the day of adversity when it was most needed. I pray this will not be your portion. So, the gist of today’s message is ‘WATCH & PRAY’. The Lord will help us. SHALOM.
Prayer:
LORD, help me to always watch and to pray in my Christian journey so as not fall into temptation and into the dragnet of the enemy. When my flesh is weak, LORD, cause divine strength to come upon me in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
