Friday, March 10, 2006
Luke 22:41-43 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.
STRENGTH FROM HEAVEN
Among the swirling events of that night we may miss is how when Jesus prayed to His Father about what was soon to take place, the Father sent to Jesus an angel to minister to Him and to strengthen Him.
We may forget that Jesus was true Man, and even though as eternal God He was not in that sense in need of such strengthening, as a real man, Jesus was. Jesus knew and throughout His life understood where His strength lay, in the Word of His Father. We find recorded for us in the gospels the statement that Jesus was found in the synagogues, as was His custom. The Sabbath day found Jesus there, or if He was in Jerusalem Jesus was at the temple.
This, and the Father's sending of the angel to minister to Jesus there in the garden, tells us that strength of faith resides in and through the Scriptures. Yes, in private, personal study of them, home devotions, or through devotions such as these. Yet the fact that Jesus custom was to be in "church" reminds us that such is to be our custom also. There the Father sends to us His ministering angels to strengthen us and comfort us.
Through such attendance on our part, our Father is preparing us for the day of trial, the day of testing, the day of temptation. He is giving to us the weapons by which we quench the fiery darts of the devil.
Do we pray, "Father strengthen my faith?" He answers, "I have given you the means, the Word by which your faith is strengthened, through ministering angels."
