The pressure gets stronger and stronger as we feel deeper the intensity of our temptation. In the garden of Gethesemane, the night of Jesus’s arrest and betrayel Jesus was praying in the garden. He told John, James, and Peter to keep watch with Him, but behold they had fallen asleep. Awaking them, Jesus tells His disciples: John, James, and Peter how they must stay vigilant and pray for temptation is waiting.
Jesus says to them and to us:
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Say it one, more time Jesus! Whew! Did you catch that warning? Our Savior, our Lord and Teacher instructs us, commands us, and warns to “Watch and pray.” But what does He mean, why is His warning so urgently? In this post I will list discuss the warning from Jesus Christ and why it is essential for us to heed it.
Watch and Pray.
In our Christian life we have enemies not merely men or other people of different faiths. We have Satan, the father of lies, this wicked world seeking to negativelly influence us, and our third enemy is our flesh, wreaking havoc against us. Jesus encourages us to “watch and pray,” watch means to be vigilant, on guard, careful. Scouting enemy lines, assessing our weak points and errors of vulnerability helps us to be less susceptible to temptation, when it strikes. In spiritual warfare it is not a matter of “if” but “when,” often times believers fall victim to sin, because they did not prepare themselves for battle. Whether we like it or not, being a Christian is not a walk in the park. We have enemies and our flesh is looking for every opportunity to tempt us to backslide, give in, or give up.
Watch and Pray.
Prayer is a powerful resource from our Father in Heaven. Through this divine tool of communication, we receive spiritual intervention, the gifts of grace, strength, and wisdom being bestowed on us in moments of danger. God did not leave us alone. Jesus though He never sinned and lived a perfect, sinless life in the guise of man. Understood the war going on in the hearts of men: alcohol addiction, sexual immorality, adultery, idolatry, laziness, and complacency etc. The Lord underwent His temptation, passed, and therefore empathizes with our weaknesses. He is our Great High Priest, our wonderful advocator defending us in the heavenly courts, battling each day to win our case. We don’t pray because it is what we do before we eat a meal. We pray because we need that spiritual insight! Prayer maintains our vigilance.
Watch and Pray.
Galatians 5:17 says, “17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c]you want.”
The flesh and the spirit are not friends. For some reason, we have a mentality that we can make our flesh, engulfed in sin, get along with our spirit, which have become born again. Absolutely not! This is why we struggle with overcoming sin, we been deceived.
Watch and Pray.
We cannot merge sin and the righteousness of Christ Jesus nor can we live an immoral and moral life at the same time. This is the very conflict we feel in our souls! However, once we honestly tell God, we’re ready and committed to getting ready of a particular sin, for example in my case, it is complaining and grumbling, then He will take us seriously. It is not our battle against sin that cause our fumbling, it our battle to truly accept the sin we’re practicing in our lives has to go! Acknowledging, as a child of God we can no longer practice such deplorable behavior in the eyes of our ruler. It is this final decision, this surrender that finally yields the breakthrough, so many of us are looking for. That “final decision” is a heart decision. Satan himself, the world, or the flesh cannot move our minds from that “Final decision.” Why? Because we’ve made up our minds to not turn back, yes, we may a stumble and sin along the way. But there is a difference, we’re no longer trying to hide or enterain the sin. We’re seeking God’s way of getting ride of it. The Holy Spirit’s job is to convict us, making us more spiritually sensitive to our sin. He will strengthen, fortify, the rickety prostrate areas of our lives where Satan or our flesh have consumed.
Watch and Pray.
Psalm 18:2 says, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
The Lord God is our unshakable fortress, our shield. The final decision to live a godly life will only empower the very Spirit living in us that is willing. Aligning ourselves with the purposes of the Almighty, does not make our trials and temptations easier, what they do is guarantee our victory at the end. And don’t you see? God desires our victory. Jesus desires us to win. The Holy Spirit wants to win. Never will there be a moment when Jesus has given us and wants us to fall into temptation. However, the choice is ours. Are we going to make the final decision to accept that our sin has to go?
Think About It
- What are the sins you are struggling with? How often do you fall into temptaton?
- What can you do to make that “Final Decision?”
A Meeting at the Well 