Joanne Lowe's Meditations: 'Have You Been to the Garden With Jesus?'

HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE GARDEN WITH JESUS

“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.  And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.  Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.”

Matthew 26:36-38 (King James Version)

     Have you been to the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus?  Have you stayed up all night crying and praying for your lost loved ones and friends?  If the tears haven’t rolled down your cheeks or you haven’t felt the agony and the compassion that Jesus feels for us, you haven’t been to the Garden with Jesus.

     Why is it we have no trouble staying up and watching movies on television all night but we are too sleepy to stay up and pray all night?  Jesus is coming back for us.  We don’t know when He is coming back for us but He is coming back and He can come back even as you read this devotion.

     How it would hurt Jesus and break His heart if when He comes back for us, He sees us watching television instead of praying for our lost loved ones.  Someone made the statement “I do pray.  I pray for an hour a day”.  Yet this same person watches football games and movies several hours a day.

     What a sad commentary it is on those of us who claim to be Christians that we watch television more than we pray.  The world is watching us to see how we live.  May God have mercy on us if people go to hell because we didn’t pray for them.

     Shut off the television and cry out to God for the salvation of your lost loved ones, your friends and the world.

Joanne Lowe

December 14, 2011