Danger

Have you ever seen a sign which read “Danger keep out?”  These signs not only warn us but are also there to keep us safe; if we disobey the signs there is a good possibility that we could get badly hurt or even death.  What about the dangers in our spiritually life? I am speaking of the areas in our lives where we are the weakest; the weak areas are different for all of us; but we should all know where we are the most vulnerable. If we don’t keep our guard up and pay attention we will find ourselves in those dangerous places and we will stumble. Remember Peter on the last night he and the rest of Jesus disciples would be together before Jesus would go to the cross? Jesus tells Peter that he would deny Him three times.

Matthew 26:34  Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

Peter doesn’t believe what Jesus is telling him; instead of taking the warning that there was danger ahead, he has another answer. 

Matthew 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Jesus takes all His disciples to Gethsemane and asked them to sit there while He went to pray. He then takes Peter, James and John and told them that His heart was exceeding sorrowful and asked them to watch with Him. A simple request especially for a man who had said he would die with Him earlier. But what happens? Peter actions were much different than what Peter had said.  

Matthew 26:40  And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

Matthew 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. What? We find this man Peter; the one that would die with the Lord Jesus doing what? Sleeping! Oh my, what happened? Did Peter enter into temptation? I guess he did; I am sure he will not let it happen again; I mean after Jesus said what He said “Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? “ Now I am sure everything is back on track now; wait what’s this Matthew 26:43  And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

That’s twice and if you keep reading you will find it happens again; three times total. Later that night we find Peter standing around a campfire and he began to do things that were not like him. He first finds himself in a place and with people that made it easier for him to fail. He then forgets who Jesus is or at least that is what he said.

Matthew 26:72  And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. Then his vocabulary changed and he spoke words that were not common to his speech.  

Matthew 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, Here’s what happened, he got over confidence in himself and before he knew it he is in real trouble or danger. What can we learn from this? Never say to ourselves I am done with that you will never catch me doing that again. Because when we fail to believe what God’s word tells us and fail to put trust in it, it will not be long before we too are standing in places we should not be and speaking words we shouldn’t. We can all fail, but there are time when we are more vulnerable. I want you to remember the word “HALT” we need to HALT when we are hungry, angry, lonely and tried for those are the times we become more capable of failing and doing the things we thought we would never do again…Peter must have been tried he couldn’t stay awake so therefore he falls into temptation and finds himself in a dangerous place. Watch out this week and don’t fall into temptation. Get plenty to eat, don’t let yourself get angry, tell your mate that you love them so you want get lonely and get plenty of sleep so you want be tried. Just Halt!