But When Men Slept

Matthew 13:25 (KJV)
But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

After Joel stock his new fish ponds with fingerlings, he would come every morning and evening to feed them and sometimes just stand admiring how the little creatures were fearing. After some months when the time of harvest was near, Joel woke up as usual and went to the ponds to feed the fish. but to his shock, more than two third of the fish were missing– someone had stolen them. The thief came in the night while Joel slept. It was after this sad incidence that Joel employed a guard.

You see, the devil is a thief (see John 10:10), he achieves this by taking advantage of the weakness or weak moment of the one from whom he steals. One of such moment is described as ‘when men slept’.

Jesus in Matthew 24:43 (KJV) says that, if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

So, the way to keep the thief away is to keep watch. How then do we watch?

Matthew 26:38 KJV, ‘Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.’

According to Jesus in the passage above, to watch means to pray. And someone may say, how can I pray when I am weak?

Mark 14:38 (KJV) says, ‘Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.’

It is whenever you don’t feel like praying that you need prayer the most, because, not feeling like praying is a temptation and the way to overcome it is to pray.

Go into today knowing that when you keep watching, you keep the thief away.

Pray like this:  Father, I receive the spirit of grace and prayer, and with discipline and the help of the Holy Spirit, I keep the enemy away from my life in Jesus name.
—Dr. Emmanuel James