Joni And Friends 16 April 2024 Devotional: I Need You
Joni And Friends 16 April 2024 Devotional Message
TOPIC: I Need You
“He said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’” – Matthew 26:38
Jesus and his disciples had slipped out of the Upper Room and into the darkness, through a city gate, down the steep ravine, and up into the hill of olive trees. He trembled with a deep sense of foreboding. Would his three closest friends mind coming just a little further to pray a stone’s throw away? His soul was overwhelmed with sorrow, so for the only time in his life Jesus asked for something for himself: Be with me…stay beside me…stay awake with me…Please, would you?
Jesus had often asked his disciples to do things for him. Organize the people on the hill in groups. Pass out baskets of loaves and fish. Find a boat in which to cross a lake. Go two by two and preach the message in the towns of Judea. Always and always he had others in mind. Even on the night he was betrayed, he dispensed instructions for others, and in his own prayers that same night he interceded for others (John 14-17).
But on this night, in this lonely olive grove, he asked his disciples for something from them. He wanted human comfort. Instead Jesus’ need was answered with a yawn, and in no time everyone’s prayers had degenerated into dreams. Eleven men—some accustomed to working all night on their fishing boats—could not keep awake to lend moral support to the Son of Man.
“Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?’ he asked Peter” (Matt. 26:40). In his moment of greatest need, Jesus asked his disciples to watch with him for just one hour. He asks the same of you. Can you say with David Brainerd, “Oh! One hour with God infinitely exceeds all the pleasures and delights of this lower world.” Spend an hour alone with God this week.
Yes, Lord, I will stay with you…I will be with you, remaining beside you in prayer.
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