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Generally speaking the Old Testament contains more information about prayer, and the New Testament stresses the importance of prayer. The Bible presents God as a person who has communicated with us and who invites us to communicate with Him. Since God is the sovereign Creator and we are finite creatures, we need to know what He has revealed about how we can and should communicate with Him. The Christian’s relationship to his or her heavenly Father is by definition the most important one that we enjoy. Therefore it is essential that we know how to communicate with God acceptably and effectively… The New Testament describes watchfulness in three different relationships to prayer. First, Jesus Christ commanded Peter, James, and John to watch and pray (Matt. 26:38-39). He meant that He wanted them to stay awake and pray. He explained that by doing so they could avoid entering into temptation that they would experience if they failed to pray (Matt. 26:40-42). In this sense watching involves a battle. The believer’s human spirit wants to continue praying, because he recognizes a need for divine grace, but the flesh longs to indulge itself in sleep. Second, Christians should watch (be on the alert) that we do not carelessly neglect prayer but faithfully persist in it (Eph. 6:18). This is slightly different from the former responsibility. It is not so much failing to continue praying as it is failing to pray at all because we see no need for it that is in view here. Jesus reminded His disciples that persistence in prayer often results in answers to prayer that would not be forthcoming otherwise (Luke 21:36). Paul stayed up late at night praying because he believed that doing so would bring God’s blessing on the people for whom he prayed (2 Cor. 6:5; cf. James 4:2). We are the sole authorized seller of premium modules for theWord Bible Software.