ROOTED - Monday, June 8, 2026

Matthew 26:39-41

39  And going a
little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I
will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the
disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you
not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray
that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but
the flesh is weak.”

Reflection: Spiritual
Battles

Written By: Pastor Jesse
Caro

One
of the biggest spiritual growth lessons I ever learned is that the spiritual
battle is actually a physical one. In a way, “spiritual battle” is a bit of a
misnomer, because often it seems hardly “spiritual.” In the Garden of
Gethsemane Jesus asks the three disciples to stay and watch… and pray. Jesus,
of course, would leave for a little while to pray alone. When he returned, he
discovered that the disciples had fallen asleep. He wakes them up and asks them
to pray… “and stay awake this time!” He goes and prays, only to return and find
the disciples asleep… again.

It
is instructive what Jesus says: “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is
weak!” Indeed, it is. I have found that if you ask me to do something that
appeals to me and my desires, I can stay awake for it… no problem. If you ask
me, however, to go to the beach and wake up at 4 AM to go, I will do so happily
and be wide awake. But praying early in the morning is super hard. I think that
the part of the war in us that is spiritual is actually a battle that involves training
our bodies to know that our body is not God. Our bodies want their way all
the time. Our bodies are spoiled! My body hardly ever wants to submit to God’s
desires… so I must train it, reminding it that it must serve God’s purposes. Godly
training is mostly a training of our bodies to submit to God in everything,
even if it is inconvenient or hard. So, take this as a spiritual lesson to
think of the spiritual life as a training regimen… teaching our bodies they must
submit to God. ”The flesh is weak,” and that is the problem. We must train it.

Prayer

Lord, help us to discipline our bodies in godliness knowing that
we don’t honor you like we should. We recognize that we must train and teach
ourselves that you alone are God!

As Pastor Jesse concludes his time on staff, our Rooted devotionals will also be taking a break for a season. Thank you for joining us on this journey through God's Word.