Watch and Pray

“And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8)

The language in which Paul wrote this, even though translated, has a unique and different aspect to it which makes it difficult for us to understand. “And being found in fashion...” translates in our modern vernacular to say, seeing He was formed a man. Jesus, all God sees His human condition. “For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted just as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) He had all the man inclinations and temptations of every kind that humankind has. Yet He did not sin. He couldn’t sin. His nature was pure and holy. And yet sin was a temptation. I can liken it to our born-again spirit. It’s born of God. And God doesn’t birth anything sinful. Yet we do sin, even though we don’t have the sin nature. That old man has been slain at the cross, we sin because we live with the flesh. And the flesh always wants comfort, easy and pleasure. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do.” (Galatians 5:17) We are not in bondage to sin. Jesus has taken care of the sin nature of the old man at the cross. “He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that dying to sins, we might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.” (1Peter 2:24) Like Jesus, we cannot sin in our spirit, but because we feed the flesh and coddle to it, seeing, hearing, thinking and doing what the flesh likes and wants, we are weak in the flesh and sin, very much unlike Jesus Who walked in the Spirit. “I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) In order to not sin, we must deny ourselves because it is the ego, the self that is driven by the flesh. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever desires to lose his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25; Luke 9:23) Then we can say like Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith toward the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself on my behalf.” (Galatians 2:20) He was more direct to the Romans, “Likewise count yourselves also to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:11) Does this mean we won’t have trouble with the flesh? Absolutely not! Paul continued to struggle with the flesh because the flesh will always fight against the spirit. If we daily, die to self, deny ourselves and consider ourselves dead to sin and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we may live victoriously in the Spirit. But it is a battle we can win only with the help of the Lord because it’s a spiritual battle and we are weak when it comes to the flesh. Jesus Himself said, “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

In Matthew 26:41, Jesus gives us a clue on how to overcome temptation. “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation...” That supplication to the Lord for His help and power to overcome is sent through the Holy Spirit who empowers us. When we surrendered to Jesus, the Holy Spirit came to us to indwell and to help us. It’s God the Holy Spirit in us Who is One with the Father and Jesus. It’s God in us. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1Corinthians 3:16) We can choose the easy way, the comfortable way, the pleasurable way or give ourselves to the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to empower us. That means humbling ourselves and giving all control to God. And it will hurt because our flesh wants the easy way, the comfortable way and the pleasurable way.

Jesus humbled Himself. How easy it would have been for Him to use His authority and power to make things easy for Himself. But He humbled Himself and lived in all respects like a man except when it came to His ministry. When He began His ministry, He used all His power and all His authority to fulfill it, until He humbled Himself even more and submitted to the cross. Jesus is God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) He could have done whatever He wanted, but He chose to redeem man. He chose to obey the Spirit. He chose to take our death caused by our sin. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

To conclude we can surmise that the complication with sin in us is that we don’t want to humble ourselves and that we don’t deny ourselves. We allow the flesh to win. We reject the spirit. And we are weak. What a pitiful picture we are. And yet...and yet, God is faithful to His promises, to His Word and to us. He has given us what we need to overcome temptation, but we fail to humble ourselves and deny ourselves. If we but just say, “I give up my way!” that will bring the empowerment we need of the Spirit to rule in our lives and have more victory over the flesh.

Let us pray:

Father God, I am pitiful. And yes, I am weak when it comes to the flesh. I like comfort and ease and am not willing to sacrifice of myself. Forgive me my Lord and empower me to live in the Spirit. Empower me to deny myself and allow Jesus to live through me I pray. I thank You that You have given me all that I need to be victorious. You have given me what I need to overcome the temptation to hold on to worldly things that are temporal and will eventually be destroyed with this world. Help me to humble myself before You. I love You Lord. My desire is to follow You and to obey You and obey Your Word. I ask You Holy Spirit to help me, to teach me and to enable me to resist temptation, to obey and live in the Spirit. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.