Luke 22:42-44-…, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”  43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 

At this point the closer Jesus gets to His moment of truth to be crucified, the more He senses the weakness of His flesh, and how the coming distress of the pain and suffering in taking on all sins will be for Him.  So He displays His humanity on how to handle distress and situations that overwhelms us, and what should be our response towards God.  But does God factor in such moments for us?  Is the reflex response of being overwhelmed obedience to what you know you should do?   Or because it is overwhelming and fearful, is avoidance automatic?

As Christians being overwhelmed in the flesh is the norm if we are walking with God faithfully.  The mind set naturally is to avoid anything that will expose us to be weak and insufficient.  But the mind set on the Spirit will acknowledge fear, weaknesses, distress, etc. and see how necessary faith and obedience is for grace (strength) everyday.

Jesus wasn’t strengthened by the angels until He gave over His will to the Father.  Like Christ we are not strengthened out of weakness and fear until we decide to obey, which takes faith.  Faith and trust that God will give us the grace to endure the overwhelming distress of our current situation.

Don’t wait on strength and peace before you decide to be obedient to God’s will, because that takes no faith at all.  Decide to obey, not matter how much you wrestle “in the Garden of Gethsemane”, because it is in obedience and surrender where grace comes to strengthen our weak flesh to do what we are fearing to do or let go of.

In His Love, Ld