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I wonder if you have trouble keeping a consistent prayer time in your life? It’s a common challenge for many of us Christians. I’ve been sharing a few of the entries from some of my journals, to hopefully inspire you to keep a journal and give you some idea of what that might look like. These journals are personal and unique; there is no right or wrong way to do it. I simply record what God seems to be saying to me after I have read my daily Bible reading. Here’s an entry from Matthew 26:41. It is what Jesus said to the disciples who went to sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, after he had asked them to pray for him:
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak.
That sure describes me, Lord. Willing spirit—weak body. Interesting that Jesus said this to the disciples when they failed to pray with him. They “fell into the temptation” of prayerlessness.
It is tempting not to pray. Why? Because prayer requires bodily involvement. Your body must cooperate with your spirit. Your body naturally fights your spirit. Prayer requires victory over your body’s natural desire to:
- Sleep
- Do something
- Do nothing
- Relax
- Be entertained
- Be pampered
- Be in control
Prayer must be motivated by love—a true desire to know God, a heart-cry for Jesus, a thirst for the living God. But it must be accompanied by a strong, disciplined body, a body brought into subjection.
This is the challenge of prayer—to find that balance between love-motivation and controlled-body. One without the other is to “fall into temptation.” Lord, teach me to pray.