WHEN YOU’RE WEAK & FEEL LIKE GIVING UP (YOUR STRENGTH HAS TO SLEEP TOO)…

The night our Lord was betrayed, He didn’t have His ‘game face’ on. He didn’t initially have an, “I got this!” attitude. He wasn’t enthusiastically running to the cross. Remember how it went down?

Matthew 26:36-46 (NKJV)

 ³⁶ Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” ³⁷ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. ³⁸ Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

This was the Son of Man being man. We all know that in the subsequent verses that Jesus prayed that He did not have to endure what was to come if it was the will of the Father, and that He submitted to the will of the Father.

We all have moments when we feel like we can’t go on. We all have moments that we feel we can’t make it. We all sometimes feel like giving up. Sometimes we all feel like we are wasting our time doing good…All of us.

Isaiah 49:3-4 (NKJV)

³ “And He said to me,
‘You are My servant, O Israel,
In whom I will be glorified.’
⁴ Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord,
And my work with my God.’

I don’t care how confident someone may seem on the outside. They all have moments of weakness.

Those moments of weakness are one of the very reasons that we witness their highest levels of confidence.

Even Jesus had to sleep while during His earthly ministry. The bible teaches that weakness and weariness is a part of being strong…

---

I believe our strength has to sleep sometimes too.

---

Isaiah 40:30-31 (NKJV)

³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
³¹ But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

I don’t care how strong a man or woman may be physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually…everyone has to sleep. I’m not using sleep as a metaphor, yes everyone has to renew their strength with sleep.

---

When handled correctly, our momentary moments of weakness are healthy. No one’s strength always remains at 100% all of the time.

Our strength has to sleep. It has to rest. It has to be renewed.

---

Even the most moral person has impure thoughts. It’s a part of being clothed in sinful flesh. That’s why God’s grace is so priceless. Even the greatest leaders doubt their decisions.

When you feel like you can’t go on. When you feel like you are slipping morally. When your anger seems to be getting the best of you…remember what Jesus did in the garden. He prayed.

---

Here’s powerful encouragement! The LORD knows we are flesh…

---

Matthew 26:41 (NKJV)

⁴¹ Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Psalm 103:14  (NKJV)

¹⁴ For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

He knows that our moments of weakness are unavoidable. That’s why He reassured us that when our strength ‘is resting’, His strength rests upon us and holds us up…

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)

⁹ And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

This is by no means to indulge in sin during your weak moments, but to lean on the power of God to help you avoid sin.

If you struggling with hopelessness, despair, anxiety or fear don’t be too hard on yourself. Even Jesus had human moments. But, He also left us a great example of what to do when that happens…

Watch. Pray. (Matthew 26:41) Meditate and fellowship with Him in His word, and just as the LORD said, He promises to renew your strength.

Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Don’t give out…Give it to God.

Let your strength rest, but don’t let in die.

BE BLESSTIFIED!