October 14, 2022 -- Matthew 26:40-41 -- Fighting against all weakness

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And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26:40-41 ESV

Jesus’ is about to be handed over the Jewish authorities who are in league with the Roman authorities seeking to put Jesus to death. Just prior to Jesus’ prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus told Peter that he’d deny Jesus three times. For Jesus' prayer time, He'd gone a short distance away from His disciples in order to pray to His Father. While Jesus prayed, His disciples slept. Peter, who said he’d stand against armies if he needed to defend Jesus, could not even fight his own weariness, his own flesh—how would he then fight armies for Jesus?

How often the Christian is like Peter. So bold in declarations but weak in the very area that would give spiritual strength: prayer. The flesh, weakened by original sin, weakened by the patterns of sins being committed and weakened by the neglect of the very good which the LORD calls His people to do, such a person of flesh cannot withstand in the day of trial. The great gift Jesus walked in was communication with His Father in heaven. Jesus went off and prayed—this is recorded about fifteen times in Luke. His greatness in ministry rested on the fact He was intimately connected to His Father in heaven through prayer and the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, given to Jesus without measure (John 3:34).

Dear friend in Jesus—prayer is the great gift and weapon which the Father has given to every believer. It is intimate communication with the LORD of Glory. The believer prays, offering up his prayer on the basis of Jesus’ accomplished work—His perfect life and perfect earthly obedience, so that He could be the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. When the believer prays, Jesus’ scars and His fully submitted, perfect earthly obedience, pleads the cause of every Christian who prays. The Spirit of God is given to every believer. In fact, one cannot truly pray, one cannot confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father, unless the Holy Spirit resides in him. The Spirit of Power is given as the strength of the believer. Let your weak, weary flesh be joined to the power of heaven by the inner working of the Holy Spirit. Pray.

LORD OF THE CLOUD AND OF THE FIRE,
I am a stranger, with a stranger's indifference;
   My hands hold a pilgrim's staff,
   My march is Zionward,
   My eyes are toward the coming of the Lord,
   My heart is in thy hands without reserve.
Thou has created it,
   redeemed it,
   renewed it,
   captured it,
   conquered it.
Keep from it every opposing foe,
   crush in it every rebel lust,
   mortify every treacherous passion,
   annihilate every earthborn desire,
All faculties of my being vibrate to thy touch;
I love thee with soul, mind, body, strength,
   might, spirit, affection, will,
   desire, intellect, understanding.
Thou art the very perfection of all perfections;
All intellect is derived from thee;
My scanty rivulets flow from thy unfathomable fountain.
Compared with thee the sun is darkness,
   all beauty deformity,
   all wisdom folly,
   the best goodness faulty.
Thou art worthy of an adoration greater than
   my dull heart can yield;
Invigorate my love that it may rise worthily to thee,
   tightly entwine itself round thee,
   be allured by thee.
Then shall my walk be endless praise.
"JOURNEYING ON" The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions. page 198

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