The passage you are referencing to here is where we find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Notice that it was Jesus’ custom to frequent the Mount of Olives. Surely this was the information that Judas had previously gone out to sell for thirty pieces of silver. Judas had been an apostle and one of the twelve hand-picked by Jesus and knew His schedule and where He would be. Yet, Jesus goes out anyways, He does not look to hide or take a different route. Jesus walks into His destiny, to be slaughtered for our sin. In the account of Luke, we find Jesus say these words when He speaks to His disciples, “pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:40)
It should not pass us by that Jesus himself was fighting the biggest temptation of His human life. He knew Judas would betray Him and give up His location. He knew what would happen next, every instinct in His mind and body yelled, “run!” His life was in mortal danger and yet “like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)
But before Jesus would be arrested, He warns the disciples that followed Him there, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:40) What temptation were the disciples facing? We know that Peter would assault the slave of the high priest and “cut off his right ear,” (Luke 12:50) perhaps even attempting a worse kind of blow? We also know that Peter would deny Jesus (Luke 22:54-62) and that the apostles would leave Him and flee (Mark 14:50) which was the one temptation Jesus was at that moment fighting against.
Once Jesus shares these words with the disciples, He “withdrew from them about a stone’s throw and He knelt down and began to pray.” (Luke 22:41) The posture Jesus took to kneel says much of His mindset at that moment. His legs perhaps shifty, ready to bolt and run into the night. But He knelt, and He was resolute. We won’t get into the details of Jesus’s prayer here but it is full of agony and so intense that the physical manifestation of His stress was evident. (Luke 22:44) “When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and said to them, why are you asleep? (Luke 22:45-46) Luke here finishes this part of the account in the same way that He started it, “pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:46)
We learn from this account that Jesus was in the midst of a cruel temptation and we know it from His prayer, “Father if You are willing remove this cup from Me, yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) The temptation was to run for His life. This is not something we think of as a temptation. Preserving life seems like the right thing to do. But when running away means compromising the call of God on your life, you must stay and possibly, even die.
Think of the three young Hebrew men who stood against King Nebuchadnezzar and were willing to die for what they believed. Or Samson who after a life of compromise, was willing to die with the Philistines, that God’s justice would prevail. Or Stephen who became the first martyr of the church, and who looking up to heaven echoed words like those of his master, Jesus Christ, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60)
When we come to the book of Hebrews we read of the Old Testament heroes of faith, those who waited for the Messiah and for their faith, “experienced mocking and scourging’s, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.” (Hebrews 11:36-37)
How does prayer help us in temptation? Prayer involves the spirit “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mathhew 26:41) “And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;” (Romans 8:26) “Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved” (2 Corinthians 13:7)
With prayer we stay on the alert “with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” (Ephesian 6:18) And if devotion is the aim, then pray and “devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;” (Colossians 4:2) “Also, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Prayer leads us into sanctification “for everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:4-5) Furthermore, it is commanded of us to be always “rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. (Romans 12:12-13)
Lastly, we pray, “do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Not that God would lead us into temptation but that we know when we pray, we cannot, in that posture before God, be led into temptations and evil, on the contrary, it takes us away from it, for God’s “is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13)
The passage you are referencing to here is where we find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Notice that it was Jesus’ custom to frequent the Mount of Olives. Surely this was the information that Judas had previously gone out to sell for thirty pieces of silver. Judas had been an apostle and one of the twelve hand-picked by Jesus and knew His schedule and where He would be. Yet, Jesus goes out anyways, He does not look to hide or take a different route. Jesus walks into His destiny, to be slaughtered for our sin. In the account of Luke, we find Jesus say these words when He speaks to His disciples, “pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:40)
It should not pass us by that Jesus himself was fighting the biggest temptation of His human life. He knew Judas would betray Him and give up His location. He knew what would happen next, every instinct in His mind and body yelled, “run!” His life was in mortal danger and yet “like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)
But before Jesus would be arrested, He warns the disciples that followed Him there, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:40) What temptation were the disciples facing? We know that Peter would assault the slave of the high priest and “cut off his right ear,” (Luke 12:50) perhaps even attempting a worse kind of blow? We also know that Peter would deny Jesus (Luke 22:54-62) and that the apostles would leave Him and flee (Mark 14:50) which was the one temptation Jesus was at that moment fighting against.
Once Jesus shares these words with the disciples, He “withdrew from them about a stone’s throw and He knelt down and began to pray.” (Luke 22:41) The posture Jesus took to kneel says much of His mindset at that moment. His legs perhaps shifty, ready to bolt and run into the night. But He knelt, and He was resolute. We won’t get into the details of Jesus’s prayer here but it is full of agony and so intense that the physical manifestation of His stress was evident. (Luke 22:44) “When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and said to them, why are you asleep? (Luke 22:45-46) Luke here finishes this part of the account in the same way that He started it, “pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:46)
We learn from this account that Jesus was in the midst of a cruel temptation and we know it from His prayer, “Father if You are willing remove this cup from Me, yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) The temptation was to run for His life. This is not something we think of as a temptation. Preserving life seems like the right thing to do. But when running away means compromising the call of God on your life, you must stay and possibly, even die.
Think of the three young Hebrew men who stood against King Nebuchadnezzar and were willing to die for what they believed. Or Samson who after a life of compromise, was willing to die with the Philistines, that God’s justice would prevail. Or Stephen who became the first martyr of the church, and who looking up to heaven echoed words like those of his master, Jesus Christ, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60)
When we come to the book of Hebrews we read of the Old Testament heroes of faith, those who waited for the Messiah and for their faith, “experienced mocking and scourging’s, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.” (Hebrews 11:36-37)
How does prayer help us in temptation? Prayer involves the spirit “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mathhew 26:41) “And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;” (Romans 8:26) “Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved” (2 Corinthians 13:7)
With prayer we stay on the alert “with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” (Ephesian 6:18) And if devotion is the aim, then pray and “devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;” (Colossians 4:2) “Also, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Prayer leads us into sanctification “for everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:4-5) Furthermore, it is commanded of us to be always “rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. (Romans 12:12-13)
Lastly, we pray, “do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Not that God would lead us into temptation but that we know when we pray, we cannot, in that posture before God, be led into temptations and evil, on the contrary, it takes us away from it, for God’s “is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13)