are you awake...?

After I published my final Romans 8 post on Good Friday... I prepared to get on the treadmill and walk some steps...

I had in mind to watch a recorded BBC series... but He interrupted my thoughts with another suggestion...

If you're going to watch something while you walk... 

watch The Passion...

(Now... I've watched The Passion several times before...
Not once has it been my idea... I approach this hard to watch film as a spiritual discipline... and view it only when I feel pressed... or called... to watch...)

My initial reaction... On the treadmill...?!

I've learned to watch this movie with my journal... pen... and a box of Kleenex... watching from a moving treadmill didn't seem like the ideal place...

I didn't even know where my DVD was...
I began to look...
After the first place I thought it was and it wasn't... I prayed...

If You want me to watch this movie... 

you'll have to show me where it is...

It was in the next place that came to mind to look...

So I began to walk... through the crucifixion of Christ...

The first scene of the movie is in the garden of Gesthemane...
Jesus wrestling with the Father...
struggling with the call to obedience... and... temptation...

He returns to the three disciples... whom He posted to pray... and help Him watch...

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping.

He asked Peter, "So couldn't you stay awake with Me one hour?..."

Matthew 26:40 HCSB

As He spoke the words in the movie... You could not watch even one hour with me...?

I received it from a totally new perspective...

For Believers... our time on earth with respect to eternity... may be about one hour... (that's probably stretching it...)

But what I heard Him say... to me... to His Church... 

You could not watch with me... even one hour...?

And there on my treadmill... I gasped... with conviction...

We are commanded to stay awake... watch with Him... and pray...

His Word... it says...

...pray continually...

1 Thessalonians 5:17 

One of the most important parts of our ministry on earth as Believers... in this time and place... is to intercede with Him... making way for His Light to penetrate the darkness...

I've been considering... What does it mean to stay awake... with Him...? Be watchful...? What does it look like for the church to wake up...? and pray...?

Wondering what comes next... seeking Him... regarding wakefulness... watchfulness... and prayer...

Are you awake...?

"... Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know

on what day your Lord is coming. ..."

Matthew 24:42 ESV

"... Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Matthew 26:41 ESV

[Note... the treadmill walking through The Passion took three days... 50 minutes Friday... an hour on Saturday... and the remaining Easter Sunday at sunrise... it was an interesting walk...]