"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Matthew 26:41
Jesus said these words to his disciples as he went off to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane just before his arrest. We tend to look at these words as simply his admonishment for them to stay awake and to keep guard. But when we look further into the passage we see how they weren’t just words. This was something on his mind. He was sharing his own real struggle. He was fully God and yet fully human. I believe at this moment Jesus understood far to well the temptations of the body – how our human emotions can interfere with our spirit’s desire. He knew what God’s plan was for him. He knew he was about to be arrested, tried and crucified (a horribly painful death). The human in him pleaded desperately for God to take away “this cup”. Had he been an ordinary man maybe he would have run. Fortunately for us, he was fully God and the Spirit in him prevailed. “Thy will be done.”
But you and I are not fully God. Our bodies are weak. Jesus gave us some much needed advice that night in the garden. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” If Jesus understood the necessity of prayer in combatting temptations, we would do well to follow the same example. He understood that the more we focus on God, the stronger we are. The better able we are to see and to fight off the things that tempt us.
Encouragement of the day: Take time and pray. Prayer isn’t simply a tool of communication but a tool for strengthening our souls.
Question of the day: Has there been a time when you saw how focusing on prayer kept you out of temptation’s snare?
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