Wanting God to do Everything
By Ryan Marks
"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Matthew 26:41 NIV
How often do we want God to do everything for us and yet He continues to say “just watch and pray so that you won’t fall”?
I don’t know about you, but I fall all the time when I’m idle to the Lord’s Word, or in other words, disobedient. That little old saying, “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” is true! When we just sit there and do nothing, when the Lord has spoken to us a deep sleep comes upon us. When we do nothing Satan has us! We have already given him an opening because we aren’t ready to resist him or watching for him to approach with his demons. Now, when I say sitting by and doing nothing, I’m not referring to the times of rest and refreshing that come from the Lord, but rather about doing nothing during the spiritual battle or the night watch. The urge to watch and pray—to be ready and listening—from Christ is so that we will not partake of the bread of idleness and fall into temptation.
When we’re idle and our guards are down--watch out!-- An evil spirit is probably lurking around.
Proverbs 19:15 says that “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger (ESV).” or in other words, “Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry (NIV).” Laziness, idleness, shiftlessness are all the same thing. They’re disobedience to what our God created us for: to have dominion over the earth and rule it for the glory of God. Yes, we should rest one day every seven, but the other six we are to be watching and praying—standing!—ready for the Lord to come and move. But being ready does not just take place in the natural, though. In the spiritual realm there are times that we must stand. Daniel did this when he prayed for the help of the Lord and kept praying for twenty-one days (Daniel 10).
Thought of Reflection:
V Are you sitting by wanting God to do everything, instead of obediently standing and waiting for Him?
“‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’” Matthew 6:13 NIV
“On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’” Luke 22:40 NIV
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