Luke 22:45-46: Has Jesus Caught You Sleeping?

Luke 22:45-46.. "And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, 'Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.'"

How many times have you fell asleep when you weren't supposed to? Perhaps you've fallen asleep in a boring class at school, or crashed on your bed late at night before finishing your homework. Whatever the circumstance may be, the moral of the story is that many times we fall asleep when we aren't supposed to--perhaps both spiritually and physically.

Luke 22:39-46 records the story of Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives right before his betrayal and arrest. Before he goes off to pray by himself, he exhorts his disciples to pray in order that they might not fall into temptation. However, his disciples are tired and end up falling asleep. When Jesus is done praying, he finds them asleep and admonishes them to wake up and start praying, once again, that they might not enter into temptation.

The moral of the story here is that prayer is a great way to fight temptation (and also that you can't pray when you're asleep, but I feel like that's rather obvious). Jesus encouraged his disciples to pray amidst temptation, and we therefore must pray amidst temptation as well if we want any standing chance at defeating it.

But why does prayer help us amidst temptation? Why is prayer the way in which Jesus tells us to battle the devil? Perhaps Hebrews 4:16 will help us out here: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." In the context of Hebrews 4, to "draw near to the throne of grace" means "to pray." Therefore, we must "pray" in order to "find grace to help in time of need." The "time of need" spoken of here is referring to temptation. In simple terms, Hebrews 4:16 shows us that the reason why we must pray amidst temptation is because if we do, God promises to give us grace to help in our temptations. For we cannot fight temptation in our own strength, but only in the strength of God. We must therefore pray to him amidst temptation that he might give us his "grace to help in time of need."

So, has Jesus caught you sleeping? Amist troubled times, do you sleep or do you pray? I know it might seem like I'm taking the text to far here, so let me clarify: are you actively fighting temptation by calling upon God in prayer or are you constantly giving up? Pray, that you might not enter into temptation.