Watching and Praying One Hour

 Praying is one of the most important things that we do as believers. It is also one of the greatest privileges we have from the Lord. We are able to talk with Him about anything, any time of the day or night, and He is there to give us His undivided attention. Since this is the case, I wonder why we have so much trouble spending extended time in prayer with our Father?

In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus was in agony because He knew He was about to suffer the most painful type of death, the death of the cross. He asked His disciples to watch and pray with Him. (Matthew 26:40) However, after He went a little way from them and prayed Himself, he came back to find them sleeping. He said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with me for one hour?" We need to ask ourselves that same question.

Prayer should not be a burden. It should be a joy. It should be something that we can do for extended periods of time, as the situation dictates. However, Satan hates to see us praying. He knows how effective our prayers can be. He does whatever he can to deter us from praying. He tries to interrupt us, and to make us tired or distracted. It is up to us to focus on the Lord and pray, even when we don't feel like it.

A huge part of praying is to be watching to see what is happening around us, so we can pray specifically for individuals and situations. As we are watching, we compile prayer lists to remind us of what to pray and for whom to pray. When we start watching, we realize there are so many prayer needs that we can easily pray for more than an hour. We can pray all day or all night. When God sees us watching and praying, He is quick to bless us, so I pray we will do it well every day.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Mark 1-3.