In Gethsemane, Jesus ‘came back and found his disciples sleeping. So he said to Peter, “Can’t any of you stay awake with me for just one hour? Stay awake and pray that you won’t be tested. You want to do what is right, but you are weak”’ (Matthew 26:40-41 CEV). Jesus was just hours from the cross, and He asked His disciples to pray for Him. He must have been so disappointed when He found them all fast asleep. We can be shocked that on such an important night, the disciples couldn’t spend just one hour praying for Jesus. It’s easy for us to be judgmental and to think things like ‘I wouldn’t have fallen asleep. If Jesus had asked me to pray for Him, nothing would have stopped me.’ But we’ve all been victims of tiredness at some point. Maybe the disciples didn’t get enough rest the night before, or they were worn out from a day of hard work. They might have thought that Jesus would simply perform another miracle and find a way out of the task that lay ahead, so their prayers didn’t really matter. But sadly, the disciples not only missed a great opportunity to encourage and strengthen Jesus in His hour of need, they also missed an opportunity to strengthen themselves in preparation for the terrible hours ahead. There are so many distractions that can sneak in and steal our quiet times with God, and the things we choose to do over spending time with Him don’t even need to be bad things, but if they’re taking priority over God, we need to reassess our priorities! We don’t know what each day holds, but through prayer and spending time in God’s Word, we can prepare our hearts for whatever life throws at us.

What Now?

Think about your day yesterday. Was there anything that took priority over prayer? If you’re aware of something that tends to steal your prayer times, ask God to help you shift it lower down your priority list.