Pray That You May Not Enter into Temptation
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August 30, 2009 |
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 "And Jesus came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, 'So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'" (Matthew 26:40-41)
If we are to live this life in peace and hope, we must pray. If we pray continually, we will not be tempted, our souls will prosper, and what is seemingly "impossible" will become "possible".
Children of God that received the Holy Spirit begin a true Christian life through spiritual respiration. Spiritual respiration is the act of praying. When we stay spiritually awake and pray, we can communicate with God. Moreover, when we pray, not only can we enjoy the right of being a child of God, but can also receive whatever we ask for in prayer and thereby glorify God. Therefore, prayer is the most fundamental aspect of a Christian's life, and the key to leading a successful Christian life.
1. Prayer Life: Our Spirit's Breath
Our God, who acts in the midst of love and justice, wants His children to live blessed lives. In order for us to live in peace and with hope, we must always stay awake and pray. Only then can we fight off temptations and turn what is "impossible" to what is "possible".
Just as life expires if we do not breathe everyday, the importance of prayer in the lives of God's children cannot be stressed enough. That is why God commands us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and reminds us that failing to pray is a sin (1 Samuel 12:23).
Then what happens when a person stops spiritual respiration, or praying? When a spiritual person stops praying, he may not feel any difference at first. With the passing of time, however, his heart will begin to feel disheartened and afflicted. If he realizes that all this is because he stopped praying and resumes praying, he can receive grace and power from above, and he can lead a normal Christian life with fullness of the Holy Spirit once again. But the longer the "break" has been, the harder it becomes to recuperate. But people who pray continuously, the way they inhale and exhale air, don't find praying very difficult. This is because they receive the answer to their prayers, they are blessed by God, and they have stronger hope in Heaven, so peace and joy abounds in their hearts.
2. Why We Need to Stay Awake in Prayer
Jesus, who set an example of how we should pray, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane until His sweat turned into drops of blood. Seeing the disciples sleeping, He said to them, "Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation" (Matthew 26:40-41). This teaches us that if we don't stay awake in prayer, temptation can easily come to us.
So why do we fall into temptation when we don't pray? When God created the first man Adam, He made him into a living being, with a living spirit, so that he could communicate with God, who is Spirit. But after Adam disobeyed God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because the punishment for sin is death, Adam's spirit died, his communication with God was severed, and he was driven out from the Garden of Eden. Because he could not communicate with God any more, the enemy devil began to rule over him, man could not help but become more and more tainted by sin.
From long ago, the God of love unveiled His providence of salvation to all mankind and made a way for them to be saved. By sacrificing His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die on the cross, God washed away man's sins. So whoever accepts Jesus as their Savior and repents of their sins is given the right to become a child of God and receives the Holy Spirit as a gift. The Holy Spirit, or our Counselor, is God's spirit that teaches us about sin, righteousness, and the judgment. He also helps us overcome our weaknesses and intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express, and enables us to overcome the world (Romans 8:26).
Only when we pray will the Holy Spirit speak to us, move our hearts and minds, warn us of impending temptations, show us ways to avoid such temptations, and help us overcome temptations even if they come our way.
However, without praying, we cannot correctly discern God's will, and we may easily begin pursuing worldly desires. We will dwell in our own self-righteousness, and live according to our own thoughts. Thus, temptations and sufferings will come our way, bringing all kinds of difficulties and tribulations.
3. The Spirit is Willing but the Flesh is Weak
In the Bible are such terms as, "flesh," "the things of the flesh," and "deeds of the flesh." First, "flesh" is something contrary to "spirit", and generally refers to everything that is bound to decay and change. "Flesh" refers to plants, animals, and everything in creation, including man before having been transformed by the truth. On the other hand, "spirit" refers to things that are everlasting, truthful, and unchanging.
Since Adam's disobedience, all men and women are born with an inherent sinful nature, and this is referred to as "original sin". "Self-committed sins" are untruthful acts committed at the instigation of the enemy devil. Sinful natures that come into man through the enemy devil that becomes one with the body is called "flesh", and the sinful natures, when classified into categories, are called "things of the flesh". "Things of the flesh" are assortments of such various sinful attributes as deception, envy, jealousy, and hatred. They have not yet been acted out physically but may be induced into action. When these desires are put in motion, they are referred to as "the deeds of the flesh" (Galatians 5:19-21).
What did Jesus mean when He said "the flesh is weak"? He is not saying that Peter's body is weak. Jesus meant that Peter, who hadn't received the Holy Spirit yet, was unable to thwart the lust of the flesh that enticed them to sleep and rest. So no matter how much his spirit wanted to stay awake, his could not yet control his flesh, which was tired.
And when Jesus was captured and his life was threatened, three times Peter denied having known Jesus. This is also because his control over his flesh was weak. But after Peter received the Holy Spirit, however, he brought the dead back to life, manifested miraculous signs and wonders, and grew bold enough to be crucified upside down. Signs of Peter's weakness were nowhere to be found as he was transformed into a bold apostle of God's power who was not afraid of death. So when we receive the Holy Spirit, the more we cast out our sins, the stronger our spirit becomes, and the stronger our spirit becomes, our body is more easily controlled by our spirit and soul; therefore we can overcome tiredness, or fear.
4. The Blessings We Receive When We Stay Alert in Prayer
The enemy Satan and the devil, the ruler of the kingdom of the air, strive to entice believers in God to go astray and prevent His people from possessing faith (1 Peter 5:8). In order to discern and destroy the enemy devil's schemes and walk in the light by living according to God's Word, we must wrestle in prayer and receive God-given strength and power from above.
Jesus could accomplish everything according to God's will because of the power of prayer. Before He began His public ministry, Jesus prepared Himself by fasting for forty days and forty nights, and throughout His three-year ministry, He manifested amazing works of God's power by praying habitually and continually. And at the end of His public ministry, Jesus could destroy the authority of death and overcome through resurrection because He wrestled in prayer at Gethsemane.
As Jesus taught us to pray, "And do not lead us into temptation," in Matthew 6:13, in order to not fall into temptation, we need the power of the Holy Spirit. And to receive this power, we must pray. When we keep ourselves alert in prayer, the Holy Spirit teaches us to walk on the right path. Moreover, as much as our soul prospers, our heart will resemble that of our Lord, we will do well in every aspect of life, and we will receive the blessing of good health.
May each of you receive the help of the Holy Spirit by keeping yourself alert and praying habitually, and by casting off all sinful natures within you, enjoy the authority as His child, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I pray!
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