Wake up, Get up, and Pray

There are other reasons why we must stay awake, watch and pray. The Lord YAHSHUA warned us that sudden hard times are coming upon us. The only escape from it, it is by Keeping awake, watching at all times and praying for strength so that we will have strength and the ability and be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man (Luke 21:34-36). “To stand in the presence of the Son of Man” is to be raptured from the fallen evil in the world. Speaking of the time before the rapture, Paul says, Accordingly then, let us not sleep, as the rest do, but let us keep wide awake, and let us be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk, get drunk at night. But we belong to the day; therefore, let us be sober (calm, collected, and circumspect) and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation (I Thess. 5:6-8). The full armor of God must be on at all time; however, only those pieces of the armor that are necessary for certain circumstances must be applied. Here Paul uses the illustration of breastplate of Faith and Love, a protection for the soul- the heart, emotion; and the helmet the hope of salvation, presents a protection of the mind. Pray, pray, pray at all times in the Spirit; to that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints. (Eph. 6:12-18).

Prayer is very important in the battle field. Warries must confront the enemy face to face. They must be awake, moving from places to places, with feet shod, ready to fight the enemy. In the spiritual world there is no time for slumber. we must win the spiritual battle against the devil’s schemes. Peter, who wouldn’t do what the Lord told him to do, fell into the temptation of denying the Lord. Later, he wrote, Be well balanced, be vigilant and cautious at all times, for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring, seeking someone to seize upon and devour (I Peter 5: 8). He well knew the consequences of not being vigilant and cautious at all times, when his eyes met the eyes of the Lord, when He turned and looked at Peter while going through His trials. It was then that Peter recalled His words… and he went out and wept bitterly (Luke 22:61-62). There will be serious consequences coming our way, if we do not take to heart the words of the Lord YAHSHUA, wake up, get up, and pray.

With YAHSHUA leaving the earth, the disciples were found alone in a sense that His physical presence was not tangible. Before his hours of trials, He talked to them privately preparing them for what was to come. “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.” The future He was going to prepare for them was worthy all the sufferings they went through to the point of death and that of a martyr’s death. No one can pray while sleeping; the vulnerability of sleeping will cause us to lose the battle; the spiritual battle that rages against us every minute, for Satan, the enemy of our soul, does not sleep, neither do his demons. A little sleep here and there, will with certainty open the door for the enemy to find us vulnerable. The Lord YAHSHUA in His last hours on earth, while in the Garden of Gethsemane, was attacked by the devil, who had come in the opportune time when YAHSHUA was weak, depressed to the point of death. When those days arrive at our door let’s remember who comes with them, for it is our temptation time; the time when we are weak and prone to doubt our faith.

We will either overcome it or fall to it, depending on our prayer life. Keep alert, YAHSHUA warned the disciples as well as us. There was an urgency in YAHSHUA’S voice when He warned the disciples three times about watching and praying. 

Trials will come to everyone who live on this earth; it is with certainty that it will arrive at any time and many times in our life-time. When we are sleeping, we lose all sense of presence, reasoning. We are as dead and vulnerable for the enemy to destroy us. Samson, from the tribe of Dan, was chosen to fight Israel’s enemy and free her from them. However, Samson fell into temptation by marrying a Philistine woman, the enemy of Israel, whom Samson had been called to fight against. Samson’s life was such a disaster in the misrepresentation of his calling, resulting in his betrayal by his own wife, who was working for the enemy, so she could find the secret of his strength. Samson lived an unfruitful life. Blind and weak, he died with three thousand philistines with him, while he held to the pillars of the building and prayed, O Lord God, remember me, I pray You and strengthen me, I pray You, only this once, O God, and let me have one vengeance upon the Philistines for both my eyes. Samson cried, Let me die with the Philistines! And he bowed himself mightily and the house fell upon the princes and upon all the people that were in it. So, the dead whom he slew at his death were more than they whom he slew in his life (Judges 16:28-30).

The kind of life voided of prayer brings us no victory; for only in communion with our Lord, we will stay awake, watching and praying, as He commanded us to do and victory is certain, according to what He said, Stay awake, watch and pray at all times so that we will have victory over temptation that comes against us. The flesh is weak, He said, but the spirit is willing. The flesh, then constitutes an enemy of the spirit when it listens to the soul, not to the spirit. It is only by prayer that we are connected to God through our spirit, from where we receive spiritual strength. Prayer is the key that opens the door of heaven.  Wake up, get up and pray!