A recent movie reveals the spiritual battle that all believers face, but the original War Room was in Heaven and played out on the screen of the Garden of Gethsemane. The screenplay revealed the tool of temptation, the submission of our Savior and the power of prayer.

Only Luke reveals to us what took place just after the Last Supper on the way to the Garden. The prophecy of Zechariah would be fulfilled but Jesus revealed that  a battle for the disciples had already been waged in the heavenlies between Satan and God just as it had been for Job. “Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.”

What was it that Satan wanted? He wanted to prove that Simon’s faith was chaff, not wheat. He would fall for the temptation. That is why Jesus implored the disciples three times: “Stay, Pray, Watch” for the “enemy is prowling about seeking whom he can devour.”[1Pet 5]  Satan’s three weapons are; “Steal, Kill, Destroy”—BUT Jesus had prayed. Satan’s weapons are not flesh and blood but spiritual forces of evil. Prayer is our weapon.

The disciples did stay. The disciples slept not prayed. They failed to watch and thus when the accuser, Judas, arrived they were caught off guard. Satan stole their confidence, killed their words, and destroyed their weak faith—-But Jesus prayed.

Jesus is imploring us: “Stay, Pray, Watch.” What are we doing? Are we prepared?