November 18, 2007 9:19 AM
Rich wrote:
In v. 27-31, Peter faces what all of us face in our life. It happens again in the next section in Gethsemane. The "spirit is willing but the body is weak." It is my guess that each of us at some point in our spiritual life (hopefully right now) would say to Jesus, "I will never disown you." Speaking for myself, I said that when I was baptized. I said that when my son was born and again when my daughter was born. I have made recommitments too numerous to count. My spirit has been willing. But I have done so many things that I am ashamed of. I have sinned so much. I have doubted. I have quit believing when times get tough. I have not gotten up and had my quiet time. I have gone days without praying. My body is weak. I am more struck by this today than anything else. It is a constant battle to watch and pray so that we do not fall into temptation. How easy it is for us to step from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the pit.
Yet, just like Peter and in fact all of the disciples, we all struggle with being faithful and consistent. I take comfort in the fact that those closest to Jesus struggled. I also take comfort in the fact that Jesus came back to them, loved them, comforted them and used them for incredible purposes. It is a war to stay faithful and to stay consistent. We lose some battles but we can still win the war. Reply to this
November 18, 2007 3:23 PM
Sam wrote:
Good points, Rich....I too, keep making promises to, and requests from, God, yet when he answers my requests I fail to fulfill my promises. Hence, I have stopped making promises. Why say something I can't (won't) do....NOW, what I do is simply ask for help, with not ties attached. God knew I wouldn't keep my promises anyway, so I finally figured just to simply get real humble (as my spirit is willing but I am weak), and ask for help. I am fairly certain he will help, simply because of his love, not because I made some fake promise. Like now, my butt and lower back are fairly sore and swollen (fell off a dirt bike yesterday), so my prayer to God is simply please heal me. I know a non-heartfealt promise is no good anyway. One promise I did keep to God recently thought, was when I was on vacation. One of my wisdom teeth was really painful. I asked for him to cure the pain, and in return, I would make him a promise (THIS one I kept--but probably didn't need to). When I returned from vacation and the pain had gone away, I went to a dentist and had it removed. I feel a whole lot better, not because of the lack of tooth pain, but from knowing I kept at least one promise to God. Reply to this
In v. 27-31, Peter faces what all of us face in our life. It happens again in the next section in Gethsemane. The "spirit is willing but the body is weak." It is my guess that each of us at some point in our spiritual life (hopefully right now) would say to Jesus, "I will never disown you." Speaking for myself, I said that when I was baptized. I said that when my son was born and again when my daughter was born. I have made recommitments too numerous to count. My spirit has been willing. But I have done so many things that I am ashamed of. I have sinned so much. I have doubted. I have quit believing when times get tough. I have not gotten up and had my quiet time. I have gone days without praying. My body is weak. I am more struck by this today than anything else. It is a constant battle to watch and pray so that we do not fall into temptation. How easy it is for us to step from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the pit.
Yet, just like Peter and in fact all of the disciples, we all struggle with being faithful and consistent. I take comfort in the fact that those closest to Jesus struggled. I also take comfort in the fact that Jesus came back to them, loved them, comforted them and used them for incredible purposes. It is a war to stay faithful and to stay consistent. We lose some battles but we can still win the war.
Reply to this
Good points, Rich....I too, keep making promises to, and requests from, God, yet when he answers my requests I fail to fulfill my promises. Hence, I have stopped making promises. Why say something I can't (won't) do....NOW, what I do is simply ask for help, with not ties attached. God knew I wouldn't keep my promises anyway, so I finally figured just to simply get real humble (as my spirit is willing but I am weak), and ask for help. I am fairly certain he will help, simply because of his love, not because I made some fake promise. Like now, my butt and lower back are fairly sore and swollen (fell off a dirt bike yesterday), so my prayer to God is simply please heal me. I know a non-heartfealt promise is no good anyway. One promise I did keep to God recently thought, was when I was on vacation. One of my wisdom teeth was really painful. I asked for him to cure the pain, and in return, I would make him a promise (THIS one I kept--but probably didn't need to). When I returned from vacation and the pain had gone away, I went to a dentist and had it removed. I feel a whole lot better, not because of the lack of tooth pain, but from knowing I kept at least one promise to God.
Reply to this