Prayer that Sustains

When He got up from prayer and came to His disciples He found them sleeping, exhausted from grief. "Why are you sleeping?" He asked them. "Get up and pray, so that you won't enter into temptation." Luke 22:45,46

Jesus is in the worst period of His life and His anxiety about the cross causes Him to sweat huge drops of fluid, yet His disciples, who are grief stricken are asleep. I have fallen asleep in such a state, haven't you? There is nothing that the disciples can do to change what is about to happen, but Jesus is concerned for the state of their spiritual life.

Jesus had taught the disciples to pray, we know this because it is recorded in the gospels and they lived for three years with a man you prayed consistently and fervently.

We can live with someone, do church with someone and still not catch their passion for God. What gets some up early is their hunger for God and His ways. Jesus was hungry for God, dependant on God and He went to the Father for all His needs. His ministry was full of power and authority and this came because He knew who He was and who He had to depend on.

The disciples would come to a time when they would spend the time, but to date, in this part of the story, perhaps they had let Jesus do the praying, left the lead to Him. There was coming a day when they too would be filled with the Holy Spirit and His passion.

It can seem unreasonable of Jesus to expect the disciples to pray 'so that they would not enter temptation' because they were exhausted by grief. However, He knew what they would face within the coming days and that just as He needed to go to the Father for what He had to face, they would need to go to the Father for what they had to face. Peter went on to deny His Lord, not once but three times, out of fear. He had entered into temptation and it would affect him.

I cannot let someone else do the praying and sleep. I must carry my own burden and be responsible for my own walk. I face temptations, constantly, as do you. My prayer life must sustain me through these times and the times when I do fail and need to get back up and 'strengthen my brothers and sisters.'

Carry your own burden and don't leave the praying to others, so that you may be ready for all that comes! Amen!

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