A Praying Life
Did Jesus ever struggle with the flesh? Did his closest disciples, Peter, James, and John ever struggle with the flesh? Do you struggle with the flesh? God in His kindness reveals the struggle that all men face in the flesh. In Mark 14:32-42, we see that Jesus is fully God and fully Man. He is a perfect spiritual being, living sinlessly, living out God’s perfect will and doing it within the reality of His flesh. It’s incredibly comforting to know that we have a Savior who understands what it means to struggle against the flesh.
Jesus starts this passage by asking Peter, James and John to sit and pray. Jesus is feeling the weight of the sin of the world and is aware of the/his impending suffering. “And he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.’” Why does he ask them to watch and pray? Does he need them to protect him or to sustain him in any way? I don’t think so: He is the perfect son of God and has everything he needs from his Father. He invites his friends to commune and seek the Father in the midst of their chaos, confusion, and uncertainty.
Later, he goes even further by "going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” Why would Jesus struggle? He is the perfect son of God. He is sinless. His spirit and will were 100% committed to God’s perfect will and unwavering…but he was embodied in flesh, limited by his physical body. The flesh doesn’t like to suffer. It craves comfort and will fight to maintain it. It likes to sleep in, overeat, and avoid any kind of pain. God in his kindness lets us know that He knows what it means to suffer and experience sorrow. He understands what it is like to have your flesh tell you, “The task is impossible.”
The passage goes on to read, “And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’” The disciples fell asleep. They could not fully comprehend what was to come even though Jesus had warned them over and over of his betrayal and his impending death. He had recently warned Peter that he would deny Christ.
“And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?’” The disciples failed him three times in perfect symmetry to Peter’s later denial of Christ.
How often do we fight the flesh? How often are we too busy, too distracted, or too tired to spend time watching, praying, and preparing for the spiritual battles that happen on a daily basis? How often are we not ready for the spiritual battle that faces us because we have preemptively chosen comfort of the flesh over communion with our Father?
How often do we fail to recognize a spiritual battle until the moment has passed? In these critical moments Peter, James, and John chose to be comfortable. We can relate to their weakness because we too share the same weakness. We can relate to their inability to anticipate the battle ahead because we too are oblivious to the battles facing us. Peter, who was later known as the Rock that Christ built the church, was guilty of sleeping when he should be praying. That later led to giving in to the temptation of survival by denying anything to do with Christ.
The Christian walk is full of ups and downs. We will fail to pray when we should. We will fail to be ready for spiritual battles. In short, we fail to abide in Christ. Rather than be discouraged in our weakness, let us put our hope in the one who saves, in the one whose steadfast love pursues, in the one who overcomes all things: King Jesus. Let us constantly pray to him that he would sustain us and prepare us for the battles that come so we might continuously abide in him. When we fail, let us not be trapped by our failures, but let us use this moment to awaken us to the spiritual battles we may have spiritually fallen asleep to. Run to Jesus in prayer and humility. Certainly, this is the only way we will experience joy and victory in whatever battles we face.”
Written by: Brett Allison
Biblical Counselor
A Praying Life
In the last four years, I have had the great privilege of leading the prayer ministry at The Mount. It has been such a blessing to work with the 70 folks with a heart for prayer who are willing to spend their time seeking out God’s purposes for the various ministries, functions, and people of our church. I never considered myself a great “prayer warrior” (and still don’t) and wondered why I was even a candidate for this job. I’m glad I accepted it. As with many things in life, God seems to place us in areas where we are weak to teach us that He is all-sufficient. Through leading the prayer ministry, my own prayer life has benefitted immensely from studying the topic, seeing others’ emphasis on prayer, and of course through praying.
Some people ask, “Why do we need to pray at all? Since God is sovereign, all-knowing, and all-powerful, doesn’t He already know everything that can be known?” Can you imagine God, after hearing one of our prayers, saying “Thanks for letting me know that. I hadn’t considered that?” I’m sure all of us have struggled with that issue at some point. So, I’d like to share three reasons why we should pray.
Through prayer, we share with Jesus the things that really matter to us in life. John 15:12-15 declares us as friends to God. Verse 15 reads, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” So prayer is not simply going to God for what he can give us, but also for the pleasure of his company, as you would your earthly best friend. Jesus now shares with us His intimate relationship with the Father! Prayer, along with putting God first, loving our fellow believers and obeying Jesus, are all ways in which we show our love for God.
Our prayer puts us, as humans, in the proper relationship with God. Coming to God in prayer is an acknowledgement that God is God, and we are not. In the book, Prayer: Does it Make any Difference?, Philip Yancey states “prayer is a declaration of our dependence on God.” As parents, we strive to see our children attain what we call “independence.” We want them to be self-sustaining, contributing to society and their family, have a strong moral character, and so forth. But we, nor our children, can ever be independent of God. He sustains our life and holds our future in His hands. Through prayer we come before Him in humility declaring our dependence on Him.
Our prayer is an act of obedience because we are commanded to do so! 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” When God tells us to do something, we must realize it is not meaningless. The command of ceaseless prayer brings His blessing, intimacy, and plants within us joyful and content hearts. This is not a command of somber duty but one accompanied by rejoicing.
Picture yourself in the place of one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. You’ve seen Him teach authoritatively, heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, miraculously feed 5000+, been transfigured, calmed the sea, even raise the dead. If you were to ask Jesus to teach you how to do one thing, what would you ask? I think I would have said, “Teach me how to heal the sick.” Then I would head to the hospital! But the one thing the disciples asked Jesus to teach them was to pray. “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1). Undoubtedly, they had seen the way Jesus often approached His Father in prayer, and it was much different than what they had seen in the synagogue before. Jesus’ prayers were personal, a conversation between Himself and the Father. This led to Jesus teaching The Lord’s Prayer as an outline to follow (Luke 11:2-4).
We may feel uncomfortable praying for many reasons: don’t know what to say, don’t have the right words, embarrassed in public, mind wanders, and so forth. Despite feeling uncomfortable praying, I find encouragement to take these prayers to God because my favorite prayer in the Bible is from Luke 18:13, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Only seven words, but it was highly commended by Jesus for the tax collector’s recognition of his own sinfulness and humble dependence on God, as opposed to the Pharisee who tried to impress God with his own works. Prayers don’t need to be long but do need to be heartfelt and revealing our dependence on God.
I’m encouraged to regularly seek the Lord in prayer from the lyrics of Matthew West’s “Don’t Stop Praying.” Here are some of the lyrics: “Don't stop praying, Don't stop calling on Jesus' name, Keep on pounding on Heaven's door, And let your knees wear out the floor, Don't stop believing, 'Cause mountains move with just a little faith, And your Father's heard every single word you're saying, So, don't stop praying.”
“My House Shall Be Called a House of Prayer”
In Mark 11:17, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 that God desires His house be called “A house of prayer.” All of us, whether as a single, as families, or as a congregation, need to recognize this as a goal. Teach on prayer, read a devotional on prayer, sing a song such as “Be Thou My Vision,” or “Great are You Lord,” but most importantly, actually spend time in prayer! So let us all together, in faithfulness, humility, and joy, go before our Father and Don’t Stop Praying!
Written by: Robert Johnson