This Day’s Scripture Threshings for Thursday, February 7, 2019
Today’s Text: Matthew 26:36-46
Key Verse: ”Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” (vs. 41, ESV)
If you watched “The Shepherd of the Hills,” the movie, you’d probably remember the Bald Knobbers, a portrayal of 1880 vigilante group typical of the post-reconstruction era of America. From Spanish and Portuguese root, a vigilante is a civilian or organization acting in a law enforcement capacity in pursuit of self-perceived need for protection.
We have a clear case of our Lord’s admonition to apply intention to the occasion of watching. We are our own vigilantes. He sounds this tender caution because He knows that our bodily frailty can exert upon our will to watch. But what better way have we to fight our temptation and guard our hearts with all diligence than to watch and pray. Our Lord is aware of how we face daily assaults of complex and varied array of lusts, fears, ambitions, and doubts — from within and without. But He also knows we can overcome if we watch and pray.
God plays His part, but play our part of the battle for us. It belongs to us to keep our spiritual eyes open for/against any avenue by which the enemy might gain a foot hold in us. Of course, He knows that we cannot expect to overcome in/by our own strength. Hence, the admonition to pray. Prayer itself is a spiritual watch which demonstrates our reliance on the sustaining grace and purifying power of the Holy Spirit's work within us. We are not permitted to give in to our fleshly weakness. When it comes to the occasion to watch, it is imperative that we be in a constant posture of spiritual sensitivity and prayer. Don’t let prayer become a spiritual sentiment for you. Apply intentionality to it. Bear in mind that anytime you let the chance of fulfilling the urge to pray slip by without fulfilling it: your spiritual intention has become a mere religious sentiment. In Colossians 4:2, apostle Paul urges us to “continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
Quote for the Day: “In the spiritual essence and necessity of prayer; one may most confidently and reliably say that prayer does not help us to watch; but it is the watch itself.” (Simon Olatunji)
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for such a solemn reminder today. Help me Lord so that as I begin each day, I’d be reminded to place my full dependence on you in prayer. You are the author of all things, and through you I am most secure and blessed. Amen.
With all my Love and Prayer,
Simon Wale Olatunji, PhD
The Darling Bishop (DaBishop),
2321 S Belt Line Rd., Suite 144,
Grand Prairie TX 75051 USA
Email: reachingout@hopeforallnations.org
BBMme: E3F988D2
[*This Day’s Scripture Threshings* is a devotional guide of The House of Prayer Evangel Church USA. Feel free to use it in your family altar and personal quiet times; and to contact us for further enquiry, help and partnership.]
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