It started with a warning

Jesus say this about him. He was the one who was given understanding by God that Jesus was Messiah, God’s promised Savior. He was the one that Jesus was going to build his Church on, he was the one that Jesus had renamed Peter, ROCK.

When we get warnings in life, we must fight the impulse to defend ourselves. We must humble ourselves to the place where we are able to take that warning and properly apply it to our lives.

Here are some of the ways that God warns people.
• He puts reoccurring thoughts in your mind.
• He uses other people, oftentimes in multiples to confirm.
• His Word, the Bible.
• Through the Prophets.
• At church

Peter was unable to grasp the warning Jesus gave him and it resulted in impulsive behavior during the most important time of his life to date.

The meal in the Upper Room finished and the remaining 11 disciples accompanied Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane where he was going to pray.

It was on the Mount of Olives that Jesus gave a second warning to Peter, James and John. They had gone there to pray and it was quite late at night.

36 Then Jesus brought them to an olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, "Sit here while I go on ahead to pray." 37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he began to be filled with anguish and deep distress. 38 He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me."

39 He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground, praying, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine." 40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, "Couldn’t you stay awake and watch with me even one hour? 41 Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!"

42 Again he left them and prayed, "My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away until I drink it, your will be done." 43 He returned to them again and found them sleeping, for they just couldn’t keep their eyes open.
Matt 26:36-43 (NLT)

It is as if those disciples heard the warning, but the severity of what Jesus was saying did not register with them. Jesus said, My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death, and they still fell asleep.

How you perceive the importance of the subject matter will determine how you respond to the command.

“Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the flesh is weak.”

Peter’s flesh was willing, on his own strength he was willing to go to the death with Jesus. But when Peter relied on his own flesh he was not strong enough to make it through the night without sinning.

Jesus knew that the only way his disciples had a chance, was to pray. He knew that they could not rely on their own resources, they had to get connected to God, and when through Prayer God supernaturally gave them strength and discernment, then they would be able to overcome the obstacles that they were about to face.

But the disciples fell asleep. They simply could not keep their eyes open.

Before we point our fingers at the disciples in condemnation we should point our finger at ourselves and ask the question… “When has God spoken to me, and I was too tired to pray.

When did God warn me, and