It’s Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Do you have time to pray? It takes time, doesn’t it? However, Jesus is going to treat us to a seminar on prayer. Be sure to attend! There’s an uncanny truth about prayer that may contradict what you think. Read on …
Today's Reading:
Deuteronomy 5,6; Psalms 43; Mark 14
Scripture
“Could you not keep watch for one hour? Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:37-38)
Observation
“One hour? Prayer takes so much time!”
Let me let you in on a secret: Prayer saves time! Remember Jesus' proclamation that the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak? Indeed, our flesh is weak and susceptible to being tempted, distracted, and taken for a ride. However, prayer has the power to strengthen us where we are weak, so we won’t have to even “enter” into temptation. Staying a minute longer in prayer can save you months of regret. Prayer will build inner strength so that when you’re tempted, you’ll have the stamina to withstand its tug.
Prayer doesn’t take time. It saves time!
Application
We all know what it is like to be held hostage by temptation. We spend weeks caught in a mental or emotional affair. We waste months in the throes of bitterness due to an offense. Hopefully, one day, like the prodigal son, we will come to our senses, realize our fallacy, and snap out of it. Then, we can start to repair the things that were broken. But, we will have lost time and possibly our ministry or marriage. The repair takes months, but prayer takes only a few moments, and the result is that it gives us back what could have been lost. Consistently coming before the throne of God will alert me to a temptation that could have sidelined me. In prayer, He will alert and strengthen me so I won’t embark on dead-end rabbit trails. It saves me months of time and tons of garbage.
Prayer
Father, teach me to be a man of prayer. I have only one life to live for You on this earth. I want every moment to count, so help me be a man of prayer. I cannot afford not to be and waste years of my life repairing what I have torn down.
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