“Lord, I want to change” I prayed as I attempted to remove my wedding ring from my swollen  fingers.    Yesterday’s snack of 2 bags of salted nuts left my fingers stiff and swollen.  Those 2 bags of  nuts  contained 300 mg of sodium, 55 fat grams, and were meant to provide 5 servings.

The battle between the spirit and the flesh continues throughout our entire life and fleshly appetites  are  one area we are all familiar with and which we may read about in God’s Word.  Adam and Eve  and the forbidden fruit, Esau’s selling of his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew, the Israelite’s murmuring  and complaining and longing for the food they enjoyed in Egypt rather than being content with the daily manna the Lord provided.  In the Garden of Gethsemane the apostles fought another kind of battle of the flesh.  “Watch and pray” Jesus said; but the apostles gave in to sleep as the Master agonized in the Garden about the battle He himself was facing.  “Could you not tarry with me one hour?” He asked.  “The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus knows our battles.  He had battles of His own,  He knows how to help those who come to Him crying out for help.  A cry, a whisper, a conversation.  He is there and He will help us.