Matthew 26:41
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

The flesh is weak.  Our human bodies are weak.  Our human nature is weak.  Found within us is something that has the tendency to give in to temptation, to go astray, to fall into sin, to do the wrong thing.  It is often a losing battle, something we struggle to control by our own will, because the spirit is willing but not strong enough to overcome the flesh.  We need God’s help to avoid temptation, to make right choices, to subdue the flesh so we can do what we should do.

Prayer is a powerful resource that we are too often willing to do without.  But a hallmark of those in Scripture closest to God was a strong attention to prayer.  They communed often with God and took it seriously.  It wasn’t a passive thing, but an active endeavor.  They went to God with everything.  And they were people prone to weakness just like us.

Jesus is always our greatest example, and He spent much time in prayer.  He was probably tired, too, that night in the garden, but He fought off that desire for sleep in order to talk to God.  He agonized over what He was about to face, but He did so in the presence of His Father.  He prays about it once and then again and then again.  Within Jesus, as both God and man, were those limits of being human that we all contend with, but He knew it was important to pray.

Even at this moment, in the midst of His own struggle, Jesus takes time to teach His disciples an important lesson.  It seemed at this moment they failed to understand the significance of what He was trying to say.  But may we take that lesson to heart.  May we recognize the importance of prayer and the power of prayer and take time for it, make it a priority, and put effort into it.  When we’re facing trials of our own, the best thing to do is leave behind all distraction and simply go and pray.