36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then He came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” ~ (Matthew 26:36-46)
Have you ever been woken up earlier than usual and gotten the feeling that maybe you should pray, but slumber is pulling you back, so you shake off the feeling and give into a few more hours of precious sleep? That’s how I’ve felt these last couple of days, especially, but this morning something changed. Right after I got this feeling, a thought entered my mind:
Arie, what are you going to do when you stand before me, and I ask you why you never prayed when I woke you up?
To say the least, I woke up immediately and started praying. What a frightful thought to stand before the LORD God and have fallen short. No, we’re never going to reach perfection on this earth, but there are things that many of us don’t do that we can do. The majority of us, myself included, struggle with praying for more than 30 minutes straight when Jesus made 1 hour the minimum. Many of us struggle with reading our Bible every day or setting and sticking to a time to worship every day.
These are some of the bare minimum that Christ is asking of us. He gave us everything and still pours out blessings upon blessings, some of which we don’t even realize He’s given us, yet we struggle to give Him an hour of our time a day. Why He loves us so, I’ll never know, but thank the LORD that He does.
Dear LORD, I’m sorry for all the times I’ve given You less than my best. I’m sorry for all the times I chose something else over You. Please forgive me for each time I’ve fallen short of Your bare minimum requirement of me. Please help me to crucify my flesh every day and to feed and nourish my spirit-man so that I might be able to give You more than just the bare minimum, but my absolute best. Thank You for never giving up on me, and for giving me chance after chance after chance, especially when I don’t deserve it. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
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