Prayer and Temptation

Intro

A recent survey of Discipleship Journal readers ranked areas of greatest spiritual challenge to them:

1. Materialism.

2. Pride.

3. Self-centeredness.

4. Laziness.

5. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness.

5. (Tie) Sexual lust.

7. Envy.

8. Gluttony.

9. Lying.

Survey respondents noted temptations were more potent when they had neglected their time with God (81 percent) and when they were physically tired (57 percent). Resisting temptation was accomplished by prayer (84 percent), avoiding compromising situations (76 percent), Bible study (66 percent), and being accountable to someone (52 percent).

When do you think this survey was done? Which spiritual challenge do you resonate with?

This is from December of 1992!

It seems that we still have the same trouble that men and women of God have had the entire 2000 years of the church!

Prayer

When Luke brings us along to what Jesus is doing leading up to his death we see that Jesus prays

Now something that is important to point out is that Luke says in v. 39, he went as usual to pray at the mount of Olives

This brings us to our first point about Prayer today:

PRAYER NEEDS TO BE REGULAR

Prayer was a custom of Jesus, he even had a favorite place to pray at

Enough that Luke mentions it as a custom of Jesus to pray here

In the book of Luke alone, we Jesus take time to pray and escape from ministry to pray in 5:16, 6:12, 9:28, 11:1, 18:1, 22:32

Now if you are like me it is easy for us to dismiss this as like, well duh, it’s Jesus of course he prays!

Yet, I want you to think about it this way, Jesus is prioritizing prayer over other things

That means he could be healing the sick but he prioritizes prayer

He could be teaching the disciples, yet he defaults to regular prayer

He was up late, and could of used the time for some extra sleep, but he chose prayer over even sleep

Also, that last one is exactly what we see in mark 1, in which Jesus is up late healing all sorts of sickness and casting out demons and then gets up “very early in the morning to a deserted place to pray”

Now, there is more about prayer that we will come back to, but I want to address the immediacy of why Jesus says prayer is important

Jesus says Pray, so that you may not fall into temptation.

Temptation

Jesus himself is praying so that he will not fall into temptation, as we see in the following verses, but Jesus is still primarily concerned for the disciples at this juncture

They are to pray so they will not fall into temptation

So what are temptations?

We use this word flippantly like “Oh I’m so tempted to each that chocolate cake while I’m on my diet”

Yet, the word is a word that carries the meaning of testing ones faults

Or put in another way, it is a test that shows ones character, do you really believe what you profess, or when the persecution comes do you run away?

It is the same word in James 1:2 “2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials”

After all, James tells us that that very testing reveals the genuineness of our faith

So Jesus is linking prayer and being led into temptation

The idea going on here is that pray and seek God so that you might not be invaded by thoughts that would ruin you

Our temptation to lose our integrity comes from three primary places

The first is the Devil who seeks to do anything that would derail God’ plan

The second is the evil in the world, anything in this world and culture that champions things that are against God (explicit music, tv shows, movies, cultural acceptance)

Finally, there is our own hearts called the Flesh, which is the part of us that loves to sin and gives in to the evil being done

So is it any wonder that Jesus prays in Luke 11 in the Lord’s pray to not bring us to temptation?

I saw a very conscience striking picture the other day that said this profound thing

David defeated Goliath, but lost to Bathsheba. Our real giants are the desires we have not killed yet.

If you don’t know that story, David when a young boy stood up against a mammoth of a man and killed him with a sling and stone, and then when he was a king, he stayed home instead of going to battle. He saw Bathsheba bathing and let his lust control the situation and ended up making her pregnant.

David was known as a man after God’s own heart, yet he failed at the temptation of an alluring woman in the bath, how much more for us!

This is why prayer is so vital to our own spiritual health and relationship with God

We have influence flying at us from every direction to give in and give in to pleasure of sin!

Prayer is an inoculation against the temptation of living in a fallen world

Prayer

So this brings us back to prayer and it’s purpose and how God accomplices that purpose

We Jesus prays often and regularly, so we should as well, but we also see that it is a bastion of defense in living a life that bring us the most joy, and keeps us the most in tune to God

You know, this week I was getting ready to go to the gym on Friday, and it felt like there was something off in me, I just felt disjointed within myself

As I thought about it I thought, what was going on? I had done my Bible reading devotionals that day, Tabitha and I had not had a fight or something, but I realized it was sin that I had not confessed that was getting between me and God and the Holy Spirit

So I prayed, and it was like a stuck gear inside my Spirit started moving again, and I felt much better about it!

So what I want to narrow in on in this second part of Prayer is the way the Jesus prayed and the way God responds

The first words from Jesus’ mouth in v. 42 are “Father if you are willing”

Then he further states “not my will, but yours be done”

In the middle we see Jesus’ plea, that God would remove this cup from him

What is this cup?

It is the cup of God’s wrath, accumulated from all of history it is a strong drink that causes men to stagger and stumble as if they were drunk and Jesus takes it in full

Can you imagine being judged for every sin of every person who ever lived? That is the cup of God’s wrath that Jesus drank for us

So it is no wonder that Jesus was so distressed that he was sweating drops of blood, which we call Hematohidrosis in modern medicine

From the National Library of Medicine we find this

It may occur in individuals suffering from extreme levels of stress. Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form, which constrict under the pressure of great stress. Then, as the anxiety passes, the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture and goes into the sweat glands. As the sweat glands produce a lot of sweat, they push the blood to the surface, which comes out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat

Yet, this cup is not purely bad, because by drinking this cup, Jesus brings about our redemption

When we look at this prayer, how is our redemption achieved?

It is Jesus firstly declaring that God’s will be done

Jesus’ ultimate orientation is that God’s will be done even knowing it will lead to his death, so be it

So be it as Judas is approaching with an entourage of Roman Soldiers

So be it as the drops of sweat mingled with blood drip to the ground of the garden

So be it as God sends an angel to strengthen him for the impending road to Calvary

Our redemption is achieved by the silence of heaven, Jesus is given a no from his Father

God the Father said no to Jesus praying in the garden to say yes to our salvation

THIS SHOWS US A VERY IMPORTANT TRUTH: OUR PRAYERS PROTECT US FROM TEMPTATION EVEN WHEN THEY ARE ANSWERED WITH A NO

When God says no to the Son, it is for you and I

When God says no to us, it is for our betterment!

God is working with far more information that we will ever posses! Is there a time where God saying no to a prayer was a blessing you could only see later?

It could be closing the door on a job or relationship for something better, or even going through suffering to help you grow into a better person

CORRECT PRAYER IS SUBMISSIVE PRAYER

When we are praying correctly, we are not praying about my will, my dreams be built up and successful

Correct Prayer looks like Jesus, “Not my will, but yours be done”

Let me put it this way, can you possibly agree to the fact that God might have different plans than you for your life?

Correct prayer is not trying to bring God inline with our desires, but our plans in line with what God desires

What does that look like in practice?

It looks like a young mother getting the call that her son in the NICU seems to be taking a turn to the worse, who has struggled with infertility and miscarriages staring down another lost child

Then turning toward God in prayer and saying, “God, not my will, but yours be done. This child is yours, you can heal him or take him home, but your will be done, not mine. God you know the plans you have for my son, and so I submit all of my concern to you for I know you care for him more than I do”

Can you possibly imagine the pain of those words of potential loss?

Words that would give up your child to God, and God might take your child home

Words that are not found in theological class at Bible School of what if’s but in a weep husband and wife, desperate to have a family and a family that loves God whole heartedly

These are the words that point back to the very character of God, and trust unwaveringly in Him, for he has not failed them yet, and going forward they will trust the same

They are the words that bring Psalm 73:25-26 “25 Whom do I have in heaven but you? And I desire nothing on earth but you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.”

These are not empty words, but the very words my parents, and particularly my mother prayed over me on my deathbed, words of a Mother control and raging desire for her child to God, no matter the cost

Here I stand, as a testament to God’s grace, and my Mother’s prayers

Prayer is always answered, but it can be a yes, a no, or a wait

We must be ready to welcome the no as much as the yes, since our God is infinitely good!

He is also infinitely holy, which means he cannot sin against us

We can expect and know that God’s no’s are filled with his goodness, just as the yes answers are!

When we submit to God to all the answers, it is easy to think of the no’s as abandonment isn’t it!

It can feel that the door to heaven is closed, and your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling!

Yet, in Jesus’ darkest hour, God says no, but sends an angel to strengthen him!

God is with us in the no’s just as much as the yes , he promised to never abandon us!

We we are praying, it takes a lot of self-control and self-denial

I need to leave my electronic devices away from me when I go to pray because it is so easy to open an app and there goes prayer time

The disciples were tired from excessive grief, but we are burdened by excessive immediate gratification on our phones and computers

So when we do pray we must push through because it builds our resistance up to temptation

Just as in the garden, God gave Jesus strength to overcome, by submitting to the Power of the Spirit we are able to overcome the trials and difficulties that come

One of the things that has always fascinated me are sandbags. Not the boxing type but the flood type

So I did some researching and it is very interesting how they work

In a sandbag, the sand itself doesn't hold back the water; there are several different things going on within and around the bag. Floodwaters, filled with fine particles like silt and clay, are flowing into the sandbags. The sand basically "catches" these particles. The clay and silt fill the gaps in the sand, actually making the sand a better barrier. As more water flows through, the sand gets muddier and muddier, which is a good cycle, as it allows less and less water to seep through the bag. In addition, the sandbag is getting heavier and heavier, so if it's placed in the right area, the floodwaters won't wash the bag away.

Now then you adding hundreds of sandbags to this one that is doing that and you can prevent millions of dollars of damage from flooding!

So what does Prayer have to do with sandbags?

Well, one prayer might not fortify you enough from temptation that is assaulting you like a flood

But many prayers will, each prayer is like a grain of sand in that sandbag, grabbing and stopping parts of that sinful crud that is trying to get into your life

Then you zoom out and there are other sandbags working together to hold back the waters of the floods, and each of us is a sandbag, we each have prayers and we each pray for each other making each other far more effective than the sum of our parts!

Life is difficult, and prayer helps us overcome those difficulties

Application

So we see in this passage that Jesus is linking together how we pray and how we deal with temptation

Temptation will never cease until the day you and I die, that is a fact of this life

Prayer is a lifeline between us and God

So Prayer needs to be Regular

It needs to seek God’s Will above our own

So the obvious question is how is your prayer life?

Do you pray regularly?

Or is it only at meals or when you are taking a test or at church?

Is your walk with God at a place of plateauing? Are you praying?

When you face temptation, and are wanting to do something that God does not want you to do, do you pray?

I want to give you hands on practical help to pray this week

First come to our prayer meeting on Wednesday, where we pray for each other. It’s on Zoom as well, so you don’t even have to leave home

Second, I want to challenge you to open your bibles this week to Psalm 1. and pray through it

Many of the Psalms are written as prayers anyway, so read each phrase or verse as a prayer to God, and do that for this week! See how it changes you and your relationship to God

Finally I want to close with this quote from Andrew Murray

The enemy uses all his power to lead the Christian, and above all the minister, to neglect prayer. He knows that however admirable the sermon may be, however attractive the service, however faithful the pastoral visitation, none of these things can damage him or his kingdom if prayer is neglected.