Daily Devotional For Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Good day and thank you for taking the time to meditate on God’s Word with these devotionals. We are making our way through the Gospel of Matthew and today we pick up right where we left off yesterday in Matthew 26:36-46:
“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ (37) And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. (38) Then He said to them, ‘My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.’ (39) And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’ (40) And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? (41) Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ (42) He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.’ (43) Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. (44) And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. (45) Then He came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. (46) Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!’” (NASB).
I have broken this text into parts so that we can learn from God the word He has for us. Jesus prayed, “If it is possible . . . “ Not everything that is possible is necessarily God’s will for our lives. And what Jesus is doing here is making it clear that no matter how tough, how tempting it is to quit, or how terrifying what He is about to endure, He will not depart from God the Father’s will for His life. So, Matthew shows us how temptable Jesus was while at the same time he shows how tenacious Jesus was to obey God the Father.
We are not given how Matthew got this information. It is possible that during Jesus’ 40 post-Resurrection days He told His disciples or that Peter, James and John were close enough to hear Jesus before they fell asleep. Jesus’ prayer is the perfect example of how to pray to God about something stressful without being sinful or selfish in your prayer.
The way I look at this is since Jesus felt bold enough to pour out His heart to God this way 3 times, we should feel no hesitancy in our requests to God. If we do ask with the wrong motives, then we should understand the truth of James 4:3. To me, Jesus modeled what He taught us in Matthew 6:10 as well as what the Bible teaches us in James 4:15. How selfish we can be when we pray with requests without saying, “If it be Your will.”
We see Jesus struggling here about going to the cross and dying. He may have been humanly depressed and what we see here is this: not all depression is sin. To tell someone not to be depressed or “Oh, you shouldn’t feel that way,” will not help them. One hour had passed and Peter, James and John had fallen asleep. It is clear here that one hour of prayer for Jesus was not enough. So, Jesus gently urged these 3 to wake up and pray up. Jesus singled out Peter in this, although all 3 fell asleep. What these 3 needed was spiritual determination and discipline, which includes the Fruit of the Spirit of self-control, so they would not be led into sin to deny Jesus later. In the proverb Jesus spoke, “. . . the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” some use this as an excuse to justify their human shortcomings.
Jesus left them to go pray a second time and this time, Jesus prayed this in verse 42, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Notice the word “cannot.” The word “not” is part of it and Jesus in this prayer believed that it was NOT in God’s will for Him to avoid cross and death. So, Jesus reaffirmed His obedience to do God’s will. After praying this time, Jesus returned and found them all asleep again. So, Jesus went back and prayed a third time. There is a saying we have in the South that goes like this, “Either fish, or cut bait.” This means either do what needs to be done or quit. After this third time, Jesus comes back, wakes His disciples and the cycle to keep praying stops. The time has come to act according to God’s will and Jesus does.
As Jesus wakes all His disciples He informs them that Judas, the betrayer has arrived. When He told them in the Upper Room that one would betray Him, now it is revealed to the rest of His disciples which disciple is the betrayer. No matter what others may say, no matter how bad our circumstances may get, Matthew is shouting here: GOD IS IN CONTROL! Jesus was not a victim; but the Victor.
Most people are governed by their fears. Their imaginations kick-in and before they know it, God is not in control, their fear is. 1 John 4:18 says, “Perfect love expels all fear” (NLT). One of the best weapons in the devil’s arsenal is fear. We live in an unpredictable and dangerous world. To let fear govern us is to let the devil govern us. Fear says, “There is no way I can trust God.” If we can’t trust God with our fears, then we can’t really trust God with anything. Even if Jesus feared what was to come, He never let it dictate His actions and obedience to God.
Reflection Assignment: What fears tend to govern your life? Is it easier for you to console someone with Scripture who is overcome with fear than it is to trust God with your own? So, when you console another, then are you lying to them? What is a fear in your life you just need to trust God with right now?
Scripture To Meditate On: 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I do not want to be a person governed by fear or the devil. Just like You here in this passage, I want to push through my fear with faith in You no matter what the results may be. I do not want to let the temptation to fear lead me to sin. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly