Daily Manna 29-01-2016

Note: Peter, James and John; the three disciples of Christ who belonged to the inner circle of Jesus, could not stand the mental, emotional and spiritual agony of prayer that their Master was going through at the press of Gethsemane. If this was an adversarial military type of war, the three disciples would all have been dead before they could come to terms with the fact that they were supposed to be on duty.

They didn’t deserve the honour done them in being chosen as the trusted, privileged three by Jesus to watch and pray with him in the most important task for which he condescended from his glory and majesty in heaven to come and die for the sins of humanity, destroying the works of the devil in the process. All three disciples slept simultaneously. They couldn’t survive an hour of prayer, lacking staying power. At least they could have staggered their sleep, where two of them sleep and one would keep awake for an hour for their own security, taking turns for another person to watch after an hour.

Maybe they came up with a plan but the plan failed. This was a different kind of battle, even more serious than military adversarial battle, that can only impact man on the physical level. It was a spiritual battle for the soul of lost humanity. The mental and emotional agony Christ went through in prayer, where the sweat from the agony in the press became like that of blood.

Food for thought: Positions in church or ministry come with responsibility. The closest to the Master will be required to have staying power in prayer, tolerance in their marriages and demonstrate watchfulness and discernment over the body of Christ. We can’t keep sleeping on the job. We shall be fired for that.

Declaration: Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matt 26:41)

© Author: Rev Fred Aboe