Yet, I Sleep
“Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”
Reading Luke 22 this morning, the echoes of these ancient words reverberated through the corridors of my soul. I was convicted – guilty as charged.
Just hours before he would carry all of humanity’s sins on his shoulders and in his own body, Jesus spoke these words to his friends, disciples, the men who would be responsible for his world-wide mission. He invited them to enter into and share his agony through intercessory prayer. But, they were exhausted with grief and the self-absorbed pursuit of moving up the leadership ladder. How could they sleep while their Master suffered? What a shame! Well, over 2000 years later, he speaks these same words to me.
I am in that garden, sleeping. My Savior invites me to pray with him, but I am exhausted with grief and hopelessness, self-absorbed pursuits, and the lack of curiosity. My Savior has invited me into his pain. Yet, I sleep. My Savior has invited me to agonize with him over murder, abortion, rape, slavery, genocide, infanticide, abusive relationships, failing marriages, oil spills and hurricanes, and earthquakes. Yet, I sleep. He comes to me and finds me sleeping. I’m busted. I’m embarrassed. I offer no words of excuse or rationalization. I was sleeping – plain and simple. I wipe the sleep from my eyes and the drool from my mouth, only to recognize that he has been praying while I was sleeping. He has been praying and agonizing over the pain, the brokenness, the sins, the fear, the anxiety, and the hiding of the world, and I have been sleeping. My Savior kneels alone on his praying ground, deeply troubled. Yet, I sleep.
Because I am sleeping, I am not praying. And, because I am not praying, I am more prone to fail. I am in the garden, sleeping, and I am prone to give into all kinds of temptations: irrational fear, unnecessary anxiety, blatant satanic lies that my sins can outrun God’s grace, the delusional belief that I know better than God and can control my own life, and feeding my flesh is more important than feeding my spirit. It’s time for me to:
Get up!
Arise!
Wake up!
Pray!
Intercede!
Talk to God!
Be devoted to prayer!
Enter into this exhausting, powerful, and intimate spiritual habit with my Savior.
Will you join me in being devoted to talking to our heavenly Father daily? Let’s awake and pray so we won’t fail him and others we love.
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June 8th, 2010 at 1:34 am
I will not fail you Lord, I can't , I need you all day and night every day! You know my short falls, I don't always try very hard not to sin but without you Lord, there would no reason to try a all! Janet Reynolds
June 10th, 2010 at 9:33 am
Thank you for this. I read it several days ago but was reminded of it this morning around 4:30 when I woke up to feed my son and felt an urgency in my spirit after putting him back to sleep to worship and pray. As always it was a time of renewal and restoration. Have a blessed day, Pastor.
June 10th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
This is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing. I love it when the things we've read a thousand times all of the sudden come alive. I am convicted. I am awake.
June 11th, 2010 at 1:16 am
Thank you for this message.
March 9th, 2011 at 8:26 am
I've been up since 2:00 am, confused, miserable, with my mind in turmoil over the thoughts of "what if". I decided to read my emails. I praise God that I did and I thank and praise Him for this post. I know what I'm called to do but I got caught up in "ME" what I wanted instead of what God wanted. I WAS sleeping now I'm awake.
Lord forgive me for walking in my own ways instead of yours, forgive me for sleeping, forgive me for being double minded.