Pray or you become a prey!
Scripture
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”- Matthew 26:41
Observation
Prior to this scripture,Jesus was with His disciples. He was going to pray and scripture mentions that He was anguished and distressed (Matthew 26:37) . This is confirmation that whilst being fully Deity ie God , He was also fully human whilst here on earth. He experienced and understood the emotions we go through as humans. Now this scripture Matthew 26:41 was birthed after He found His disciples sleeping when they should have been alert and praying.
“Watch and pray” suggests fighting temptation both physically and spiritually. With our eyes and our understanding we’re able to first discern what we need to be mindful of, then in a place of prayer we take it to God. The word “watch”also has the root meaning of “being careful to not fall into calamity due to temporary pain or idleness”. These are things that cause us to easily fall into temptation. Pain has a way of causing us to make clouded decisions whilst idleness has a way of making us make decisions that aren’t well thought through due to laziness.
When we accept Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us . He guides us , and leads us into all truth. Hence why the spirit is willing to walk in truth and to overcome temptations .On the other hand, we know all the flesh wants are things that’ll lead us into trouble and death ie greed, lust, offence (Galatians 5:19-21)
Application
When Jesus was in distress , His first point of action was to go to His Father in prayer. Prayer is a means of communication to your Father in heaven. Heaven, where possibilities are perfect and endless. In a place of prayer you don’t come out the same. Why ? You’ve approached the throne of grace so if indeed you have a humble heart posture to receive, you will most definitely leave with grace and mercy (Hebrews 4:16) . It’s in a place of prayer, we go to God in honesty and let Him know what our struggles are. God knows you may be suffering with lust , lying etc but He wants you to come before Him, withholding nothing so that you may receive the grace to not fall into temptation.We fall into temptation when our prayer altars are being quenched. We always ought to pray and not faint (Luke 18:1). It is important to not make a permanent decision based on a temporary feeling because our emotions are fleeting for us to rely solely on them. It’s important to be yielded to the leadings of the Holy Spirit . He’s the only Spirit that can help and enable you to not fall into temptation. We cannot rely on our own strength because as the scripture suggests, we will fail and fall woefully due to lack of strength.
Prayer
Heavenly Father thank You for Your word. I ask that You help me to navigate through temporary pain and idleness so I do not fall into temptation. Help me to build a prayer altar so I am strengthened in the face of temptation in Jesus name I pray amen .