Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Mark 14:38 ESV

Your enemy is spiritual but so are your weapons. Your enemy is deadly but so are your weapons. Your weapon is prayer. Peter, a disciple of Jesus, failed to use this weapon in his time of warfare. “And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren’” (Luke 22:31-32). 

I find it interesting that this time Jesus refers to Peter by his old name Simon, the name Jesus had changed three years earlier (John 1:42-43). During the last supper, Jesus warned Peter that Satan had asked for him, but Jesus prayed for Peter. Not long afterward, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus invites Peter to watch and pray with Him lest Peter falls into temptation. But Peter opted for prayerlessness, failing to use his spiritual weapon, and the enemy took the upper hand that night. 

He came back and found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, you went to sleep on me? Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don’t enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don’t be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”39-40 He then went back and prayed the same prayer. Returning, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open, and they didn’t have a plausible excuse.41-42 He came back a third time and said, “Are you going to sleep all night? No—you’ve slept long enough. Time’s up. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let’s get going. My betrayer has arrived.” Mark 14:38 MSG

Prayerful Christians are powerful Christians. Prayerless Christians are powerless Christians. Prayer is a must because of the spiritual warfare that is constantly taking place in the unseen spiritual realm. If we fail to pray, we will stray back into our old patterns. Satan has the advantage over spiritually sleeping saints; he can sift them. Saints, it’s time to wake up from your spiritual slumber and rise up in your spiritual authority. Do not treat prayer as your last resort but as the first response to every challenge that comes your way. Take your battles into the spiritual realm by prayer. 

Prayerful Christians are powerful Christians. Prayerless Christians are powerless Christians.