Watch and Pray

"Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41

Why watch and pray, below explanation is based on and what I have understood from the series of books of John Owen (1616-1683).

Since indwelling sin always abides in a believer, not only abides but acting, not only acting but produces soul destroying sins, it is the believer's responsibility to mortify the sin.

Below two principles help us to understand it more clearly

Principle 1: Indwelling sin is a law. (I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. Romans 7:21)

Principle 2: There will be no mortification of any sin without sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience. (If anyone comes to Me, and does not [n]hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple Luke 14:26)

Because indwelling sin is a law and principle it is believers responsible to watch all its motions and eruptions of sin, someone wisely said watch all eruptions of your corruptions.

The best illustrations for indwelling sin is a river water stored in a dam, the water has a huge potential energy stored in it and always trying to find a way out. Whenever it finds an open rock water try to come out from open place with a great force and also try to make the vent bigger and bigger by removing other neighbor rocks, once it get hold on the flow it may also collapse the entire bridge.

This is how the sin in the believer works, we always try to deal the sin which troubles us more, takes away all our peace, gives pain to our conscience and bring much guilt upon us, when this happens we try to run, find a solution, get counsel, repent of that particular sin and ask the Lord for forgiveness.

Once we get the victory from this particular sin which troubled us we will come to know that there is another more wretched sin is waiting for us to deal, this happens in a believer because we have not understood the nature of the indwelling sin in us, indwelling sin is a law and principle, it always tries to show its face in one way or the other.

That is the reason a Christian can never have victory over sin unless he determined to deal with it in its entirety, which means not the sin which troubles him but the sins in him which troubles God, for example anger is troubling a believer a lot so he try to deal with it, but he forgets all about his covetousness and worldliness which remain in him, which are equal and greater sins before God.

Lord Jesus said If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple Luke 14:26

Because there will be no mortification of any sin without sincerity and diligence in a universality of complete obedience.