Just a little walk with Jesus - Part 4

Today we will walk with Jesus from the celebratory Upper Room into the more somber Garden of Gethsemane.  Here Jesus walked with His disciples. And here he prayed.
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He took Peter, James and John with Him as He walked farther into the garden. He made one request of them: Remain here and keep watch with me. Matthew 26:38
​But they'd been partying, they'd had a big meal, and it was late. And when Jesus returned to them, He found them sleeping.

And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:40-42

The Message version paraphrases the passage this way: Jesus said to Peter, "Can't you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you don't wander into temptation without even knowing you're in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there's another part that's as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire."

All of our dogs loved the fireplace. They would stretch out on the rug in front of it and sleep, oblivious to all the commotion in the world around them. It is tempting for me to do the same thing. Sometimes the hurts and evils in this world overwhelm me. I would love to stretch out and sleep and forget. But Jesus has one request of us today, "Keep watching and praying."

So today, find time to spend time with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Pray for our world, pray for your world, pray for a new awakening during this, the strangest of Easter Seasons.

Don't be an old, lazy dog!

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2