 And Jesus said to them, Why sleep you? rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Luke 22:46
When my five kids were little, I had to be very serious about child-training. My little guys were not going to train themselves. lol Everywhere we went, people were astonished at the fact that they simply sat at the restaurant table without running around, screaming, or throwing fits. They just quietly played with their 'restaurant toys' (little things like a matchbox car, or small doll).
Waitresses would come up to us saying, "that customer over there wants to know--How do you do it?!!" I always told them the same thing. You have to do your 'homework'.
The kids sat at the table politely in the restaurant, because they have to sit politely at the table at home. It is too late to try to get your kiddos to be 'good' in public if you let them act like monkeys at home.
The same thing happened at people's homes. The kids are going to treat other peoples homes the same way they treat yours. I purposely left things on the coffee table that the kids were not allowed to touch. Why? Because though I could house proof MY house, I couldn't house proof other peoples.
I did my 'homework' as regarded child-training.
I knew temptation would be coming.. and prepared accordingly. When temptation came, my well-trained children did not give in.
Sadly, we often times expect miracles as regards our own responses to temptation. We want to think about anything but temptaion and sin, until we are faced with a crisis. Then we expect that our flesh will be 'well-behaved'.
If your mind is always on the flesh, then the flesh is going to get what it wants at a time you least want it to.
The time to deal with temptation is LONG BEFORE it arrives!  We need to do our 'homework' don't you think?
This verse again catches my attention... Every time I have ever read it, I sense the Lord whispering.. "here is the key".
So you'd like that extra bite of dessert, that less than acceptable movie, keep losing your temper with the kids, chronic dissatisfaction with life, feeling bitter at a spouse or friend, or not feeling your needs are getting met?
If you aren't experiencing the fruit of the spirit, or if you find yourself messing up again and again, this verse might very well point to the solution.
Prayer, a constant awareness of God's presence, and a conscious reliance on the Holy Spirit's assistance are the only way to be 'prepared' for temptation.
To pray after the temptation is staring you in the face is often times simply too late.
It is a reality that if we are walking in the Spirit, with our hearts and minds focused on the Lord.. every day, all day, praying truly without ceasing, that we will indeed have the strength and the desire to say no to temptation.
The more time you spend with the Lord, the stronger you will be when faced with temptation. Jesus strengthens us. We have no strength. In this passage we see the Lord resisting sin and he doesn't give in. He was ready. He watched. He prayed--long before the garden of Gethsemane.
In fact, his prayer that night was to face the temptations that would surely come over the next few days. He was 'doing his spiritual homework' and he got the victory long before he faced the trials he knew were coming.
Do we hate sin in our lives enough to take the proper steps to prevent it?
Do we love Jesus so much that we know that ALL sin.. however big or small is too much? It needs to stop. And you cannot stop.. not on your own.
I don't know why I was ever surprised, all these many years, when I 'fell' into a sin. My mind was completely independant of the Lord and His will--his desires for my day. I was thinking of what I wanted to think about and focused on 'my' day-- 'coasting' if you will. Sin always caught me by surprise.
Oswald Chambers says, " You no more need a day off from spiritual concentration on matters in your life than your heart needs a day off from beating. As you cannot take a day off morally and remain moral, neither can you take a day off spiritually and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely His, and it requires paying close attention to keep yourself fit. It also takes a tremendous amount of time. Yet some of us expect to rise above all of our problems, going from one mountaintop experience to another, with only a few minutes’ effort.
If you wish you could quit sinning in some particular area, perhaps this lack of 'watching and praying' could be at the root of it.
Sin, whatever it's flavor--pride, selfishness, anger, self-pity, worry, is a red flag that your heart and mind are focused somewhere else than on the Lord. Perhaps you are just 'coasting' or just as fruitlessly, trying to fight with all your strength rather than relying on the Lord.
Seek the Lord... and His righteousness and guaranteed.. all these things will be added. The battle for whether you will sin or not is fought long before you face the temptation.
The one great goal of our day, the one precious pearl of great price, the central reason for living, what we are living for is to learn of Him.. sitting at his feet, beholding his face, resisting sin in His mighty strength, and becoming like more like Him day by day.
If you are too busy for Jesus.. and your heart is far from the things Jesus loves.. don't be surprised when you 'sin'. Be surprised when you don't!
I can't say I never sin. That would be untrue. I will say that I don't struggle with sin. Over a year ago, I gave up my rights to 'my life'.. just literally abandoned my whole life and activities, and desires, to Jesus.. and truly set my affections on things above.
I walk in the spirit.. not because I'm so good.. but because I know, emphatically, that I will walk in the flesh if I don't. The result is very little struggle with sin.
When temptation comes, pressure, crisis, .. the Holy spirit restrains me, and my mind which is focused on Him almost all the day long, responds the way the Lord wants. It's hard to describe.
But I will say that I'm not constantly fighting spiritual fires. The Lord is my focus.. and sin is simply not. The Lord keeps me because my mind and heart are stayed on Him. I love him.. a LOT! He gave me that love, just like He produced the fruit of the spirit in me.
I will say that I don't spend time with Jesus.. so I won't sin. I spend time with Jesus and read His word constantly and pray.. because I love Him.. and care about the things He cares about. By His mighty grace I no longer consider 'my life' something to be lived for me.. but something to leave on His altar.
You cannot spend time with Jesus and NOT be changed. Spiritual strength and growth is inevitible.. just as the converse is also true.
7Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.…Galatians 6:7,8
We need to do our 'homework' if we want to experience the fruit of the Spirit. It is not something you can drum up or attain. The fruit comes as a by-product of our relationship with Christ.
It is a daily and hourly process.. not a momentary reaction to a crisis of temptation.
Truly, if you love Jesus, you willl obey Him. It's a natural or should I say 'super' natural process. We live to please those we love. And amazingly, you will find genuine deep joy, peace, and self-control. Life in Christ is overwhelmingly satisfying and exciting.
PS. If you would like more understanding about resisting temptation, this post might help.
Satan waits for the Opportune Moment.
Dear Lord,
May the truth of your call on our lives.. to watch and pray so as to not enter into temptation.. engrave itself in the hearts and minds of all of us. We foolishly think we can escape temptation or resist it without watching and praying.
May we seek you early, seek you daily, meditate on your word, and fall in love with you...and wait paitently as you produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
Thank you that you keep us safe from temptation.. as we stay close to you. It is truly life and peace just as you promised!
In your precious and mighty name I pray these things for my sisters and brothers,
Amen
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