Monday, May 27, 2024

PT-5 "Supplication" (Matt. 26:39-45a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/27/2024 10:01 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-5 “Supplication”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Matthew 26:39-45a

 

            Message of the verses:  39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." 40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43 Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45 Then He came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting?”

 

            I don’t think that I will ever understand what the Lord Jesus Christ was going through as seen in these verses.  He definitely had the weight of the world on His shoulders and therefore it was His desire to have His disciples to just stay awake and pray for Him as He went through this great temptation which I believe Satan was the one behind.  It had to break His heart when He said to Peter, but also for the benefit of James and John, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?”

 

            MacArthur writes “Considering the circumstances, the rebuke was especially mild.  It was not Jesus’ purpose to shame the disciples but to strengthen them and teach them their need for divine help.  “Keep watching and praying”  He implored, that you may not enter into temptation.’

 

            The Greek verbs behind keep watching and praying are present imperatives and carry the idea of continuous action, indicated in the NASB by keep.  The need for spiritual vigilance is not occasional but constant.  Jesus was warning His disciples to be discerning enough to know they were in spiritual warfare and to be prepared by God to resist the adversary.  He was warning them of the danger of self-confidence, which produces spiritual drowsiness.

 

            “The only way to keep from being engulfed in temptation is to be aware of Satan’s craftiness and not only to go immediately to our heavenly Father in prayer when we are already under attack but to pray even in anticipation of coming temptation.  Peter perhaps first began to learn that lesson on this night in the garden.  And after serving faithfully as an apostle for many years, he admonished Christians: ‘Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour’ (1 Pet. 5:8).  He also gave the assurance however that ‘the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation’ (2 Pet. 2:9).

 

            “We cannot overcome Satan or the flesh by our own power, and we risk serious spiritual tragedy when we think we can.  When a military observer spots the enemy, he does not single-handedly engage him in battle.  He simply reports what he saw and leaves the matter in the commanding officer’s hands.  In the same way, believers dare not attempt to fight the devil but should immediately flee from him into the presence of their heavenly Father.  As our Lord taught, we are to pray for God not to ‘lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil’ (Matt. 6:13).”

 

            Jesus knew that this would be hard to do as He says “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."  This is such a truthful statement because when a person is born-again they receive the Holy Spirit to live within them to guide them, but the problem is that we are complicated in that we still have the old nature which fights against us doing the right thing, and so it is our “spirit” which is willing to do the right thing, but our flesh which can be greatly tempted by the forces of evil, which is weak, so we are in the need of constant prayer when tempted to do what is wrong.  MacArthur adds “Regenerated people who truly love God have a desire for righteousness and they can claim with Paul that they genuinely want to do good.  But they also confess with Paul that they often do not practice in the unredeemed flesh what their regenerated spirits want them to do.  And, on the other hand, they sometimes find themselves doing things that, in the inner redeemed person, they do not want to do (Rom. 7:15-29).  Like Paul, they discover that ‘the principle of evil is present in [them],’ that there is a law of sin within their fleshly humanness that wages war against the law of righteousness in their redeemed minds (vv. 21:23).’”

 

            Paul goes on to say that in light of that troublesome and continuing conflict as he lamented, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”  He then goes on to answer his own question by writing “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin (vv. 24-25).  This shows us that the only source of victory is the power of Jesus Christ.

 

            I am not sure but perhaps I can finish this rather long section in the next SD.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The only source of victory is the power of Jesus Christ!

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:   I am trusting the Lord to find a doctor for my wife which will prescribe an MRI so that we can find out what is going on with the rapid loss of her hearing.  This is something that is troublesome to both of us, especially her as it could be very serious.

Prayers are appreciated greatly!

 

5/27/2024 10:38 AM

 

           

No comments:

Post a Comment