Watch and Pray

Host (0:01): Wake up. It's time to kick start your day. You are listening to ScriptureLink's daily dose of inspiration. Let's go.

Host (0:14): Good morning and welcome to this brand new day. This description links daily dose of inspiration for Thursday, 06/18/2026 and today is National Go Fishing Day. It also is one getaway day. You know, I think we all need time to to get away sometimes, don't we? Today would be a good day to to play in your summer getaway or weekend getaway or something like that.

Host (0:53): Just yeah. That sounds like a good idea. Today's scripture reading, I know it's been a while since we've been together, since we did the broadcast, and I'm still as you could tell, I'm still battling the cold. And, my voice will hold out to get through this today, and we'll see how the lord works here. But our scripture reading today, hopefully, you'll just be continuing reading here a couple chapters every day.

Host (1:26): And if you have, our scripture reading today is in Mark chapter twelve and thirteen. And we're reading through the entire New Testament this summer. So just keep reading a couple chapters a day, but get in there and study it and see what God has for you. Today today, I want us to excuse me. Today, I want us to take a look here.

Unknown Speaker (2:08): Today, I want us to there we go. I think I got it. Today, I want us to take a look here in Matthew chapter 26. And it's the end times here for Jesus. Now it's right before his his arrest and trial and and death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.

Host (2:29): It's where Jesus was praying in the garden And I want to take today and tomorrow, Lord willing, to take a look at this this story, this account, and see what we could do. We're gonna compare Jesus and Peter in this story, in this time of trial because whether you look at it this way or not, this agony in Gethsemane as the bible calls it here, this account from Matthew chapter 26 verses 36 through 46, that's a trial for Jesus. It would have been just as easy, and we'll talk more about this tomorrow. It would have been just as easy for Jesus since he was fully human to say, you know what? I'm not gonna do it.

Host (3:30): And I'm sure that those thoughts was going through his mind. But today, I want us to focus on Peter because there's some interesting things here. I want us to focus in here. I'm not going to read the whole passage, but I want us to focus on verses forty and forty one in here for today, and these are verses about Peter. To give it a quick background, Jesus and the disciples got to this Garden Of Gethsemane, and he told his disciples to stay there and to pray while he goes and prays.

Host (4:15): And he took with him the inner three, Peter, James, and John, and went a little further. And Jesus began to be sorrowful. He began to be to be very heavy. The weight of the world was on his shoulders, I believe, at that time. And he he left them and went a little further and prayed.

Host (4:40): Verse 38 he tells his disciples tarry here or stay here and watch with me. And verse 39 tells us he went a little further and he prayed and then he came back and find the disciples, Peter, James, and John sound asleep. And he says to him in verse 40, what could he not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.

Host (5:25): Look at the words here. Made me think when I first read this and first started exploring this topic, made me think, why did he pick out Peter? James and John was sleeping just like Peter was. Why is Peter getting called out here? I think it's like this.

Host (5:49): It's because Peter was already warned that he was gonna go through a time of trouble, that he was gonna go through a time of trial. And if we go over to Luke chapter 22, the Gospel of Luke chapter number 22. Let's see here. Luke chapter 22 verses 31 through 34, Peter was warned. And let's look at it.

Host (6:25): And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brother. And then he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both in the prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee Peter that that the cock that the cock k.

Host (7:02): I tell thee Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. There we have it. Peter is warned. Peter is warned here. He said Satan desires to have you.

Host (7:22): Satan wants to sift you. He wants to see what your faith is made of. He wants to see who you are. He wants to see if you're as strong as you think you are. And and Jesus says to him, I have prayed for you.

Host (7:40): Jesus prayed, I'm sure, for strength to be able to stand up in this trial. I'm sure Jesus prayed for Peter's well-being. He said, I have prayed that thy faith fail not. He said, I prayed for you Peter that even though your faith is gonna get tested, that it's not gonna fail. And notice what he says next, And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Host (8:12): Converted here, Like we talked about just a couple weeks ago, converted here means to turn back or to return. It's like leaving your old path, your old life path and turning or returning to God's path. See Jesus knew that Peter was gonna fail, but look at how Peter responds here. He said, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both to prison and death. Peter's making a strong claim here.

Host (8:44): He's saying, Lord, how can I deny you? I'm ready to go. I'm ready to do anything for you. I'm ready to follow you to death. I'm ready to follow you to the prison.

Host (8:54): But as we see, as we look over here a little bit later on in Luke chapter 22, Peter really wasn't ready to do anything that he claimed. You know, sometimes we make big boastful things. Sometimes we, what's the word I'm trying to think of there? Sometimes we have some overconfidence in ourselves where we should be putting the confidence in Jesus. What ends up happening, you know, something else just jumped out at me.

Host (9:38): Notice in verse 31, the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you. But then down here in verse 34, after Peter makes that bold statement, he says, I tell thee, Peter. There's significance in that because Simon was was was what Peter was called prior to him coming to Jesus. And there's some passages, I believe it's in Luke, it might be in Matthew, where Jesus says, Simon, thou art Peter, which interpreted as rock. And he said, Simon, thou art Peter, and upon this rock, upon his faith, he will build that church.

Host (10:35): So Simon was getting tempted, but Peter Peter was gonna do the work of God. And if we jump over here, Peter makes this grand claim that he's ready to follow. And and verse 54 says that Peter followed afar off after they took Jesus. And from verses 54 down through verse 62, we see that Peter indeed was tempted just like Jesus said he was gonna be. But Peter failed.

Host (11:11): He denied Jesus three times just like it was predicted. And in verse sixty one and sixty two, we see that the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and Peter wept bitterly. Jesus singled out Peter, I think, here in Matthew chapter 26 because Peter was warned.

Host (11:48): Wouldn't it be great wouldn't it be great if if during your your devotional times when you read the bible or when you're praying, if if God would say to you, you know, Gary, you're gonna be tempted at 01:29PM this afternoon. I'm praying for you. Would we be ready? Probably not. We cast them.

Host (12:11): Yeah, yeah, I'm sure that's gonna happen. Whatever. And then it happens. Let's go back to Matthew 26. There's a couple other things here I want us to I want us to see.

Host (12:29): Notice here in verse number 40, Jesus' first question, his first comment is, why could you not watch with me one hour? You know, that's significant because, you know, that tells us really where our heart is at. There's that old hymn, Many churches sing, and we still sing it at my church, Sweet Hour of Prayer. But today for us to think about investing an hour into bible study, into prayer, that's something we're not really ready to do. We get antsy when we're at church, and the church lasts more than an hour.

Host (13:09): We pray like we're given a wish list to Santa Claus and in Jesus' time of need, his inner three, those closest to him failed him. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. Could Peter have avoided that temptation if he would have done what Jesus said to do here? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. That's something we need to make sure we're doing.

Host (13:43): We need to watch and pray. Today, in our world today, temptation works around every corner. I mean just surfing through Facebook could give you some things you don't want to see or some things you don't want to hear. We need to watch and pray and at any moment we could go off the path that God has called us from. We could fail the temptation.

Host (14:11): He says watch and pray. And in John chapter 14 verse number 26, Jesus is talking about the comforter, is talking about the Holy Spirit and he said, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance. He's gonna teach us how to pray. He's gonna teach us to watch out for for temptation. He's gonna teach us how to to live for him, how to stay on the path.

Host (14:43): He's gonna teach us what the word of god says. He's gonna remind us of those things when that time of trial comes. Verse 41 here in Matthew 26, The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. The flesh is weak. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Host (15:11): The spirit is willing to teach us how to overcome temptation, but the flesh is weak. And it's easier to blame God for what's going on in my life than it is for me to watch for temptation. We have to watch because as Peter said in second Peter, believe it was, might have been first Peter, where he says, The devil is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That night he devoured Peter, but he didn't keep Peter down. And we see at the end of the gospel of John where Peter indeed was converted and indeed went out and strengthened the brethren and went out to be the leader of the early church.

Host (16:05): Where are you at today? Maybe you're like Peter and you failed your test. You failed your temptation. You failed your trial. Scripture tells us that Peter went out and wept bitterly, but he didn't stay away.

Host (16:23): We need to watch and pray so that we can stand up to the time of trial. Tomorrow, if lord willing, we're gonna take a look in these same verses and see what happens with Jesus here, and then compare the two of them to see which one we're more like and which one we need to be like. But for today, watch and pray so that you can stand up to those times of temptation. Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you.

Host (17:04): Then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.

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