Then, fast forward to the night of the final Passover with Jesus at the helm, on the way to willingly give His life on the Cross. He ( Jesus) asks them to pray and stay with Him awhile…..and they promptly fall asleep. Let us read Matthew 26:40-42 a “And He *came to the disciples and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again a second time and prayed.”
This is a perfect picture of men, as far back as we can remember, who not just do not pray, but do not see the value and absolute necessity of prayer…..except when they fall sick or need divine intervention on some family matter. But it is indeed worse than it appears. We (men) will take the great mountaintop experiences with Jesus, like an exciting conference or seminar, but would drop the ball once we get back to the valleys and fields, where the actual real work of the Christian life is lived.
I have seen places, in sound bible-teaching churches, where prayer is limited to the pastoral 3-minute prayer at the beginning and the prayer requests in some of the Sunday school classes where the teacher is more tuned into the Holy Spirit. The official policies of too many churches are more program than prayer-oriented, regardless of the small groups that actually exist in most bible-teaching churches who pray to keep the spiritual fires burning. So, this trend with non-praying men is not happening in a vacuum. During the first year, when after I was born-again (1988-89), the passion to know the Lord Who saved me by His Grace so dramatically, so overwhelmed me that I would sit for hours by a freezing lake in the fall and winter and pray for hours.
