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Friday... We don't really understand.


Friday... We don't really understand.

We don't really understand the way that we will respond to difficult times. We hope that we will respond as we should but we live too many times with the expectation that we will handle trouble in a good way.

Peter, one of the twelve apostles felt that He could handle whatever was going to happen to him and so do we.

Psalm 17:3 (MSG) says, "Go ahead, examine me from inside out, surprise me in the middle of the night - You'll find I'm just what I say I am. My words don't run lose." And that is what we really want, isn't it?

Now back to Peter. In Mark 14:29 Jesus had just told His disciples that they were going to be going through some great trouble and that they would all desert Him but "Peter said to him, 'Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.'" And then verse 30, "Jesus replied, 'I tell you the truth - this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.'"

Now Jesus took them all to a garden where they could pray. He knew what was going to happen and He needed a time with His Father to help Him be ready for what was coming. And they did too. And we do too. 

He spent some time in agonizing prayer. Verses 37-39 says, "Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, '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.'"

There are times when we really, really, really need to spend time with God. He knows what we are facing and He knows us from the inside out and He know if we are ready to face what is ahead and He knows our weaknesses. 

We really believe we can handle it but He knows us, and He knows that we need Him just as He needed His Father. 

Now you know the story, the soldiers came and arrested Jesus and the disciple all ran but Peter followed and was watching what was happening to Jesus and had opportunities to stand up for Him but Peter denied that he knew Him three different times and a rooster crowed and verse 72 said, "Suddenly, Jesus' words flashed through Peter's mind: Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.' And he broke down in tears."

Jesus knows us and He knows what we are like from the inside out and He knows what we need to handle the Covids, the inflation, the relationship problems of our lives. And He wants us to turn to Him and "Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

Now Peter learned from his failure and became one of the leaders of the growth of the church. Yes, we too can handle what is ahead with Him. We really need to turn to Him with all our heart. He knows us and He knows what we need. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning



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