Prayer Power

I would love to claim that I have mastered the art of prayer. But, alas, I must confess that I suffer from a somewhat erratic prayer life.

Don't get me wrong. I am a pray-er and I am constantly working on becoming a better pray-er. But I often fall short of the kind of prayer life that I desire. Can you relate?

That is why Matt. 26: 41 has been a difficult one for me to read without feeling a twinge of guilt. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

If you take a step back and look at the entire flow of the chapter, Matthew 26, you will see three major characters dominating the storyline: Jesus, Judas and Peter. In one way, each represents a kind of pray-er.

Jesus is the obedient Son who watches and prays. He is honest about his struggles with his Father. He asks if the trial can be removed. But he ends up accepting God's will , even if it means suffering. In other words, Jesus is not satisfied until he has prayed to a conclusion--understanding God's will and finding the strength to obey.

Judas is the person of the flesh. He sees the priceless ointment wasted and it triggers his greed. He decides to cut his losses. He has always been in it for himself: "God's will be damned! I'll at least make some money off the whole sorry mess." There's no sign that he cares what God thinks about his course of action. Only afterwards does he feel remorse. But there's a big difference between remorse and repentance.

Peter is the well-intentioned but undisciplined believer. He wants to follow Jesus, but he is powerless to do it. Maybe because of his prayer-less-ness. But also because of his lack of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the truly empowered one of the three. And he has to finish his work in order to make the Holy Spirit available to all believers.  The proof? The massive change in Peter after Pentecost.

I can relate to Peter. Can you? The call to all of us is clear: "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

I don't believe that this should be a discouraging word. Instead, it is a word of instruction. Don't be surprised when your human nature, motivated by our fallen fleshly appetites, is actively resisting your best of intentions in the spirit.

Paul confessed a similar struggle in Romans 7.

The answer lies in what happened at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has been given so that we have a source of power to draw on. Because the flesh is weak and because Jesus knows that our flesh is weak, he has given us a power that can surpass the weakness of our fallen nature.

So, if you want to grow in prayer, begin by asking to be filled with the Spirit.