b. A weak body; flesh
Mark 14:40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy) neither did they know what to answer him.
Have you ever slept off while you should have been praying? Countless
times, I have fallen asleep on my knees or on my face before God and awoken
with a start! Just last week, I caught a brother sleeping while standing during
a worship session! Jesus’ observation that the
spirit is willing but the flesh is weak is not an excuse or an escape route
for indiscipline in the place of prayer. The disciples had no excuse- they
couldn’t open their mouths to say anything when Jesus confronted them with
their indiscipline. Three times he left them with instructions to pray and
three times he meets them snoring. Four lessons from the un-empowered apostles
are still helping me overcome the flesh in prayer.
Lesson 1. Overcome overload
The apostles were sincerely tired. They had just had a long day.
Gethsemane was a trek, the mount of Olives was a climb. After a long, hard day, the Master required
that they pray at night for a few hours. Ahhh! Some days, when coming home from
work, your mind is not on dinner or on your family. Your mind is on your soft,
juicy bed and fluffy pillow. And then the Holy Spirit moves you to
intercession. Hard? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. That is the
time for extra discipline and commitment to living intercession.
Pastor Adeboye once told us the story of a night the Lord moved him to
pray. He was very, very tired and on a long fast before the annual convention.
He told us he felt God would understand. While resting, he got news from his
wife that a volunteer at the camp who hailed from his village had just died.
All thoughts of sleep vanished and he jumped up to go pray over the dead man.
In his frenzy, he heard God’s Spirit ask, “I thought you said you were too
tired to pray?”
We must not permit overload to hinder our prayers. Our schedule should
be drawn around our life of prayer. It was Martin Luther that was quoted to
have said, “In fact, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three
hours in prayer.” Don’t wait till you get really tired before you approach
heaven. And when you are tired and need to pray, practice the discipline.
Lesson 2. Overcome indulgence
The Passover meal the apostles ate that night was not the size of our
Holy communion wafer and 15 ml sip of grape wine. They had just taken a very heavy
meal. Without a doubt, the Passover was a feast. The equivalent of our akpu and okhazi soup, beans and gari or tuwo
and mian’kuka. When we indulge in
heavy meat and drink before prayer, there is every tendency to sleep! Medical
science describes a shunting of blood from the brain to the gut after a meal. Splanchnic blood flow increases from 8.5 litres to 11.5 litres...and part of that comes from the brain.
That is why lions sleep and laze around after loading themselves with gazelle.
My prayer partner, Wale, would never eat a heavy meal to bed. Never. He
would always take a light meal in order to be able to keep his midnight
appointments with God. I would almost always wake up to his groaning in the
spirit. He discovered that in order to keep the flesh under, he would overcome
indulgence.
Luke 21:34
Take heed, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you as a thief.
Lesson 3. Overcome indiscipline
The more you pray, the more you can pray. The disciples were undisciplined
in the practice of prayer. Jesus, on the other hand, had made prayer a regular
discipline and practice. On the Mount of Transfiguration while Jesus was
communicating with heaven, Peter, James and John slept. While Jesus prayed at
‘a certain place’, the disciples watched and only when he was done asked him to
teach them how to do what he did. In Mark 1:35, Jesus left the house to pray
while the disciples were still sound asleep. In essence, while Jesus walked the
earth, the disciples were indisciplined in prayer. They had not yet made prayer
a part of their lives.
We talk about it, preach about it, exhort others to it but fail at it.
Prayer is a discipline; a 'painful' discipline. A habit. We must break the
chains of indiscipline in prayer; and the only way to learn to pray is to pray.
Not think about it, not talk about it, not pretend at it, but to really,
sincerely pray.
Lesson 4. Get rid of emotional distractions
And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, Lk 22:45
Peter, James and John were particularly close
to Jesus and had begun to understand that Jesus really would die. They watched
him agonizing in prayer and became sorrowful. The escape route for their sorrow
was sleep- kind of like a child who cries herself to sleep after a spanking.
Emotional distractions stop us from effective prayer.
Our emotions should not chase us from God’s throne. Sorrow, worry,
fear and other emotional baggage may distract us in the place of prayer. The
remedy is to bring them all before God. You don’t forget about your issues just
before you enter into the presence of God and pick them up when you’re leaving.
You cast them on Him in prayer.
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all
your cares upon him; for he cares for you.
As far as Jesus is concerned, there is no excuse for prayerlessness.
Overload, indulgence, indiscipline, emotional baggage are not legitimate
excuses. Listen to Him in the garden.
'Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray.'
Prayer: Father, God of all flesh, let your Spirit quicken my mortal
body. Empower me to pray. Deliver me from every pitfall in my life’s prayer journey. Father, open my eyes to your will in prayer.
Action point: Identify and journal your pitfalls in prayer. How do you
intend to overcome them?
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