REALLY, ONE HOUR IS NOTHING

by Tammy Phillips
September 19, 2020

“Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?”’ (Matthew 26: 40 NKJV)

I like a clean house, but I do not like to clean house!  It is painful because you know as soon as you get it clean it is going to get dirty again.  It takes at least 8-10 hours to clean my house.  Sometimes, I call a friend who cleaned my house when I worked, to help.  We do it together and it cuts the time in half.   Or, I call my best sister in the Lord, we will talk and clean.  Recently, she sacrificed most of her day just to help me get through the painful task.  We talk about the Lord and many “encouragements” come from our conversations.  We walk, talk, watch and pray for each other through the most difficult and painful obstacles in life.  In 2014 I found this scripture and we accepted it as a license from the Lord to talk as often as we wanted:  “Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.” (We have volumes written in heaven.). I am so thankful to have sisters who watch and pray with me through the storms.

Jesus asked his three best friends to come with him into garden of Gethsemane on the night of his arrest. The arrest lead to his horrific death on the cross. He knew all of this was ahead.  He asked them to watch and pray with Him.

He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” (Matthew 26:38 NKJV)

Jesus was “exceeding sorrowful” which means he was encompassed with grief.  He experienced crushing, pressing pain in anticipation of what he was about to endure. (Did you know Gethsemane means olive press?) Jesus willingly went into the Garden of the Press for you and me. 

My Grandfather always said, “The worst thing about doing anything is thinking about do it.”  Even though Jesus was the Son of God, he was battling in his mind what was upcoming.  He needed to pray to find the strength to endure.  As a man, he wanted his friend’s support.  He advised the disciples to follow his example. ‘When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”’(Luke 22:40 NKJV).   

My hope that we would have responded to the words of Jesus.  They did not…watch nor pray but slept.  This verse breaks my heart: “Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?”’ (Matthew 26: 40 NKJV)

The Word of God strongly encourages us at least 15 times in the New Testament, to watch and many more times to pray.  As we come to the end of the end of days, the final hours before Jesus’ return, I hear Holy Spirit saying the same thing: “What!?! Really? Can you not watch and with Me in this last hour?” He gave his life for us, but we cannot give him this hour ?

I enCOURAGE you to watch and pray.  Wake up.  We cannot get caught sleeping in the cares and pains of this world.  When we stand before Jesus, I know we do not want to hear the words, “Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  Really, one hour is nothing!