In Matthew 26:36-46, we learn about the betrayal of Jesus by one of his own disciples, Judas.  Right before his betrayal, Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane praying. With him in the garden were three of his closest disciples Peter, James, and John. Jesus had given them strict instructions to keep watch because He knew the hour of his betrayal was coming soon and He was feeling a great deal of sorrow. Jesus said to them “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me”.

What happens next tells us more about the human condition than any other verse in the bible. When Jesus comes back after praying He finds them sleeping. He says to them “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” He asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh (body) is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed. When Jesus came back He found them sleeping again. So He left them and went away to pray. When He came back for the third time, lo and behold, his dear disciples are still sleeping again. Jesus probably has had enough of this by now and says to them “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold the hour is at hand and the Son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.”

In the hardest hour of Jesus’s entire ministry, his three most trusted disciples Peter, James, and John were not there for him. What were they doing that was so important? Sleeping! Yes, not once but three times they went to sleep. When Jesus needed them the most, they were asleep instead of praying. If this is how Jesus’s closest disciples reacted when Jesus asked them to pray with him during a really hard time in this life, then how do you think we are going to react when Jesus expects us to pray?

For those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ, the struggle is real. Our spirit wants us to spend more time with Jesus but our flesh gets in the way. The disciples valued sleeping over praying. How often are we like the disciples? Are other things getting in the way of our prayer life? Jesus said to his disciples “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” The disciples were tempted to fall asleep instead of praying.  Are we the same? Do we value something that is more important to us than spending time with Jesus? Have we fallen asleep when we should be praying?

The question that we have to ask ourselves as a believer is “Do we value the comforts of this life over spending time with our Lord?” If we do not spend time praying then we are prone to all kinds of temptations that this world has to offer. The flesh is always weak but our spirit is always willing. The only way to stop listening to our flesh and let our spirit take over is to spend more time praying and reading the bible. Once we do this we will stop sleeping in our flesh and start walking in the spirit.