The Alpha of Watching and Praying

UV 3121/10000 The Alpha of Watching and Praying
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26 v 41
The Lord exhorted His three disciples, Peter, James and John who had fallen asleep even though he had asked them to stay awake and alert as He prayed in the garden at Gethsemane to prepare Himself for the greatest tribulation of His life on Earth. He had asked them to stay awake for only one hour while He prayed. The disciples also knew that His heart was heavy with sorrow. But the disciples slacked off and slept, unmindful of the state of mind of the Lord. Jesus chided them with the words of this uni-verse.
We are to watch the world and pray for whatever ills affect the world. We are to watch ourselves and pray for grace to resist temptation and to endure suffering. Our intentions will remain pious aspirations unless we are willing to subject ourselves to hard discipline as Jesus did. We can overcome the weaknesses of our bodies if we watch our own thoughts. We can ask the Lord to send us the Holy Spirit to strengthen and help us combat the temptations and to endure trials. The enemy crouches at the door of our hearts all the time looking for an opportunity to enter our lives. We need to be watchful to keep him at bay and drive him away.
Like an eagle watches the ground and spots the movement of any serpent, we too need to have a watchful eye and keen ears. We need to watch our habits, our decisions, our relationships so that we walk in alignment with the will and word of God. We are to be both vigilant and agile so that we spot any threat and move quickly to neutralise it. Jesus taught us to pray, “ Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” The Lord never tempts any man but it implies that the Lord should not allow us to tempted by the enemy. We seek His deliverance from all our troubles. When we are spiritually alert, the enemy cannot catch us unawares. Apart from the three great common temptations of wine, women and wealth, we need to set up personal alarms to alert us and show us red flags when we are disobedient, negative minded, bitter, sullen, angry, unfaithful, unforgiving, backsliding, ungrateful, doubtful. We should not be ensnared by the enemy by the words we speak or the thoughts we think. Our inner attitudes should not trip us but enable us to trump the enemy. We need to watch our words so that we do not invite the enemy to be an influence in our lives, unwittingly or willingly.