Wake Up! Be Alert!

There is no better feeling than falling asleep when I am really tired. But when I have to stay awake, it is torture! My eyes close, my head nods, I wake up with a start. No matter how hard I try, I can’t stay awake. There was a time when I was changing medications and the new pills made me sleepy. I had to pray before I started driving because inevitably I would fall asleep. God is the only reason I ever made it to my destination safely.

I know how the disciples felt the night they accompanied Jesus to Gethsemane to pray. They couldn’t help themselves. They were fearful for what was going to happen, and I believe they were emotionally, physically and spiritually drained.

“Sit here while I go over there and pray.” Jesus took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” … Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch and pray with me for one hour?” he asked Peter,” (Matthew 26:36-38, 40 NIV).

Perhaps Jesus needed the disciples to pray for Him, more than any other time in His brief life. Yet, Jesus had another message of importance for the disciples.

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man,” (Luke 21:34-36 NIV).

Clearly stated in Matthew, Jesus said this message for all of us,

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come,” (Matthew 24:42 NIV).

Lord, help us be brave and vigilant as we wait for your second coming. Keep us awake and alert so we can rejoice and stand before you, face-to-face, one day