Matthew 26:41, commentary and pictures

Watching joined with praying is the guard commanded so that a person does not step into temptation, and keeping this continual vigilance is the only safety and gives power to resist evil. Not entering temptation means refusing the first step on a wrong course and staying away from whatever draws toward it, while being tempted and assailed is different from entering and being overcome. Willingness and good intentions alone are not enough, because human nature remains weak and can be overpowered even by weariness unless it is guarded and continually supplied with divine strength. In the garden Jesus spoke this when He found His disciples asleep in the hour of trial, pitying their frailty yet showing that their sleeping left them unprepared and opened the way to forsaking Him and to denial. The same watchful prayer must therefore continue as long as life lasts, because the adversary watches for the unguarded moment and the heart left unguarded drifts gradually into sin.

Words and Command Meaning

Watchfulness joined with prayer is the guard commanded so as not to enter into temptation, and this continual watching and praying gives power to resist Satan and is the only safety. Meditation and prayer keep one from deliberately placing oneself in danger by presuming on divine willingness and power. The warning holds against slipping from the humble, narrow way and abandoning truth even when discouraged by the unholy lives or failures of others. Those engaged in building memorials for the Lord must watch and pray because Satan will not leave them alone. Because the gospel meets temptations, hindrances, and natural and cultivated human tendencies, Christians must guard against selfishness and every form of idolatry. In facing growing opposition to God, God's people need spiritual strength and must heed this call.

Not entering into temptation means taking not the first step in a wrong course, keeping the door closed to Satan, keeping away from situations that draw the mind from duty, and cooperating with God. Putting on the whole armor means each person must cooperate with God in keeping from evil practices by watching unto prayer, and Christ's prayer to keep His people does not remove this human part. Continual watching joined with prayer requires an undivided heart wholly given to God, emptied of self and kept filled with the Holy Spirit rather than left empty and open for Satan to possess. Those ranged under the Prince of Life count Satan as a foe and oppose him as a deadly enemy in God's strength, with no compromise with the powers of darkness, taking the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and perseverance and supplication for all saints. Being tempted and assailed is different from entering and being overcome, which can be avoided and need not end in doing wrong. Temptation may surround a person, but its presence does not make entering inevitable, and yielding can be avoided by heeding the warning, submitting the will to God, and remaining watchful and prayerful even in the company of those who do wrong.

The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak means sincere willingness, desire and good intentions alone are not enough, because human nature remains weak and can fail under trial. Inner desire may be willing while human weakness makes one unable to endure the test without prayer, and this was spoken with sympathy for weakness rather than harsh reproof. The power of the prince of darkness had paralyzed faculties and left them asleep when they should have been watching. Sincere desire toward God can be overpowered even by weariness and bodily tiredness, so that worshippers in a hot, crowded, airless room struggle to stay awake and attentive though their hearts want to listen and obey. Therefore the flesh must be guarded, subdued under God's will, and continually supplied with divine strength.

Prayer must be earnest at the beginning of the day and continually, for strength received today is not enough for tomorrow. Temptations change and new dangers arise, so prayer is a constant Christian necessity. Fervent, persistent prayer brings needed light, grace and strength as food does for the body, keeping evil besetments under and enabling one to carry responsibilities and remain strong in God. As long as a person watches and prays, God's grace can appear in that person. Resisting requires constant, persevering watchfulness and almost unceasing prayer as a daily work necessary for victory over the powers of darkness.

The prayer Lead us not into temptation asks God not to let the person be overcome when temptation comes. Temptation may assail a person without entering it meaning being overcome, yet temptation can strongly influence a person and stir the depravity remaining in an unrenewed nature, where the flesh opposes the Spirit. Jesus knows this weakness of willing spirit and weak flesh, so the weak should trust Him who lives to intercede and can save completely those who come to God through Him, rather than become anxious, since anxiety means doubt and distrust. Prayer gives strength to resist temptation, for Christ supplies what is needed and relieves doubt. When feelings master a person, the answer is not discouragement but to seek God's strength, remain watchful, pray, and try again, continually relying on the Lord by faith because human strength is weak.

Gethsemane Setting and Prayer

Jesus spoke these words in Gethsemane on Passover night after earnest conversation and instruction of the disciples. Never before had they seen Him so utterly sad and silent, and that strange sadness deepened as He proceeded, His form swaying as if about to fall, every step taken with labored effort, groaning aloud as under a terrible burden, so that twice His companions supported Him lest He fall to the earth while they looked anxiously for His usual place of retirement that He might rest. He made His way slowly with them under the broad full Passover moon shining from a cloudless sky while the city of pilgrims' tents was hushed into silence. That garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives beyond the Kedron was His familiar spot for meditation and prayer, made holy by His presence, prayers and tears, where He agonized alone until His blood moistened the ground. The events belong to Matthew 26:36-56, with parallel records in Mark 14:32-50, Luke 22:39-53, and John 18:1-12.

There He bore with a sorrowful heart the guilt of fallen humanity as one numbered with transgressors, under the wrath of God against transgression. His overwhelming sorrow and agony were intensified by feeling shut out from the light of God's sustaining presence and tempted to fear being shut out forever from His Father's love. He apparently hesitated to drink the mysterious cup set before Him, showing the depth and intensity of His suffering for the sins of the world as He faced the bitter cup and trial of bearing them. Remembering the Lord's Supper brings that whole scene of suffering before the mind, including the abuse and pain He endured for humanity. It was temptation and wrestling of awful power that few realize, a fight of impurity against purity, of the prince of darkness against the prince of light. Even while bearing the burden of the cup before Him He woke His sleeping disciples and urged them to watch and pray so they would not enter into temptation.

His surrounding prayer gives the example of prayer amid severe trial and willing submission to the Father's will. He prayed three times for the cup to pass if possible and then yielded, accepting suffering in order to save humanity. His agony was so great that His sweat fell like drops of blood, and an angel strengthened Him as He consented to bear the consequence of human transgression and remained obedient to death on the cross, in contrast to Adam's disobedience. In that awful crisis when everything was at stake the thrice-uttered prayer of the divine-human suppliant was heard when the mysterious cup trembled in His hand. The answer came as the heavens opened with light amid stormy darkness and the mighty angel in God's presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came to His side not to take the cup away but to strengthen Him to drink it with assurance of the Father's love and added power, pointing Him to the open heavens and to souls saved by His sufferings, assuring Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His sacrifice would utterly discomfit Satan, that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High, and that He would see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied in a multitude eternally saved. His habit was to resort to the solitude of the mountains to spend the night in prayer to His Father when preparing for some great trial or important work, with such a night preceding His agony and the judgment hall and the cross and the resurrection glory. Believers' earnest day-and-night pleading in danger with submission to God's will reflects that call to pray and endure trial, since deliverance does not come immediately and they must still drink the cup of suffering.

On that thrice-repeated surrender hung whether the sacrifice ordained before the foundation of the world and foreshadowed in every sacrifice since Adam's transgression would be made. On it hung whether the purpose of the Father and the Son to save a perishing world would stand, whether what angels desired to look into, what prophecy had carried, and what lay at the foundation of types and shadows would be fulfilled, and whether Christ who had already suffered much as Son of Man and substitute would complete the work of redemption when all types and symbols of His suffering and death were to meet fulfillment. On it hung whether Satan and his confederacy of evil would triumph or be overcome, the prey rescued from the mighty, the captives delivered, and obedience to the law proved possible so that all are made more than conquerors through Christ. There He bore the crushing weight of the sins of the whole world unto shameful death on the cross to save guilty man, becoming poor for their sakes so that through His poverty they might be made rich. That conflict He endured and its victory He gained, showing self-denial in bearing the weight of the world's sins. That last terrible trial was passed through in order that sinners might not perish but have eternal life, revealing the love of God and rebuking those who have lost hold on Jesus, who desire to command and not to serve and dishonor God by working at cross-purposes, requiring laying down life for the brethren, cultivating brotherly love and tenderness of heart, repenting of dissension and strife, and coming into unity and Christian fellowship for service.

On the way to the garden that night He gave lessons using the vine to illustrate the union of His church with Himself and the Father. It was a night of great agony and humiliation in Gethsemane beyond the Kedron, where even the disciples dear to His heart reproached and forsook Him when He most needed their sympathy and comfort, leaving reminders of unrequited love all around. He later paused at the same place when leading the eleven through Gethsemane toward the Mount of Olives before His ascension, so they would call those lessons to mind and He could refresh their memory of those truths.

Christ Suffering and Victory

In Gethsemane He bore the sins of the whole world under the most fearful strain ever brought upon a human being, with sweat falling like drops of blood as He prayed repeatedly for the Father's will to be done. He laid off His royal robe and kingly crown and clothed divinity with humanity to live a sinless life in man's behalf and to make atonement on the cross. The sinless Son was treated as a sinner that sinful human beings might be treated as innocent, wounded for transgressions, bruised for iniquities, bearing the chastisement of peace and bringing healing by His stripes, remaining obedient to death on the cross in contrast to Adam's disobedience. His suffering under the crushing weight and the pain of separation from His Father, felt as unable to be endured, made it possible for humanity to grasp divinity and through divine power to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony. He endured that conflict and gained the victory, going on to shameful death on the cross to save guilty man.

In the awful crisis when everything was at stake and the mysterious cup trembled in His hand, He prayed three times as the divine-human suppliant and was heard. The heavens opened with light amid the stormy darkness while unfallen worlds, angels, Satan and evil angels watched for the answer, and the mighty angel who stands in God's presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came to His side. The answer was not to take the cup away but to strengthen Him to drink it with assurance of the Father's love and added power to His divine-human pleading. The angel pointed Him to the open heavens and to the souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings, assuring Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His death would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High, and that He would see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied in a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved.

His agony continued but depression and discouragement left, and He came forth calm and serene with heavenly peace on His blood-stained face, having borne what no human could bear in tasting death sufferings for every man. He gained the victory through self-denial unto shameful death on the cross to save guilty man, showing the way and providing the divine help people need to overcome. He became poor for their sakes so that through His poverty they might be made rich, and the greatness of His suffering exposes how little those for whom the sacrifice was made are willing to suffer for the truth. Watching with Him would fit beholders to understand the sorrow pressing on Him in the garden, to behold His death on Calvary, to remember what He told about suffering and death and rising again, to have rays of hope amid gloom, and to have faith strengthened even when Satan and his angels seem to gain the victory.

The agony in Gethsemane as prelude to the abuse and mockery of the judgment hall and the awful scenes of Calvary teaches courage and fortitude under affliction, with no loud outcries and no abandonment to grief. It teaches self-sacrifice, patience under affliction, solemn dedication to God, and preparation for holy work, and its spirit of watchfulness, prayer, and reliance on Christ is to accompany missionary work among the sick and suffering, with Calvary's saving work as the ground for bringing life into conformity with His will. Christ endured wilderness temptation, Gethsemane, and crucifixion to show the way and bring divine help, so following Him toward eternal life requires conflict, self-denial, and sacrifice rather than following one's own inclinations. This means giving up hope of an earthly kingdom with chief rulers and officers and understanding that He came to suffer and die for the sins of the world and to set up a kingdom of love, peace, and purity in hearts until fitted for heaven, so that watching ones are ready to bear the scorn and mockery falling on Christ and do not leave Him alone in bitter trial, imitating His night of agonizing prayerful watchfulness, devotion, and self-denial.

Disciples Sleep and Failure

Jesus found the disciples asleep when He returned from prayer, singling out Peter who had lately declared he would go with Him to prison and to death, and asked in surprise whether they could not watch with Him one hour. The warning to stay awake and pray so as not to enter temptation was spoken especially to Peter and was repeated, because Jesus feared they could not endure the test coming in His betrayal and death. He questioned their strength to endure witnessing Him bound, insulted, suffering and dying, knowing their individual dangers and what they would feel, yet without stern upbraiding. Even in His own superhuman agony He excused their frailty with pity, tenderness and sympathy rather than harsh reproof, explaining that the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.

He had asked them to watch and pray with Him and came seeking understanding and human sympathy, but found them asleep each time He returned. They were asleep for sorrow, and their sleep showed the weakness of the flesh in the hour of trial when He longed for companionship. His need for companionship shows that love and sympathy are God-given human needs, and His followers should cherish tenderness and compassion for one another.

Their sleep came because the prince of darkness and evil agencies worked a paralyzing stupor upon their faculties to paralyze their senses at the very time they should have been watching. Satan and evil angels caused sleep where love for a suffering Master should have kept them awake, seeking to unsettle them for the trial ahead, and they could have shaken off the stupor by continuing to plead with God. At first they were troubled and prayed as they heard His strong cries and did not intend to forsake Him, but trusting in themselves instead of looking to God, with weariness and loss of sleep overcoming attempts to stay attentive, they fell asleep.

By sleeping instead of sustaining Him with heartfelt prayer at the most critical moment, they left their suffering Master to wrestle with the powers of darkness and agonize alone in lonely prayer with bloody sweat and anguish on His face. He wanted them to stay awake and pray to sustain Him in His trying hour and not fall, and their failure added the heaviest burden to His humiliation and grief. Peter remembered this with bitter remorse when he came back in solitude and darkness and fell prostrate on the very spot where his Lord had sunk beneath His weight of woe with suffering face stained with bloody sweat and convulsed with anguish.

Failing to watch and pray left them unprepared, dependent on feeble human strength, and unready to receive what God wanted to teach about Christ's suffering and the glory to follow. They lost much by it, missing the strength Christ intended to give and lacking alertness to hear Jesus and receive spiritual evidence, power and glory that would have strengthened them, with only a dim sense of angels' presence. Watching and praying with Jesus would have strengthened their faith for the test, enabled them to witness His terrible agony as Satan assailed Him and the angel's soothing message, and helped them understand in some degree the overpowering anguish He endured. It would have fitted them to behold His death on Calvary, to recall what He had told beforehand about His sufferings, death and rising again, to keep rays of hope lighting the darkness and sustain faith when Satan and his angels seemed to gain the victory, and to give Him needed human sympathy that would have relieved and comforted Him.

This prayerless sleep prepared the way for Peter to deny the Lord and for all to forsake Him and flee when betrayed by Judas with a kiss, whereas watching could have kept them secure with angelic aid and victory. Peter relied on his own weakness and denied Jesus, and after denying Him he remembered his failure, was deeply repentant, and was reconverted. His humility and grief fitted him to pity those who are tempted and weak, caution the presumptuous, and strengthen his brethren.

Jesus had prepared them for this severe trial of betrayal, suffering, death and crucifixion through an earlier crisis among His followers that exposed selfish motives, so that those who abandoned Him later would not lead His faithful disciples to abandon Him as well. He stayed with His true followers and strengthened their faith before the final ordeal, lest fear and disappointment overwhelm them when others turned against Him. In the last solemn, momentous hours they heard Him foretell His sufferings and death with hearts heavy with sorrow and minds distracted with doubt and fear, then heard words of comfort and assurance and united with Him in a hymn of praise to the Most High before entering the bloodstained path leading through Gethsemane to the judgment hall and Calvary. James, John and Peter were with Jesus in the garden during that night of agony, and James later understood more fully Jesus' words about sharing His cup and baptism when imprisoned and led to execution.

Need for Constant Vigilance

Watchfulness joined with sober prayer is the only safe course against temptation, for the heart is deceitful, human beings are weak, and the destroyer is constantly intent on their ruin, so the mind and heart must stay alert and sober rather than let the spirit and influence of the world take possession. Every Christian, whatever experience or position, faces the world's attractions, the desires of the carnal nature, and direct temptations, and all need to watch and pray continually and be guided each day by God's Spirit rather than by the adversary. The safeguard of purity must continue as long as life lasts, because until the conflict is ended there will be those who depart from God, and unless kept by divine power the fortifications of the soul are almost imperceptibly weakened as circumstances are shaped against them. At every step inquiry must be made whether the way is the way of the Lord, the affections and passions guarded with firm purpose, spiritual pride, unholy desires, evil thoughts and anything separating from close fellowship with Jesus resisted by living faith, with safety found in recognizing weakness, clinging to Jesus, and relying on His power to resist and overcome. Not one moment is secure except by reliance upon God in the life hidden with Christ, in an age of corruption when even professed servants of God may harbor impure thoughts and desires that dishonor God and bring a curse.

No exalted position, great privileges, intellectual qualities, many years of genuine Christian experience, or past faithful service gives security in the battle with inward sin, outward temptation, and Satan's attacks, for both young and old must watch and pray as the only safety. Even the wise and powerful Solomon was vanquished when his strength should have been firmest, proving that no one, however wise or formerly faithful, can safely trust his own wisdom and integrity. One favored with gifts, influence, or human praise must remain watchful and prayerful against pride and self-importance, for even a willing spirit is vulnerable in human weakness and under flattery and worldly honor, left without faithful counsel, is prone to mistakes and frailty. Keeping the focus on God's glory and the hope of eternal life guards against being overcome, as David's fall likewise warns those greatly blessed not to feel secure or neglect watchfulness and prayer but to distrust their own strength, rely on God alone to keep by His power through faith, and fear to take even the first step onto the tempter's ground.

Every soul is in very great peril because the great adversary watches to seize people when off guard, seeks out weaknesses and besetting sins, darkens minds, and ensnares them so they cease to watch, shaping circumstances to weaken defenses almost imperceptibly. He works through deception to draw people into his snare and come between them and Christ, through disputes over minor matters and other distractions diverting from important spiritual issues especially when God is reviving His people, and through unseen agencies, and he may attack when least expected or when he seems routed. Temptation cannot always be avoided, but yielding to it can be avoided through Jesus' strength, by facing each battle alert, trusting God's living Word, relying on God because the spirit may be willing while human strength is weak, and remaining ready. Victory requires courage, faith, persevering effort, firm resistance to every inclination to sin, and prayer for divine help, yet it is gained only as Christ abides in the believer and the believer abides in Christ, with genuine faith producing obedience and God giving strength to every believing, trusting soul. Christians must therefore watch and pray continually as part of living for God and seeking salvation through personal effort rather than relying on others' experience, lest without vigilance they be taken by the enemy and suffer loss.

Those striving to be overcomers are pursued by temptations to corrupt the principles that must be maintained to reach God's high standard and to follow mistaken ideas until names are blotted out of the book of life. Overcoming comes only as Christ overcame, by wholehearted obedience to every commandment, by surrendering personal plans to follow where Christ leads, by yielding the understanding to Him to cleanse and refine, by intimate acquaintance with Him, and by entering His purpose and doing His will with the whole heart. Watching means striving to live the truth in all its bearings, barricading principles, acting circumspectly, staying on guard and praying so as not to enter Satan's snares or dishonor the Lord in any way, for Satan presents temptations in every possible line. Those willing to be kept and staying on guard are kept by the Lord in soul and body and spirit, with holy angels charged as keepers close beside them, equipped with righteousness and ready to serve as co-laborers and soldiers rather than slipping from the humble narrow way and abandoning truth when others' unholy lives discourage. This calls for loyalty to God, belief in the truth, continued growth in grace and in knowledge of Jesus Christ, and humble spiritual alertness rather than reliance on worldly success or influence, especially for those connected with God's work whom Satan watches for advantage.

When watchfulness and prayer cease the heart is left unguarded and open to sin, and neglecting secret prayer opens the way to neglect of other religious duties and to further sin. The change from purity to corruption is a gradual descent, where repeated exposure and attention to evil can make sin once loathed and hated seem pleasant, debasing the mind and requiring continual effort and God's grace to resist the carnal mind, draw the mind upward, and train it to dwell on pure and holy things. Without continual prayer and diligent watching people can grow careless and gradually leave the right path while imagining they are spiritually well, whereas prayer gives access to grace and power to resist temptation. Taking the warning to heart makes worship more intelligent and guards against irreverence, for watchfulness and prayer guard against falling into temptation including irreverent behavior, and neglect leads people to use long public prayers to revisit neglected duties and seek relief for guilty consciences rather than to pray faithfully.

The disciples' sleep when they should have been watching represents a sleeping church that when it should be watchful is asleep. Their drowsiness kept them from receiving divine instruction, spiritual strength, and evidence that would have strengthened them for the trials ahead, warning that people who most need God's guidance may fail to receive it when spiritually drowsy and out of communication with Heaven. On the night of agony messages were being sent to those listening for His voice, but the sleeping disciples did not hear, having only a dim sense of angels' presence and losing the power and glory of the scene. The same loss happens today when communion with God is broken and defense is departed, so that good purposes and good intentions cannot withstand evil, souls are left unguarded in places of temptation where one failure to overcome and one unresisted habit can fix destiny, and worldliness, love of gain, and engrossing cares cloud judgment while earnest effort for eternal life cannot be delayed. Believers must awaken and live as believing Christians, for prayer is a necessity because dangers beset every path, especially for those in constant contact with evil while seeking to rescue others lest they themselves be corrupted.

There are decisive moments in the conflict with satanic agencies that determine victory either for God or for the prince of this world, and only those wide awake, earnest, vigilant, praying for wisdom and making God their dependence every moment will not enter into temptation and give the evil powers no advantage. When the command is unheeded through passion for amusements carried to extremes as the world carries them, Satan comes off victor when he might have been vanquished at every point, the glorious light grows dim, God's purpose to place His people on vantage ground as successful laborers together with Him is turned aside, and His name and power are dishonored before the world, before angels and men. None are safe without this constant watchfulness and prayer, whether minister, teacher, pupil, or worker in any line, and the unbelieving worldly element must never be allowed to mold the order of things in God's institutions.

God's keeping power is available from the source of all spiritual strength, and the Lord will sustain those who faithfully do their part. Watching and praying keep temptation and evil besetments under control, earnest persistent prayer brings strength from God, and as long as a person watches and prays God's grace appears in the believer. Continued watchfulness brings victory, for God keeps the believer by His power, yet this requires recognizing weakness and relying on God's strength rather than own wisdom or power, without which even those who begin well and intend to serve faithfully can be overcome. Human nature remains human nature but is elevated and ennobled by union with the divine, and by partaking of the divine nature men and women escape the corruption in the world through lust. When truth abides in the heart and is stamped on the soul by the Holy Spirit rather than kept in the outer court, daily experience reveals the controlling power of Christ's grace, and the watchful life reaches for higher attainments, confesses every sin, stays constantly on guard, never stands still or turns back, but ever presses on to the mark of the high calling of God in Christ.

Staying spiritually awake and prayerful so as not to fall into temptation is still binding today, especially in the perils of the last days. It requires studying the parts of Scripture about the last days, discerning the signs of the times rather than criticizing others, guarding the heart to avoid shipwreck of faith, examining personal weak points, remaining humble and distrustful of self, asking God for grace and wisdom and for faith that works by love and purifies, casting away all self-confidence, refusing to stand aloof but uniting with brethren in seeking the Lord and heeding counsel. Neglecting alert prayer in days of peril brings grave danger of being strengthened in one's own way, following one's own impulses, refusing divine admonition, and yielding without resistance to plots, while self-confidence produces lack of watchfulness, perplexity, and unauthorized work. Those who walk humbly and distrust their own wisdom recognize their danger and know God's keeping care, as little children drawing near to a Father who preserves them from assault, claims them as His own, and gives victory; those who do not watch from presumption and willful ignorance of devices will pay with the loss of their souls.

Practicing Watchfulness With Prayer

Watching means keeping the Lord always before the mind with earnest, persevering, constant petitions rather than faint, occasional and fitful ones, seeking Him daily with full purpose of heart morning, noon and night, keeping God first and best and last in everything and keeping the mind fixed on Him in continual dependence. It is cultivated as the habit of talking with the Saviour when alone, when walking and when busy with daily labor, with the heart continually uplifted in silent petition for help, for light, for strength and for knowledge until every breath is a prayer. In this way Christ in the heart and Christ in the life keeps the worker safe and unstained amid daily temptation and constant contact with evil, while breaking communion leaves good purposes and good intentions unable to withstand evil. The mind is to dwell upon the Word of God to understand His requirements, serving the Lord with full purpose of heart and becoming His in heart and mind, moving onward in the direction of light, lifting the cross and bearing the yoke. All who come for counsel in humility and cling with assurance to the promise receive the very help they need, and making Him the only trust while working in all humility of mind brings His presence, help, strength and blessing so great things are done in His strength. Such watchfulness makes a person strong in God to battle every wrong and stand free in His grace with lowliness and meekness, divested of self, with Jesus taking possession of the soul and developed in life and character, while negligence idles away the Holy Spirit's influence and love of amusements, strivings for mastery, games and plays pervert rich grace and let Satan step in to play the game of life for the soul with specious reasonings and deep-laid plots.

Prayer must be joined with watchfulness afterward, for fervent prayers bring no return if a person does not keep watch. This requires close, constant and persevering oversight of self, guarding against old habits of selfishness and sin returning even after they have been overcome many times, and giving the devil no room through faultfinding, censure, impatience or sinful speech. The life must agree with the prayer, for cherishing pride of spirit while praying for humility, eagerly seeking friendship and applause of the world while praying for heavenly affections, and indulging passionate temper and un-Christlike wounding words while asking for meekness is not watching unto prayer. The secret of unanswered prayer is lack of faith which works by love and purifies the soul, when fasting and prayer are joined with finding pleasure, exacting labor, strife and debate, smiting with the fist of wickedness and cruel words that bruise souls. Purifying the soul daily by praying and watching unto prayer works out salvation and adds Christian graces to character, while failing leaves a person lacking, blind and unable to see afar off, forgetting cleansing from old sins, making a new record of sin and drifting with worldliness; and carefully watching one's own spirit with prayer joined to work makes one wiser, better and stronger after mistakes, whether in common daily duties done in faithfulness, simplicity, cheerfulness and patience or as a watchman upon the walls of Zion.

Committing the soul to God in prayer must be followed by conduct consistent with that prayer, resisting the first inclination to do wrong, asking Jesus for help and protection from evil, and doing what pleases Him in cooperation with Him. Watching and praying includes fighting against pride, self-exaltation, jealousy, evil thinking and evil speaking, and earnest, patient effort to overcome evil in character proves the sincerity of prayer and cannot be done by another. Each one must examine himself to learn where most vulnerable and where temptation is most likely to attack, recognizing past errors and relying on God's strength without discouragement, so that weak points guarded by watchfulness and prayer become strong and temptation need not overcome.

Watching, praying, working and waiting belong together as the constant motto, with work joined to watching and praying without loading oneself so heavily as to become weak, studying from cause to effect, heeding counsel, living diligently under the Holy Spirit's guidance and adding daily to Christian experience. Attention is to be fixed on God's glory in the sight of heaven, feeding on the bread of life and heeding God's Word which sustains spiritual life moment by moment, advancing by faith and trading entrusted talents with an eye single to His glory. The call is not to be an idler but to enter the Master's service and take hold of the work called to, seeking help from God and trusting His wisdom, with prayer as safeguard so as not to enter temptation.

As he does this the Lord in love strengthens and blesses him with the help of heavenly angels, and in Christ's strength difficulties, enemies and responsibilities become occasions to gain experience, put enemies to flight and faithfully discharge duties, learning by experience that the Saviour is a present help in every time of need. This requires believing, hoping, praying and watching with all diligence before and behind and on every side, working earnestly and intelligently while wrestling with God in prayer, relying on His power and free grace in demanding work. The important position for God is guarded by permitting nothing harmful to find entrance and allowing no human notions or outside influences to be brought in, held by praying and working and working and praying.

A Christian facing temptation must watch and pray while looking to Jesus for strength to resist the enemy, searching the Scriptures till their truths come into clearer view, seeing Christ's purity and recognizing his own helplessness and lack of goodness. Though temptation may bring discouragement and doubts about acceptance, he must trust God's word and promises and humble reliance on the Lord's leading and the living Word. Prayer fortifies weak souls for self and others, brings God's blessing, guidance, strength and victory over temptation, and is practiced in daily home life through morning and evening prayers of praise and faith and in meeting together in prayer so others may be kept from yielding.

Obeying the injunction brings an undercurrent of happiness that blesses others and changes sour, cross or proud dispositions into sweet, gentle, meek and lowly ones. As believers earnestly watch and pray they increase in faith, hope and patience and are more closely formed in Christ's image.

Taking watching and praying into life makes worship more thoughtful and spiritually intelligent and guards against irreverence, carelessness and falling into temptation in worship. Neglecting secret prayer and watchfulness opens the way to neglect of other religious duties and further sin, for without continual prayer and diligent watching people grow careless and gradually leave the right path while imagining they are well, though prayer gives access to grace and power to resist the world's attractions, carnal desires and direct temptations. Neglect can lead people to use long public prayers to revisit neglected duties, recount failures, seek relief for guilty consciences or quiet guilt, but prayer cannot earn God's favor and such prayers can draw others into spiritual darkness.

Watchfulness and much prayer safeguard spiritual peace and are necessary for safety amid unseen dangers, resisting deception and evil influences including associates who may lead away from right principles and imperil the soul. This means great care in choice of associates lest instead of leading them one is led into evil, doing nothing to lower religious principles or hurt faith or mar souls of workers, guarding souls under charge as those who must give account, with clean hands, pure heart and noble purpose. It calls for decided and prompt reformation where work is done at once and not left till last, resisting spiritual pride, unholy desires, evil thoughts and anything separating from close fellowship with Jesus through living faith, living near Jesus to form a purer, holier character, and guarding eyes and ears from evil especially amid dangerous influences.

Christ's followers should watch and pray with one heart, putting away differences, envy and malice, and waiting patiently and hopefully for God to answer as the praying, watching disciples at Pentecost show in united dependence. Watchfulness and prayer must be combined with persevering effort to keep rank and file unbroken in unity and order, for danger may be greatest when people fancy themselves secure, since Satan works through unseen agencies and unsuspected persons and when seeming routed is only preparing another attack to discomfit and repulse. Self-will, impulse, suspicion and disunion can make people instruments of Satan, so true soldiers where truth and error collide empty the soul temple of defilement, hold the fort so nothing enters the heart to discourage others, join together to pray for workers for truth with each feeling responsible for success, and stand serving, loving and glorifying the Lord to make burden-bearers glad. Trusting in the Lord and waiting patiently without discouragement, humbled under His mighty hand with Him as helper and frontguard and rearward, and joining work and waiting to watching and praying with careful words that give Satan no handle, leaves the enemy no advantage and God will not let him overcome those who so watch.

Staying alert in prayer when tempted rather than trusting self brings divine aid, for the work cannot be done in human strength, and praying in temptation brings Jesus to lift up a standard against the enemy so believers go from strength to strength and become living channels of light. A watching, praying, believing soul will not be ensnared by devices of the enemy, and meeting coming trials, temptations and duties with great faith and perseverance brings glorious triumph because all heaven is interested in human welfare and waits to supply wisdom and strength when asked. Keeping the verse requires earnestness, humility, distrust of self, circumspect conduct, implicit trust in Jesus, continual fellowship with God and refusing hard feelings against anyone, and those who so watch unto prayer are given the crown of life.

Waiting, watching, trusting God's Word and praying means abiding at one's post through seeming cross-providences, pressure over means and unbelief that manufactures walls of difficulty, keeping one's place and plans when nothing more can be done. It means not moving hastily but waiting for clear light on what to do, with the comfort of the Spirit and assurance that His hand is upon the wheel to turn the vessel as He pleases, resisting haste and seeking God's direction rather than letting the enemy gain advantage through premature action. When perplexed over things coming before God's people, letting God's words go forth even when His purpose cannot immediately be discerned brings providence and revelation to guide through perplexities so workers do not fail nor become discouraged. The same watching prayer asks the Lord to direct practical work so decisions about securing property and spending means are made wisely and gradually without heavy debt, past unwise moves are not repeated, and discouragement does not cause inaction, including in financial crisis seeking guidance about what to do while working with good courage and faith that God will work to secure what He wants and help obtain means.

Prophecy Readiness and Return

The agony in the garden is the pattern for God's people in the time of trouble, when they will pour out the soul and cry and agonize day and night for deliverance while refusing to violate the Sabbath. They will face a death decree for refusing to disregard the fourth commandment and honor the first day, and though enemies seem to have them trapped, God will preserve and deliver them. Their escape is delayed because they must first drink the cup and undergo the appointed trial as Jesus did, submitting to God's will while pleading persistently for deliverance, with prayer and submission sustaining them through it.

In view of Christ's coming believers must not grow careless because time is extended, since the extra time is mercy for overcoming defects of character and helping others prepare, with every moment mattering in obeying truth and seeking holiness so as to be ready when He appears. Readiness requires staying alert and prayerful, imitating Christ's character, seeking the Holy Spirit to do thorough work in fitting character for heaven, moving carefully, refusing discouragement, and doing everything in meekness with the gentleness of Jesus. It means watching and praying continually now more than ever because the Lord is soon to come and the end of all things is at hand, with wide-awake watchmen who see eye to eye and solemnity upon all while humanity stands as obedient and disobedient with hope only in God through loving obedience to Jesus. Daily watching and praying joined with trust and true living faith moves forward step by step without failing, fighting the good fight of faith, pressing the battle to the gates, refusing Satan any advantage, and gaining victory through earnest effort unto overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony and laying up indestructible treasure and striving for a crown of life with good courage unto greeting the Lord with joy at His soon coming. Moving forward step by step in God's name and glorifying Him while trusting God alone to give success whether there be many or few lets truth triumph and bear away the victory when the Sabbath question is brought home closely and brings the test and decisions, and earnest seeking joined with watchfulness, prayer and praise gives a precious experience and guards against loss through neglect.

Messengers of unpopular truth must arm themselves with watchfulness and prayer to meet determined resistance as the apostles met, expecting no more favorable reception from a large majority of professed Christians than Paul received from his Jewish brethren. They stand against a union of diverse opposing organizations united in trampling the fourth commandment and against those who refuse truth themselves yet are zealous that others not receive it and manufacture falsehoods and stir up base passions to make truth of none effect. They move forward with faith, firmness and courage in the name of Jesus and keep at their work as the apostles did by sounding the note of warning to the world, teaching transgressors of the law what sin is, and pointing them to Jesus Christ as its great and only remedy, while ministers and evangelists work, watch and pray as they address the Sunday movement and church members humble themselves before God as laborers together with Him.

The command belongs with calls to stay alert and pray because the end is near, to avoid being caught unprepared by the cares of life, and to be ready to escape coming events and stand before the Son of man. Watching and praying means being sober and watching unto prayer because the end of all things is at hand, taking heed and watching because the time is not known, taking heed lest hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life so that day come unawares as a snare on all on earth, and watching and praying always to be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of man.

Followers of Christ must not sleep but watch and pray as sentinels upon the walls of Zion, and this watching and praying keeps the church awake and brings light to comprehend and appreciate the movements of the enemy. Joined with the endowment of the Holy Spirit and heavenly wisdom it enables meeting the emergencies of this age and counteracting as far as possible the movements of this world, and it is urgent now because peculiar and rapid changes will soon take place and it is no time for the watchman to become sleepy and cease his watch. As stewards left in charge by their absent Lord who has returned to heaven, believers must watch and wait and prepare for His coming and be faithful to their trust lest coming suddenly He find them sleeping, guarding not only against glaring dangers and inconsistent moves but keeping close to Christ in self-denial and self-sacrifice with continual watchfulness unto prayer. This is needed because they live in an enemy's country where the one cast out of heaven has come down with great power seeking with every artifice to take souls captive through worldly entanglements, error, superstition, hidden artifices and unexpected attacks that can be detected and withstood only by the grace of Christ and His Spirit, including manifold hidden enemies who come with smooth words and fair speeches to deceive if possible the very elect and at other times open attack as a roaring lion, while man's will unless kept in subjection to God's will is as often on the enemy's side as on the Lord's side.

Vigilant watching and prayer together with thorough, faithful work are called for as events grow in importance near the close of earth's history, with the human agent to strive for perfection and completeness in Jesus Christ. Earnest continual watchfulness and prayer are most needed now because every conceivable deception will be brought against those without a daily, living connection with God, when Satan brings in deceptive influences of every kind including seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Satan's angels will create what is claimed as advanced light, new and wonderful, which in some respects may be truth but is mingled with human inventions and teaches for doctrine the commandments of men, and many apparently good things must be carefully considered with much prayer because they are specious devices leading in a path lying so close to the path of truth as to be scarcely distinguishable. The eye of faith may discern its almost imperceptible divergence from the right path, which at first may be thought positively right but after a while is seen to be widely divergent from the way that leads to holiness and heaven, so the warning calls for making straight paths for the feet lest the lame be turned out of the way, refusing a worldly mold, holding the beginning of confidence firm unto the end, heeding the warnings of the Word as appropriate for this time, seeking reconversion, and constantly increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might unto patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.

Watching and praying lest temptation be entered calls for the personal salvation all must have who enter the kingdom of heaven, proved by striving to enter in at the strait gate. Many will seek to enter in and shall not be able once the master has shut the door, and in the great day of God those left without knocking Lord, Lord, open unto us will be answered I know not whence you are, depart from Me.

Daily Life Applications

Parents must watch and pray for their children, guarding them against temptations they may not recognize and helping them overcome through wise, loving instruction. Fathers and mothers are to lay aside severity and kneel before the Lord with hearts softened by grace, being converted to receive the earnest of the Holy Spirit. They are to give heart and mind and soul to God's service and consecrate themselves with their children to God to work for souls Christ died to save, joining prayer with faith to exert a positive influence for good. In trial they must cultivate piety, meekness and lowliness of heart to preserve integrity, trusting the Lord will help in every emergency as laborers together with God and bring them forth pure as gold.

Young people amid last-day perils need ever-increasing watchfulness and prayer together with reading God's word for refreshment. Absorbing, excessive study and ambition for learning, status and human distinction must not overburden the mind, crush desire for godliness, crowd out prayer and confidence in God, weaken spiritual life, and lead away from the path God has marked out and to sacrifice truth. Advice from fellow believers can mislead when minds are not guided by the Holy Spirit, so vigilance keeps God's will central. Unwise attachments and poor marriages that turn attention from Jesus make the young vulnerable to Satan's enticements, when self-interest and carnal reasoning overcome sound judgment and duties of Christian life seem too burdensome, so the soul must be faithfully guarded in submission to God's will. Dangerous associates and youthful desires must not crowd out godliness, for good intentions alone are not enough when human weakness makes a person vulnerable.

A child must watch and pray so as not to enter into temptation by setting regular times for prayer, guarding himself, and thinking before speaking or acting to avoid choices later regretted. He cannot keep himself by his own strength but must trust God and pray for help, turning to Jesus when tempted to speak impatiently and remembering his prayers in life. As long as he watches and prays he can retain victory over wrong and sinful habits by joining vigilance with strong personal effort, since Satan works to overcome those who seek to love and serve Jesus. Neglecting prayer and Scripture for play shows little love for holy things. The willing spirit does not remove need for Jesus' special help, for people are weak when relying on their own strength.

Family members face daily trials and irritations, and living patiently, lovingly and cheerfully requires constant vigilance and help from God. Staying on guard in alert prayerfulness means counting the cost and paying it by strenuous effort, spiritually exercising every power and crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts. It requires heeding every word of counsel and refusing indifference and carelessness in words and actions, lessons to be taught in the family circle. The Christian home practices this through morning and evening prayers of praise and faith by which earnest prayer brings God's blessing, guidance and victory over temptation. Those in homes and schools, especially youth, must be brought up watchful and prayerful so they do not work counter to God, through intelligent firm kind training that forbids frivolity and selfish schemes without harmful scolding, welcoming Jesus into home and school, in view of the Lord's coming and hope of a home in the kingdom of glory, fighting the good fight of faith unto death to receive the crown of life.

Workers, ministers, physicians, teachers and all connected with schools, publishing houses, sanitariums and memorial building must watch and pray, for Satan will not leave them alone and no position or influence places anyone above temptation. They need a living connection with Heaven, daily searching Scriptures, guarding word and deed, making time to commune with Jesus rather than relying on limited strength, lest they fall under deceptive arts or lead others astray. Those exposed to unbelievers are to remain prayerful and guard integrity while staying loyal to Christ, doing all possible to win souls with constant watchfulness to remain faithful unto death. Those set as guides and in responsibility must earnestly seek the Lord, keep the mind from absorption in commercial pursuits and strife for business victory, learn to distinguish sacred from common, honor position by determined likeness to Christ whose life proves even strongest temptations excuse no yielding to sin, and avoid danger from neglecting Bible study. They are to train themselves to follow Christ rather than take the lead their own way, for Satan seeks to overcome them but the Lord is stronger than Satan and evil angels, and walking in Christ's steps and surrendering to Him brings relief from confusion, strength and help.

Watching and praying guards speech and conduct, for one inclined to harshness must watch carefully and pray because rash words and actions harm others and undermine helping the tempted, requiring dependence on God rather than natural character. It means guarding speech against cheap, unguarded talk, faultfinding, censure, impatience and false witness against brother or sister, subduing desires and personal will to live controlled by God's will in submission to His Spirit. Words and deeds must continue to confess Christ, governed by wisdom and purity, for words can honor or insult Him. Carelessness or disrespect toward those in authority spreads like leaven and affects others' welfare, so God's word is to be used rather than harmful speech, honoring fellow workers and speaking kindly and peacefully to preserve unity and peace. When anger rises like a boiling caldron, prayer and singing psalms drive the devil away and sweeten the spirit through Christ's love, and the wrongdoer is to be approached kindly and lovingly rather than talked against.

Resisting unholy desires requires using the means God provides and unwearied prayer for the Holy Spirit's help and Christ's imparted strength to wrestle with and mortify passions heaven's light shows must be overcome. Temptations may surround but need not overcome if the first step into them is not taken, by avoiding people and situations that draw the mind from God and duty, submitting the will to God, and remaining watchful even among wrongdoers. Children are to keep away from people known to be evil rather than place themselves in their company. Sanctified reason must rule the divinely appointed appetites so they minister to happiness as holiness to the Lord, instead of pure inclinations being perverted by indulgence into fleshly lusts warring against the soul. Unless one watches unto prayer he gives loose rein to habits that should be overcome, and abused inclinations become Satan's means to conquer through natural appetites and cause backsliding, for the warfare with powers of darkness within and without is hand to hand with numerous, deceiving, perilous, not always discerned temptations requiring the whole armor and ceaseless vigilance.

Vigilance is needed against conforming to the world and separating affections from God, letting nothing draw the mind away but praying earnestly and faithfully until victory is gained. Careful watching and praying arms against temptation and keeps living real godliness in daily duties and family life instead of cold dead profession keeping form while losing reality, grasping the shadow and losing the substance. This probationary time tests every character through entrusted goods, guarding against riches becoming master, serving mammon, giving Satan supremacy, and the deceitfulness of riches conquering the soul to its loss. It warns against withholding means and devising ambitious selfish projects consuming resources needed elsewhere. Those professing sanctifying truth with heavy responsibilities must not surrender without thought to engrossing cares but continually ask if it is the Lord's way, retaining vital godliness, conquering with highest-standard religion, preventing love waxing cold amid abounding iniquity, avoiding becoming religious wrecks, gaining more of heaven and less of earthliness, and guarding against making gold a god. Lawful activities like business carried to excess, with overeating and drinking, pervert the whole person and shut the mind against eternal concerns.

In dealings with others temptations from selfishness and covetousness come continually and must be continually resisted through God's grace. Christians must not exploit fellow workers or use position to disadvantage others but act by pure Christlike principles showing heaven's principles through consistent conduct. Even those in authority can be tempted to injure others by relying on human plans instead of God's counsel, so studying Scripture and depending on God guides dealings with believers and unbelievers. No matter how others treat him, one must harbor no wrong thought nor do wrong action, for mistreatment cannot compel it, and daily decisions in such trials decide destiny before angels whether to enjoy saints in light or have heaven's gates closed. Obeying means valuing truth's honor above reputation, leaving reputation in God's hands, manifesting zeal for God's cause, and resisting retaliation and controversy when others fail to show Christ's spirit, recognizing willingness of spirit with weakness of flesh.

Watchfulness and prayer keep from entering temptation by refusing to presume on God's willingness and power through deliberately placing oneself in danger, with meditation and prayer helping avoid such situations. They require refusing to interpret Scripture by private ideas and build on sliding sand where strong temptations take hold. Satan zealously carries on today as with Adam and Eve, suggesting God defrauded rich blessings, honor and exaltation by forbidding the fruit, and those not watching unto prayer will be conquered as they fell by listening and accepting his suggestions. They guard against being led into byways and forbidden paths by blind leaders, requiring truth and Christ enthroned in the heart, death to self, and obedience in light of eternity, for even those who once knew truth can become waterless clouds and twice-dead fruitless trees, so warnings against backsliding should make each soul greatly afraid, since resisting appeals, choosing one's own way and leading others step by step in false paths is charged as sin. They resist pleasure's pull when it draws from duty and violates conscience, for faithfulness to God and conscience requires vigilance. In all labor to bring everlasting life to perishing souls, watching prevents becoming messengers of Satan through subtle insinuations received as heavenly truths that captivate to partake of forbidden fruit.

The presence of Jesus safeguards from Satan's advances and drives him away, for watchful prayer is the only safety against devices leading into increasingly grave evil. Prayer calls away from care to make wants known at the Father's throne, bringing relief in distress and grief and escape from the tempter's snare. In perplexing situations trust and counsel-seeking from God are required rather than turning to familiar spirits or those consulting them. The Redeemer promises to guide and clothe with righteousness those who loathe sin and are cleansed from evil through the Lamb's blood. Without dependence for help and strength people go astray, while sincere prayer turns toward a better course and keeps influence from leading others into wrong.

Neglecting prayer, witness and meetings weakens moral and spiritual strength, hinders growth, weakens faith and separates from the source of strength, for Satan seeks to stop watching, praying and meeting attendance to open to his influence and displeasing acts. Secret prayer and watchfulness are needed when temptation comes, for strength to conquer and endure comes from God and without them there is no power to resist. Growth comes through lifetime sanctification of prayer, Scripture searching and day-by-day overcoming, becoming strong to bless others. Earnest effort examines motives, feelings and actions before Father, Christ and angels, avoids frivolity, keeps continual watch, purifies the soul daily and adds Christian graces, while failure leaves lack, blindness, forgetfulness of cleansing from old sins, new record of sin and drift with worldliness.

Neglecting the plain duty to watch and pray means not making God counselor and dependence but becoming self-sufficient in own imagination of wisdom, strength and knowledge. That causes failure to improve entrusted talents or improving them carelessly, disqualifying for action and useful God-given work, with responsibility for good that might have been done and souls lost through unfaithfulness, grieving God's Spirit, and accountability for evil through conscious or unconscious influence. By unfaithfulness one prepares for the second death unless wrong is seen, confessed and turned to warning others, for excuses do not release from God-given work as steward and watchman, and without repentance toward God and faith toward Christ he will perish with neglected faithful work and lost souls charged to his account. Watching unto prayer prevents weakness marring the record, and past moral failures burdening teachers and others need not have happened if obeyed. Failure comes when the heart is not given to God and serving Him is not daily work, allowing self under enemy power and control, as in taking on more sanitarium work than can be carried.

People enter temptation and disobedience imperceptibly, often with only feeble resistance or none, bringing dishonor to God and revealing consequences of turning from His law of love, in contrast between Eden's disobedience and Gethsemane's obedience. Satan suggests God defrauded blessings to lead to forbidden fruit, and those not watching will be conquered as Adam and Eve were. His warnings come down through ages to present labor for perishing souls, for he still presents originated insinuations, finds minds open to craftiness, exerts deceptive power so suggestions are received as heavenly truths, and wherever opportunity offers works with deceit to captivate and lead to partake.

The betrayal, trial and crucifixion picture how doubt, hostility, bitterness, wrath and hatred take hold when open to temptation, showing destructive power in human hearts. The same satanic spirit that moved against Jesus works in those letting doubt and bitterness control them to turn against bearers of God's message.

Forgetting vigilance leaves vulnerability to deception and sexual sin and impurity, especially for physicians who need God's grace to resist and become examples of piety and purity. One whose conduct with young women is a snare needs self-restraint, guidance, recognition of need to be managed and taught, and withdrawal with family from institutional responsibilities until understood. Deep humiliation and repentance before God can be accepted, and Christ's blood can wash away these sins.

Guarding the heart requires watchfulness and earnest secret prayer, which is the Christian's strength, for without constant vigilance none can live and flourish in the Lord. When the young stop watching, Satan can control them and turn affections from heavenly things to unworthy objects. Natural affections and tendencies can draw away and put human beings where God should be, so happiness is imperiled unless one watches, prays, trusts God and cherishes faith working by love to purify the soul.

Staying spiritually alert in prayer is needed because otherwise temptation overcomes despite willing spirit and weak flesh, and disorder and untidiness can foster forgetfulness of God leaving only outward form. Careful watching and praying arms against temptation and keeps living real godliness in daily duties and family life instead of grasping shadow and losing reality. This vigilance guards spiritual life and faith against worldly coldness drawing away from heaven-given life.

Watchfulness, prayer and heed to warnings require staying watchful so as not to fall when temptation comes, as sons and daughters receiving Christ, delighting in the Lord's law, meditating day and night, calling for mercy, trusting, and directing prayer morning by morning. Constant watchfulness gives Satan no advantage, for temptations pursue overcomers to corrupt principles needed for God's high standard and follow mistaken ideas till names are blotted from life's book, and overcoming comes only as Christ overcame by wholehearted obedience, surrendered plans, understanding yielded to cleansing, intimate acquaintance, entering His purpose and doing His will with whole heart. Human nature remains human nature but is elevated by union with the divine, escaping worldly corruption through lust by partaking of divine nature, with truth stamped by the Holy Spirit, Christ's grace controlling, every sin confessed, and pressing toward the high calling. Watching means striving to live truth in all bearings, barricading principles, acting circumspectly amid temptations in every line, and those willing to be kept are kept in soul body spirit with holy angels charged as keepers close beside them. Religion must not be laid off outside meetings like an overcoat but the channel of the Sun of Righteousness kept continually, for temptations surround as long as life lasts as Satan tries one way then another. God's keeping power from the source of spiritual strength sustains those faithfully doing their part.