Sometimes, I really think I have narcolepsy.
Sure, sometimes we joke that we must be the helpless victim to this disorder after our friends elbow you for hanging your head for a few minutes during the Sunday Message, or for closing your eyes during a lecture or a movie. But, when rolled down windows, loud music, pinching yourself, and jumping around in your sleep can hardly keep you from knocking out while driving on the road at 9:00 in the morning… something else might be up.
Just last week, I was literally training a new employee on how to navigate a customer service call, and in mid-sentence, against every fiber of my fighting for consciousness, my eyelids and head collapsed and recovered for a slight second, and in that time, my speech stopped, and I literally couldn’t remember what I was saying.
Talk about embarrassing.
Yes, you don’t need to say it—I should probably see a doctor (especially for the sake of all those sharing the road with me on Southern California Freeways!).
AND, as dangerous and shameful as these symptomatic episodes may be… they helped me sink some teeth into a far graver reality of a danger that accompanies inattentive sleep.
Sleep is the antithesis of the vitality that should describe the Christian life:
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving (Col 4:2).
So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober (1 Thess 5:6).
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong (1 Cor 16:13).
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet 3:8).
Literally, the command of focus is to “be watchful, be vigilant, on the alert.” I like to think of a super-hero movie, where the hero has clearly arrived into the lair of the arch-enemy. He stands tall, confident, strong… yet still. With his head slightly cocked, he listens. His head not moving, his eyes pierce into the darkness, looking to the left, to the right, feeling around to see if there is anything about to sneak up on him from behind. He knows he’s in enemy territory, and with cool calm, his courageous posture taunts the first surprise or strike from the nemesis, from which the battle for the world will begin.
How far-removed is the experience of being spiritually groggy and heavy-eyed, to the energy-teeming vigilance demanded by the Spirit? Do I stumble from business appointment, to afternoon work-tasks, to dinner with the family, to time on my computer with a mind-set that has no expectations, and that sees the days on the calendar roll by without a sense of purpose, and grounded presence, in whatever I’m doing?
The most sobering reality about these verses is the fact that a sleepy and un-alert soul, means one is marked for susceptibility to spiritual ruin. Be on the alert, not because we are told to—because our adversary is waiting for our guard to be lowered (1 Pet 3:8).
Want to be snapped out of a pattern of prayer that feels dull, sluggish… and sedative? Read Jesus’ words, and feel the penetrating power they must have had on the disciples’ ears:
Why are you sleeping? Rise and PRAY that you may not enter into temptation (Luke 22:46).
Alert, vigilant, and watchful prayer is needed, because when prayer isn’t alive and thriving… temptation is.
Jesus’ first command to the disciples before his own time of prayer was “Pray that you may not enter temptation.” Why? Jesus knew that the context was ripe for the disciples to defect from following their leader. Not only is Jesus aware that the cup he prayed to have past was near, he also spoke of this reality just verses earlier:
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail… (Luke 22:31-32).
Jesus not only knew his time of suffering was about to break open and jeopardize the faith of his followers… he knew that the enemy was specifically singling them out, to strike them out in this season of tiredness and susceptibility.
Perhaps this is the greatest danger of a napping soul—our spiritual health doesn’t feel decrepit and diseased. We feel “OK.” Not empowered, but, like we’re getting by. And so blinded are we from realizing we are in one of the most vulnerable and dangerous positions we can be.
What is the cure? The cure—is prayer.
Even in their exhaustion, Jesus commands them to pray that they may not enter temptation. Jesus is not a harsh master, kicking his friends because they don’t mush when he whips. No—because of His love for their souls, he keeps nudging them awake. They are behind enemy lines. And that is no place, to let lazy slumber take you over.
While I should probably consider treatment after some blood work and some sleep tests, the sweet and ready remedy for gaining a vigilant and alert soul, is to fill and flourish in the formation of prayer. Jesus modeled the intensity of the watchfulness and emotion with which we ought to pray—he prayed “in agony He was praying very fervently; and his sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.”
It’s tough to sleep, when you’re sweating.
In fact, there’s probably no time when you feel less alive and empowered, than when body and soul are pouring out their all. Prayer is labor. And, it is the means of our energy and strength. It is the sweet song of our soul. It is the shield of our spirit. It is the conduit of Spirit-power.
It’s time for a sweaty prayer life.
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