The Nazis stripped Victor Frankl’s life down to almost nothing. Once a renowned psychiatrist, Frankl was reduced to being a slave labourer at the notorious death camp Auschwitz. He could have seethed with hate and self-pity but, instead, Frankl realized that the Nazis could never steal, shape, or dictate his attitude.
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Read Mark 14:37–38; Luke 9:23
“Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” (Mark 14:37–38)
Jesus didn’t just bow once for a brief prayer in the garden and then go out to face His crucifixion. He prayed, and then He went back to the disciples. He then returned to prayer, and then once again came back to the disciples. Three times He went back to pray. This is the movement of submission: “Not My will, but Yours be done.”
What an incredible experience that should have been for the disciples. Yet they did not hear Him. Instead, “He found them sleeping.”
Earlier Jesus had said “Watch.” Now, He says to Peter, James, and John, “Watch and pray.” Why? “That you may not come into temptation.” What was that temptation? Surely it was more than just the temptation to fall asleep again. I believe it was the very temptation that they would fall into during the next few hours: the temptation to defect. Right now was the time for the disciples to pray for steel in their souls.
Right now was the time for them to watch and pray, while there was no enemy around, because when the enemy came, the temptation would be to fall away from the Saviour. Jesus told them to watch and pray so that might not happen...so they would not be tempted to leave Him.
Capitalize on times of peace. Use moments of serenity to put steel in your soul, so you won’t yield when life gets hard and heavy.
You may be experiencing tremendous prosperity in your business or your personal life. You may find yourself coasting along, and it looks like a beautiful tomorrow. If so, let me challenge you: Right now, you are in the perfect place to prepare yourself. Times of peace and prosperity provide the ideal moments to equip yourself for the inevitable tests of famine and hardship.
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
Adapted by Insight for Living staff from The Darkness and the Dawn by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com
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The Day Death Took a Hike
Travel back with Pastor Chuck Swindoll to the scene of John 11 when Jesus intentionally let His friend Lazarus breathe his last so that He could call him back from death. After his deceased body lay for days in a tomb, Lazarus walked out at Jesus’ command!
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