Daily Devotional: Monday, April 28 – Get Trained Up

Surely, Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. While Jesus prepared for the challenges ahead through earnest prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, His disciples gave into their personal weakness and went to sleep even though Christ asked them to keep watch and join Him in prayer. “Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?’ he asked Peter.                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak’” (Matthew 26:40-41).

Not long after their vow to stay by His side no matter what came, Matthew describes what actually happened: “Then all the disciples deserted him and fled” (Matthew 26:56b). Perhaps had they stayed alert and prayed as Jesus asked them to, their actions may have better aligned with their words.

When our flesh is weak and we opt to give in to weariness, distractions or other priorities rather than getting trained up through prayer and time in the Word, we will be vulnerable to attacks from the enemy. We may find we don’t actually walk the walk we talk about. We will never be perfect, but consistent, frequent time spent growing in God will strengthen Godly habits, and could keep us from making unnecessary errors that could end up hurting others too.