My sorrow is killing me. 

The night before He dies, Jesus undergoes deep sadness and anguish. He who had lived His whole life in complete solidarity with all humanity now feels terribly alone and isolated.

The One who never leaves us or forsakes us longs for human companionship in the dark night of His soul.

He takes Peter, James, and John aside and confides in them: I’m dying of sorrow. 

On the way to Jerusalem, James and John had agreed to share His cup of suffering (Matthew 20:17-22). And during the Passover meal, Peter had insisted that he was ready to die with Him.

So Jesus isn’t asking too much of His three closest friends when He assigns them night duty: Watch with Me (Matthew 26:38).

There is a glaring contrast between the way Jesus prepares for the coming ordeal and how His disciples utterly fail to do so. Jesus remains awake and watchful through the night. He pours out sweat like great drops of blood. He agonises over the will of God (Luke 22:41-44).

He prays with loud cries and tears. The Father hears Him (Hebrews 5:7). Now He is ready for whatever the day will bring.

Peter, James, and John, however, succumb to a deep and stifling sleep. Three times Jesus checks on them. Three times they’re caught napping.

Jesus is especially disappointed with Peter. Satan is about to sift them all like wheat. Jesus is counting on Peter in particular to weather the storm, keep the faith, and restore the others (Luke 22:31-32).

Peter had insisted that he was ready for it. But now, even before the sifting starts, he’s a spent force! Alas. A walk in the garden wearies him. How will he fare in battle with the prince of darkness grim?

He will soon learn the hard way: Spiritual warfare without spiritual discipline is spiritual disaster.

No human strength can match the wiles and weapons of Satan. If the Son of God had to watch and pray at the onset of His trial, how much more His disciples!

Regardless how sincere and willing we are, human nature soon crumbles in the face of evil and complies with it. God alone can give us the victory. Our part is to watch and pray. 

Stay awake! 

PrayerWatch

• In Why Revival Tarries, Leonard Ravenhill gives a wake-up call: Solemnly and slowly, with his index finger extended, Napoleon Bonaparte outlined a great stretch of country on a map of the world. “There,” he growled, “is a sleeping giant. Let him sleep! If he wakes, he will shake the world.”
   
  That sleeping giant was China. Today, Bonaparte’s prophecy of some 150 years ago makes sense.
   
  Today, Lucifer is probably surveying the Church just as Bonaparte did China. One can almost behold the fear in his eyes as he thinks of the Church’s unmeasured potential and growls: “Let the Church sleep! If she wakes, she will shake the world.”
   
  Is not the Church the sleeping giant of today? Wake up, Antioch of Asia! Discern the times. War against slumber.
   
• Our enemy never sleeps. Are we awake, alert, and on guard? Or napping? Watchfulness is the most neglected spiritual discipline in the Singapore Church today. We desperately need it on every front.
   
  Parents, are you watching over your children? Pastors, are you watching over your flock? Soldiers of Christ, are you watching over your soul?
   
  Our enemy is cunning. Our flesh is weak. Our world is seductive. We will be tempted day in and day out. Only God can keep us from falling (Jude 24).
   
  Pray and live the Word: Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on 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).
   
• Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2). A pastor’s greatest personal leadership tool is a healthy soul (Paul Chappell).
   
  Sadly, the preoccupation with skills and strategies has depleted many a soul. A Barna research shows that many pastors can hardly find time for their own soul care.
   
  Pray for your pastors. May they first keep watch over themselves, so that they will be able to keep watch over their flock (Acts 20:28). Ask God to give them an inner circle of confidants (or at least one person) with whom they can open up and pray concerning their deepest struggles and darkest secrets.
    
• Be vigilant. Harvest season is wartime. The full impact of Celebration of Hope will not be known until years later. Watch and pray so that Satan might not outwit us (2 Corinthians 2:11).
   
  Pray that the seed sown will not be snatched away but will yield a bountiful crop (Matthew 13:18-23). That prayer-evangelism will continue unabated.
   
  Pray for prophetic insight to increase. For strategic intercession to intensify. For a spirit of urgency and desperation.
   
  Declare: He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him (Psalm 126:6). Come Lord Jesus, build your Church! 

Read the devotional from Day 20, July 20: Hubris and humility here.