Devotional: Spiritual Strength

“Keep watching and praying, so that you will not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Mark 14:38

There are many reasons why we pray: to seek answers from God, to thank God, to worship God, to acknowledge God’s sovereignty, to pour out our burdens on Him, to cry out for help, etc.

Today, however, I wanted to focus on one specific purpose for praying.

In Mark 14, Jesus is fervently praying in the garden of Gethsemane just moments before His arrest. With Him are only three of His disciples: John, Peter, and James. They continually fall asleep, however, when Jesus comes to check on them. 

Jesus specifically rebukes Peter for falling asleep and tells him, “Keep watching and praying, so that you will not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 

Shortly after, Jesus is arrested and Peter reacts in his humanity, cutting off the ear of a Roman soldier. That same night, Peter also ends up denying that he knows Jesus three times. 

Jesus knew that Peter was going to react in the flesh and later deny Him, which is why he told him to stay awake and keep praying. He wanted Peter to be spiritually strengthened when he faced the temptation of anger and the temptation of fear. 

We often forget that one of the main reasons we pray is to abide in Christ so that we can be strengthened spiritually when the time arises.

Praying is part of our spiritual nourishment, along with reading the Bible. When we eat nourishing foods in the physical world, we might not immediately see the micro-level effects it has on our body until time passes and we see the changes.

Praying is also like strength training. We are building spiritual muscle so that when we need to fight temptation, we are ready.

Just like Jesus told Peter, our flesh is weak. When we try to tackle the hardships of life with our own understanding and from an earthly perspective, we will fail. God, however, has provided a better way through the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us. The Spirit is willing, so we need to gird ourselves up in prayer.

I saw the effects of prayer first-hand in my life while I was struggling with teaching middle school. The days exhausted me physically, mentally, and emotionally and every day, I wanted to quit.

I realized I wasn’t abiding in God’s strength but rather was trying to get through it on my own. What drastically changed my experience was praying earnestly on my entire commute to work for God’s strength. My circumstances stayed the same, but I was spiritually strengthened every day with the ability to thrive instead of simply survive.

Take a moment: How often do you pray for His strength?

I’ve noticed that the bulk of my prayers are requests and gratitude, but it’s less common that I ask Him to be my strength when I am weak.

But God wants us to rely on Him. The flesh is weak, but the Spirit is strong.

Keep the story of Peter in mind and meditate on this Scripture written by Paul: 2 Corinthians 12:9 — “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Praying for spiritual strength instead of relying on ourselves is what it means to live by faith.

-Alina