Could You Not Tarry With Me For One Hour?

Jesus took his friends Peter, James, and John to pray with him on the mount of transfiguration, and again in the garden of Gethsemane. When he found them sleeping in the garden, he asked Peter a question that still holds weight for all believers today:

“Could you not tarry with me for one hour?”

When Jesus asked this question, it was night time. The most natural thing to do was to sleep! But he desired friends to join him in prayer and engage with God’s purpose in that very moment. Jesus was looking for friends to tarry with him in prayer.

In our hour, Jesus is still looking for friends to join him in the place of prayer, and he calls to our generation: Could you not tarry with me for one hour? As with the disciples, the most natural and comfortable thing to do is to “sleep,” or go through a life of prayerlessness with a heart dull and numbed by the cares of the world. Jesus said that in the last days, the love of many believers will grow cold. This is why he so often said, “Stay awake!” “Watch and pray!”

In a time where it is so easy to be “asleep” to what Jesus is doing in our generation, the only way to stay “awake” is to develop a heart connection with him in the place of prayer. This is a call to friendship with him. This is a call to waiting in his presence. This is a call to tarrying with someone who loves to be with us, and who transforms our hearts as we spend time before him. When we know his heart from this kind of intimacy, we will respond to others and circumstances with his perspective.

We need to hear the prayers of Jesus above every other voice. No matter your life situation, you can be a person who daily joins him in prayer and who has a heart that is awake and alive to God. This is what you were created for!