Finding Strength

Matthew 5:5 (NIV) Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

In the garden of Gethsemane we once again find Jesus in prayer as the principalities of this world were pressing in on Him. So many times in His life when Jesus faced a big decision or was facing great temptation or struggle he would retreat to a place of prayer. It is in this final battle with His flesh that we find the source of Christ’s meekness. Jesus was all God and all man. He faced temptation just as we do and had to overcome the weakness of this fleshly body. He also had an intimate knowledge of how Heaven works and the importance of prayer.
Today many view prayer as their opportunity to tell God about things that He may not know. To convince God that He needs to do something that He doesn’t really want to do or inform Him of what they want Him to do. Jesus knew that prayer is so much more than a divine drive thru where you place your order and wait for the delivery. He saw it as a source of power and restoration. Prayer was the place where you presented the problems of life and heard from God so that your heart was prepared to do His will. There in the garden we see this at work.
Jesus cried out “Father let this cup pass from me.” That night the Romans soldiers were coming to arrest Him. He knew the prophets had foretold that He would be beaten beyond recognition and die on a cruel cross. The flesh resisted! There had to be another way. The temptation was great to avoid the confrontation, to find another way, any way but the one that lay ahead. So Jesus went to the place where He routinely met with God and prayed. There He found the strength to say “not my will but thine be done”.
We find in Christ the perfect example of “strength under control”. His meekness was evident in the compassion He showed for those that beat Him and spat on upon as He cried “Father, forgive them”. Even there in the garden when Judas betrayed Him with a kiss Jesus responded by calling him “friend”. There was no vindictiveness or anger. He was able to accept the injustice of the cross with the strength that came from knowing God was in control. Yet, it was only a few days earlier that Jesus had rebuked the Pharisee’s for their hardness of heart and cleansed the Temple by chasing out the moneychangers. This was no wimp! When the soldiers asked if he was the one they were looking for Jesus replied, “I Am”. When He spoke that name they all fell to the ground. He could have destroyed them right there. But instead He commanded Peter to put away his sword and healed the ear of the His tormentor. He was showing us the way.
Remember when Jesus came back to the disciples in the garden. He had been praying and wrestling with the flesh where He had found that place in God where He could say “not my will but thine”. When Jesus returned He found the disciples sleeping instead of praying. He awakened them and said,

“Could you not pray with me one hour? Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

This was His last instructions to them. It is the secret to living like Jesus, to inheriting the earth, to overcoming this world, to living a life of meekness. “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.”