Verse to consider - Matthew 26.41 - "Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak." - NLT

Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. . . New American Standard

Good Morning, Friends.

Yesterday, we went with Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane, where he agonized in prayer to his Father. While Jesus had told the disciples to watch and pray, they did not; somehow, they couldn't, and fell asleep. But I would like us to take a look at what Jesus said to them, shown above from Matthew's gospel. In Luke's 22nd chapter, Jesus told them twice to pray so that they would not fall into temptation. Early on in Jesus' ministry, the disciples had asked him to teach them to pray. And so, Jesus gave them what we call the "Our Father" or "The Lord's Prayer". Included in that prayer that we recite--but do we stop and consider the import of each line??--is "Lead us not into temptation." The disciples were told that night to pray so that they would not give in to temptation--oh, not right then --like the temptation to fall asleep--but later, when their backs would be against the wall, when they would be denied access to the temple, because they were Jesus' disciples, when they would be persecuted. . . Jesus knew what was ahead of them, and on this night, He told them, 'use this time to pray, strengthen yourself with your communion with the Father--you don't know what's coming--so gird your loins, get ready. . . pray.' Unfortunately, it was an opportunity they missed.

So, was Jesus saying that God was going to tempt them? Is that what is implied by this line that Jesus taught us to pray? Take a moment, and look up James 1, verses 13 and 14--www.biblegateway.com. No, God does not tempt us, but temptation is a factor of living in this world. I am afraid I do not often pray that I will not be lead into temptation--I guess I forget that Jesus told me to pray thus. Note to self: pray that I will not give in to temptation, that my children will not give in to temptation. The dark side of giving in to temptation is that it often leads to sin. Obviously, there is a range on the 'giving into temptation' meter--I'm not talking about eating that piece of chocolate cake that was not on your diet--I'm talking about the temptation to satiate some desire that does not line up with God's will for you--that may indeed be sin.

Unfortunately, so often sin does not happen in a vacuum. There is a reflexive nature of falling into sin; huh? your sin may hurt another. Picture a smooth blue-green pool, high in the Sierras, with its mirror-like surface. . . now drop a small pebble from above--there's a splash, and then the rings move away from the center. The larger the rock, the greater the splash and the resulting rings will be. So it is when we are compromised by evil; there is often a reaction which we then cannot control. Many of us bear the marks on our souls from people who have dropped rocks (sometimes boulders!) into the water near us. In actuality, few of us have escaped splashing rocks. How foolish I have oft been in my life, not taking into consideration the pain my folly--sometimes sin--that has caused others pain.

Jabez prayed "that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain" (1 Chronicles 4.10). Sin hurts-----God, us, and sometimes, those we love. Have you made wrong choices that have caused others pain?________In what ways might you cause others pain--maybe even without thinking?______________________________________________________________ Thinking about this, I can see why Jesus taught us to pray, 'Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,' can't you? Now one word of caution here--don't allow yourself to think, 'well my sins aren't the big ones she's implying. . . why, I just worry, sometimes fret,' or 'I just lose my temper, and say things I shouldn't say, but God understands.' Really? Remember what causes you to sin may not be the same as me, 'you know what I mean? If you know it to be wrong for you, it is wrong. Check out Romans 7, verses 19 and 20--Paul illuminates the struggle we face so well. Here, let me share it with you from the NLT - "I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it." Check those verses out in your Bible--how do they apply specifically to you?

Okay, so it becomes a little clearer why we should be people of prayer, and include in our prayers that we not be lead into temptation--that we not give into temptation. Take the time to pray thus before the situations of dilemmas are on you--watch, pray--like Jesus told his men. Think on these things. . .

Christine