We are in the middle of a hot summer in South Carolina, trying to keep a garden alive (we are still learning as we go), sweating our bums off, while trying to enjoy these days. I realized that after this summer, I only have 3 summers with my baby girl before she turns 18! So we have been soaking up what we can, and I have been unplugging much more that I have in the past.
I have been making myself sit to read a little bit more and its been a blessing to not just jump from one thing to the next. That’s my mind at times, just like the tabs on my computer and on my phone. I won’t say how many are open…
This morning I sat down to read a devotional that’s currently in my bible bag and the scripture for today was form Matthew 26:41, “Stay awake and pray that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”. Then, I was taken into breaking down some truth and what this looks like.
I invite you to join me!
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1-2 ESV
In the old testament, in Greek, Word is Logos - of speech, a word uttered by a living voice, the sayings of God, something said (including thought)
In the new testament it signifies the presence of God himself in the flesh, “word”, or - Jesus - The word (eternal), the creative word and the word made visible; the divine expression of God.
… And the living expression was with God, yet fully God. Jesus was with God in the very beginning, but yet he was fully God. (TPT)
Something we don’t always connect the dots to, is that Jesus was there in the beginning with God. He knew all along what was to come.
When we can grasp that Jesus was around long before he came to earth, and understand that He knew what would happen, we will be able to see that our spirits can handle alot more than our flesh. Jesus willingly came down by spirit in order to become flesh. However, as he was in the flesh, he still had struggles just as we have them.
His Spirit - the Spirit of God himself was ready to save the people, ready to become a living sacrifice, but leading up to his crucifiction, scripture tells us that Jesus was in agony and his sweat became like great drops of blood. Luke 22:44
The difference as He was battling the flesh, was that Jesus wasn’t giving his flesh space to win. He prayed for his Father to take the cup from him, yet at the same time, he prayed, “not my will Father, but your will be done.”
Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” Matthew 26:38-42
Our spirit is indeed willing but our flesh is weak. It is important to come into alignment with who we truly are. We are spirit beings first, and in fleshly bodies. We so easily forget this truth.
We can see that Jesus was grieving. If he never took the time to go to the Father to pray, he would not have had the strength to endure in his flesh. But because he went to his father to pray, as this was the regular thing he did, he was strengthened.
How much are we willing to put aside what is comfortable in order to watch and pray so that we don’t fall into temptation?
How much are we willing to lose sleep in order to fall on our knees and pray, to submit to God our burdens and what grieves us even to accept what’s to come, but also gain strength to endure?
The passion translation uses a few different words from the above scriptures in verse 39, “ ‘…My Father if there is any way you can deliver me from this suffering, please take it from me. Yet, what I want is not important, for I only desire to fulfill your plan for me.’ Then an angel appeared from heaven to strengthen him.”
Luke 22:39 TPT phrases this scenario a little differently with
“There he told the apostles, ‘Keep praying for strength to be spared from the severe test of your faith that is about to come’”
and again in verse 46,
“‘Why are you sleeping?’ he asked them. ‘You need to be alert and pray for the strength to endure the great temptation.’”
Revelation for today
Things are happening all around us, but so many times it seems we would rather sleep on them instead of remaining awake in order to pray our way to victory or pray for strength to endure. However, we can hear the moaning, groaning, and complaints all around when things go a certain way we aren’t comfortable with.
When we get to the point of desperation, and something is revealed to us, or something comes up unexpectedly, its easy to wish we could go back and adhere to something that was spoken in our spirit long ago. We can get stuck in the comfortable and the easy thing. Staying asleep vs digging in with Holy Spirit, to pray for strength or be taken into deeper truth.
When we are facing trials and tribulations in life, the easy way out comes to mind multiple times for us to just give in and give up, to sit down and back out. If we haven’t developed a relationship with Christ, allowing him to truly be Lord of our life, the best friend that we turn to daily, the one we know and hunger for, it will be hard to remember to turn to prayer.
Our faith is going to be tested. Its easier to run to others, forgetting that our strength comes from the Lord. Turning to the Father for strength is hard when we aren’t cultivating an intimate relationship with Him. Its harder when we are confiding in everyone else around us, not fully understanding how to abide in him and how to seek him first.
When our minds haven’t been transformed, we are more likely to operate from a worldly perspective. Sure, we can say that we are believers because we have been saved, but we must continue the walk and the work of sanctification to become activated in the truth so we will have the wisdom on what to do and how to live out this life.
What happens when we get an injury from a cut? Let’s say its a deep cut that needs stitches. From the top of our minds, without giving it much thought, we automatically know that we need to get to the ER, to mend what’s broken.
So when we are broken in spirit, flesh, or soul with grief, trials, and trauma, how will we get to a place to automatically know that we need Jesus, right now? Not a shopping spree, not jump on social media to vent, not to turn to alcohol, not go into moaning, groaning and complaining mode.
It so happens many times that we try to put the pieces back together in our own strength, the way the world does. When we do that, we actually become weaker, giving more space for temptation and deception to come in and take root. Then one day out of desperation, because we feel as though we are at the end of our wits, we stumble upon the words, “Hi Jesus, I need you”.
He wants to be the one we automatically run to. Does he give us grace? Yes, he absolutely does, but we could prevent so much when we understand the truth and run to him initially. All of those things that look like they will help are temporary fixes.
Our strength comes from the Lord. So when we begin to feel those “injuries” in spirit, or have to walk through some hard things, I pray that we begin to automatically know where to run and who to turn to first.
Jesus was with God in the beginning, knowing him, soaking in his presence, and when he came to earth to become flesh, he knew where his help came from. He knew His strength came from his father, the one who created him.
I pray we don’t fall into the trap believing the lie the enemy tells us, that we can handle whatever comes our way on our own. May we trash the “I’ve got this” mentality. Its a trap from the pits of hell, set out in front of us to get us weaker so the adversary can feed us more and more lies, leading us into addictions and self, away from Jesus. May we trade “I’ve got this” for “I need Jesus, Now”.
When we try to fix it on our own, we tend to cause even more damage that we have to recover from, but when we turn to Jesus, we are strengthened to endure, we have energy to stay in the game until we experience victory.
So just like Jesus absolutely knew where to go daily and it was his habit, may we develop that same habit, be willing to train ourselves to follow the spirit, so that it becomes what we know. The flesh is weak. We want to be able to discern the strategies of the enemy and be ready to knock temptation out of the way. We may have to endure quite a bit, but with each step we are strengthened and will be able to keep saying “Father, your will be done”.
Much Love,
Crystal Keefer
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