Watch and Pray
“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
The Lord said to the disciples, “Could you not watch for an hour?” Jesus is asking us the very same question today. This is the eve of the night that the Lord went through such pain and such agony that He actually sweated tears of blood. The doctors will tell you that this happens when a person is under extreme stress and pressure - the night before Good Friday. It was a very turbulent time in our Lord’s life.
“Abba Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” Verse 36
So the Lord, although He is God - He was also very much man and when He was thinking about what was coming up on Good Friday, He sweated drops of blood and said, “Not my will but yours be done.” That cup that He is talking about is not a cup of prosperity, it was a cup of suffering.
What are you going through in your own life at the moment?
Well, I want to tell you there is one who knows exactly what you are going through because He has been through it all before - He really does understand! There is nothing worse than someone saying: “Ja I know, I know exactly how you feel...” when they have no concept of what you are going through. Maybe today you have bitten off more than you can chew and the burden is just crushing you. Remember the place where Jesus spent the night with His disciples is called Gethsemane and that is another Hebrew name for the Olive Press... the place where they crushed the olives to get the oil out.
How can we handle it?
How can we handle this burden that maybe we have brought on ourselves? The same way that Jesus did it - by watching and praying. This is not a time to go to sleep, it is not a time to slumber. This is our time to wait on the Lord and ask the Lord to take the burden off our shoulders.
If you remember, the Pretoria It’s Time meeting, where we saw multitudes of people coming together to pray for our nation - the night before I was in that same place, that Gethsemane. Like it has happened to me so many times, when the devil says: “No-one is going to come!”, when the devil says, “No one is going to pay for this and you are going to go to jail" and "You are a fraud and a liar!” Jesus says, “Watch and pray, for the spirit is willing but the flesh in weak.” And that is when I grow closest to Jesus, when the burden is the heaviest. Then the next day to see the multitudes of people arriving, women and children, men, ladies... Oh, what a time - I will never forget it as long as I live! I have got a picture of a little boy kneeling on the road by himself with multitudes around him, praying for his country.
Today, spend time in the presence of God because He will undertake for you. God bless you and goodbye.