“Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray! Otherwise, temptation will overpower you.” — Luke 22:46
Jesus was talking to his disciples in the Garden as he was praying and begging the Father to take away what he was about to experience — something so far beyond anything we can fathom; not only just the physical pain and torture, but the sheer weight of sin that a holy man who had never experienced sin, would have to experience in all its vileness — for every person from the beginning of time until the end of the age. Bit it had been a long day, and the disciples were tired and kept falling asleep when Jesus came to them and made this statement.
But what a statement. It was a rebuke. It was a warning. It was a call to action. I was struck by the power of this verse as I sat in the House of Prayer. The world is on a collision course toward a meeting with the anti-Christ. So I read this verse over and over and thought, my gosh, how necessary this is. It’s a message to the church. It’s a message to me. Why are you sleeping? Awake, awake, oh Sleeper! [Eph 5:14, Is. 60:1-2] How can you stay in slumber in days such as this? How can you stay in apathy? Why are you not moved when you see what is going on around you? Have you become so dull and complacent that you can’t even rouse yourself to stand? Get up and pray! GET. UP. Seriously. Stand up. Pace around. Move. Don’t sit like a blob in a stagnant swamp. This is a command to action by the Creator of the Universe, the King of kings, the Captain of the Hosts! Our Commander is ordering us to intercession. Stand up like warriors — wearing that armour Paul told us about in Ephesians 5 — and pray. Intercession is warfare and it moves the heart of the Father as well as moves things in the spiritual realm where we are in constant battle. Again, this call to prayer and intercede is an intense call to action. In the Garden, Jesus’ prayer was so intense, and his body was in such physical travail, that blood came through his pores.
The third part of Jesus’ admonition was that if we don’t wake up; if we don’t get up and pray; the result will be that temptation will certainly overpower us. Without being in a state of alertness, readiness, or awareness; without the power of intercession and using the sword of the spirit which is the word of God; we will have no power to resist temptation. The enemy is so good at what he does. He has had thousand of years to practice and perfect it. Do I really think I can resist the power of the enemy in my own strength? He has inroads into so many areas of our lives and can so quickly poke and prod those spots that are wounded, where lies reside, where the flesh is running free, where our armour has holes. Without the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us and the revelatory truth of the Word of God to guide us and silence the lies of the enemy, we have no ability to stand on our own. We will surely fall.
But there is so much power available to us! This is the hope we have in Christ! Jesus’ words in this one verse have such far reaching implications that can completely change the direction of our individual lives, of the church, of our nation, and ultimately, of the world. If we wake from our sleep, get up, and get on our knees in the place of intercession and warfare, those temptations can have no hold over us. Complacency and apathy will flee. So let us not be lulled to sleep by the distraction of the pleasures of the world, but let us be awake and vigilant in prayer. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Where light is, darkness can not dwell. Wake up. Get up and pray. Our lives depend on it.