The flesh is weak, BUT!

(Matthew 26:41) “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

We finally arrived at home at 4am this morning, it was a tough drive and lasted for a full fifteen hours. Not much sleep but the question I ask myself, is the Lord Jesus as active in my thoughts as any other given day? Has sleep robbed me of glorifying His name? It has tried! The Apostle Paul saw sleep deprivation as a hardship in his life. How so? Maybe you think I am stretching it somewhat, and maybe I am. But let us look at what he refers to when defending his honor for Christ; “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. (2Corinthians 11:23-27)  - So without over emphasising what may be a fragile point let me make a very valid point; it was through his personal hardships that assured him he was in the will of God. Although he understood the folly of his boasting, he also understood who he belonged too.

This then is what I wish to draw our attention to; when we are weak then we will find strength to serve God; do we remember the Lord Jesus position before his face off with Satan. What was He doing before God the Spirit sent him His test? He was fasting and praying! In other words he would have been hungry. He may have been grouchy, He should have been weak, but in fact the opposite was true as he overcame the temptations of the devil. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” (Matthew 4:1-2) 

   

Do we see a pattern emerging? We should! When our flesh is denied any of its needs and wants, when it is weak, and we then call out in the Spirit to our God, we then enter into a place of sweet fellowship, and receive power to endure the normal temptation we would normally give in too. It is through these experiences that we grow the most spiritually, that is why fasting and prayer go hand in hand. The Lord obviously understood this as did Paul and so should we. “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

“Blessed is the fact that Christians can rejoice even in the deepest distress; although trouble may surround them, they still sing; and, like many birds, they sing best in their cages. The waves may roll over them, but their souls soon rise to the surface and see the light of God’s countenance; they have a buoyancy about them which keeps their head always above the water, and helps them to sing amid the tempest, “God is with me still.” To whom shall the glory be given? Oh! to Jesus-it is all by Jesus. Trouble does not necessarily bring consolation with it to the believer, but the presence of the Son of God in the fiery furnace with him fills his heart with joy. He is sick and suffering, but Jesus visits him and makes his bed for him. He is dying, and the cold chilly waters of Jordan are gathering about him up to the neck, but Jesus puts His arms around him, and cries, “Fear not, beloved; to die is to be blessed; the waters of death have their fountain-head in heaven; they are not bitter, they are sweet as nectar, for they flow from the throne of God.” As the departing saint wades through the stream, and the billows gather around him, and heart and flesh fail him, the same voice sounds in his ears, “Fear not; I am with thee; be not dismayed; I am thy God.” As he nears the borders of the infinite unknown, and is almost affrighted to enter the realm of shades, Jesus says, “Fear not, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Thus strengthened and consoled, the believer is not afraid to die; nay, he is even willing to depart, for since he has seen Jesus as the morning star, he longs to gaze upon Him as the sun in his strength. Truly, the presence of Jesus is all the heaven we desire. (C.H.Spurgeon)

These types of trials are shirked by most, but do we see how God uses them to make us more like our Saviour. I pray that ours eyes will see. Twenty four years later and now I am only beginning to understand. Forgive me Lord!

Signing off

Tyrone