When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
Luke 22:45-46
What’s the best thing to do when you’re tempted?
In Luke 22, Jesus told his disciples, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation” (v. 40). Most would assume Jesus meant, “Ask God to help you to not be tempted.” As a result, when we’re facing temptation, we think that we need to ask God to steer us around it. But is it possible that Jesus meant something else?
Jesus could have been saying, “If you stay close to God, keep talking to him and relying on him, then you won’t give in to temptation.”
Regardless of what Jesus meant in that verse, it is true that we need to stay close to God to benefit from his strength.
In the Garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion, Jesus needed to spend time in prayer to be empowered to handle what he knew he was about to go through. I’m sure it was tempting to want to run from that situation. But when Jesus prayed, God didn’t remove the temptation. It was so intense that Jesus sweat drops of blood as he came into agreement with God’s will for his life (v. 44), but as he prayed, something changed. He got up from that prayer, ready to take on whatever was to come his way.
When you’re tempted in life, spend some time with God. I don’t mean you have to spend countless hours in uninterrupted prayer. Just talk to him and then stay close to him throughout your day. Connecting with him empowers you to rise above.