Pastor Grinders' message on prayer was spot on Sunday. My reading this morning from Mark 14:32-42 spoke to my heart of the value of prayer as seen in the life of Jesus. Jesus was facing the cross and the betrayal of one of His own disciples. His response to this was, to go to Gethsemane and pray. He asked his disciples to watch and pray as he went a short distance beyond them to pray alone. He told them of his overwhelming sorrow. He prayed, about an hour and returned to the disciples finding them asleep, not watchful in prayer. His words in verse #38 stood out to me. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak."
It seems to me what the body desires, is not always what is best for the Spirit. In this case, slumber instead of prayer. Prayer is the source of spiritual resistance to temptation. Jesus prayed three times about the cross and what he was about to face. The third time he returned from the place of prayer, I find resolve in these words from verse #38; "Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!" His prayer originally was that he would not have to drink the cup of death. But after praying the third time he went out to meet his betrayer and drink the cup of death. Prayer is not only the source of spiritual resistance to temptation, but also the strength and resolve we can find in meeting with the Lord to know, and face, the issues that are not what we would prefer to face in life's hard places.
My thought for the morning was; as I arise in the morning to face my day do I approach the events ahead in spiritual strength and resolve or weakness?