"Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives and his disciples followed him. On reaching that place he said to them. 'Pray that you will not fall into temptation." (Luke 22:39-40)
As I was meditating on this I rarely pray that I will not fall into temptation. Jesus teaches us to pray "deliver us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:13) He ends the 'Lords prayer' with that line. The ending command is to pray that you will not fall into tempation but to be delivered from the evil one.
When Jesus was at the Mount of Olives pondering about the cup of suffering he was to endure I assume He wanted to opt out "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22 42). An angel appears to strengthen him and he goes on praying so intensely his sweat becomes blood. WOW! how much temptation must you be under to be able to sweat blood (remembering Jesus was fully man).
In my opinion, prayer is not about how long you pray, but spending time in His presence is essential to be super sensitive and know the instructions of our father. How much time do we spend time with God? 5mins seems like a lifetime to me sometimes.
I often relate my christian life to things that I am most familiar and passionate with. Lets take the game of basketball. The athlete is the christian. The game represents battles in your life (you either win them or lose them). The coach takes the form of your pastor. He draws up plans and plays for us to win games and battles in our lives and wants to win games to impress the owner of the club. Jesus/God is the owner of the basketball team. Ultimately the owner wants us to win games. He has the authority to fire players and coaches. Hence Jesus is the owner.
But lets focus in on the athlete. The athlete is soley responsible for his or her performance. To enhance performance they reguarly work on all areas of their game. The best player is the one who works the hardest. There is no doubt in this. They get up early and go to the gym when everyone else is asleep. I guess the only misrepresentation here is the lack of love between the player and the owner. In any case our spiritual lives are similar. We, as the christian are soley responsible for the health of our walk with Jesus. We can be guided and assited by our pastor but ultimately we have to decide to drink from the flowing river. We have to work on all areas of our spiritual lives that are lacking.
For me it would be spending time with Jesus for extended periods of time. Intimacy is the key. I think one hour a day spending time and praying in his presence is a good start. What areas are you working on?
No comments:
Post a Comment