Prayer

Temptation Prayers: Communicate with God.

The night before Jesus gave His life for us by dying on the cross, He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus took along His closest disciples—Peter, James and John—and asked them to pray. Jesus knew everything that was about to happen. He wanted to be ready, and He wanted them to be ready, too! 

Read Matthew 26:40–41:

Jesus said to watch and pray! That means to be alert and on guard for the tricks and schemes of the devil. It means to acknowledge our weaknesses and ask for help to strengthen our spirit. Jesus’ closest friends must have had a strong desire to stay awake and pray with Him, but in their human weakness, they failed.

Like them, we want to do the right thing, but we are humanly weak. So let’s close our eyes and bow our heads. Think of some things that you are tempted by; something you struggle with—maybe you feel pressure from your friends to do things you know are wrong. Silently tell Jesus about these things and ask for His strength to overcome them. He will give us the power to follow Him and obey God’s Word! Allow children to pray silently.    

Pray: Dear Jesus, You suffered and were tempted, yet You defeated the devil and lived in this world without sin. We praise You that You are now standing ready to help us when we cry out to You. Help us to rely on Your strength instead of our own. You know what each day holds for us. Help us to listen to Your Holy Spirit speaking in our hearts, showing us what is right and wrong, and guiding us about what to do and what not to do. Fill us with Your power to stand against temptation, and give us Your wisdom to know when we should run away from temptation. We thank You that we have the victory in Jesus’ name! Amen.