# 708 Today's Du-votional comes from: Mr 14:37 Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? 38 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
How often have you heard this phrase, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak?” It is the summation of the battle that every follower of Jesus faces. It is a restatement of Ga 5:17, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
It is the battle that Paul agonizes over in Ro 7:15, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do..”
It's a fact of life for the Christian. I do not rejoice over the countless times that I give into my flesh and fall into sin, but I do rejoice in the fact that there is a battle within. The struggle is evidence of true faith. It is a mark of the Christian.
Keep struggling! And remember to be as Paul and turn to Jesus for forgiveness when you fail. How did he put it?
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:24,25a)
Keep turning to Jesus!
And let me encourage you with the phrase “indeed willing.” In the Greek it means that the Holy Spirit that God has placed in you, is predisposed (indeed willing) to help you in your time of temptation. Call on Him. He is ever cheerfully ready to help you overcome any and all temptations to fall into sin.
Father, thank You for the Helper. Thank You for the struggle, for the battle proves that faith is active on our lives.
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