Jesus endured the greatest testing any human will ever endure when He spent 40 days in the wilderness without food or drink, and He was tried and tempted (Mt 4:1-11; Mk 1:12-13; Lk 4:1-13. While Jesus walked on this earth He was fully God, yet also fully man. By allowing Himself to become man He was able to truly be tempted by Satan's lies. He was alone during this time, alone in the sense that there was no other human with Him. However, this does not require that we should do spiritual battle alone. Indeed, Jesus shortly before being arrested asks His disciples to pray for Him in Gethsemane, a time when He knew His time to die was drawing near and the temptation to not die must have been brutal (Mt 26:36-45; Mk 14:32-41; Lk 22:39-46).
Paul instructs us to keep watch over ourselves to avoid temptation and to "[b]ear one another's burdens" (Gal 6:2). Bearing one another up helps us, as Paul says, to not begin to think to highly of ourselves, and just like a yoke, when more than one person bears a burden, that burden seems lighter and is easier to haul. So in spiritual battle, too, it is vital to bear one another up. If you are facing an extremely difficult or ongoing battle, whether it be doubt, nightly demonic attacks, or something more subtle, ask for prayer and talk to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Maybe you will even find someone that has gone through a similar situation and can offer you insight, if not, their prayer can help to strengthen you in the midst of this attack, and always remember, that darkness cannot overcome the light (Jn 1:5).
Peter exhorts us to be alert because our enemy seeks to devour (1 Pt 5:6-11). Jesus also says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (Jn 10:10a). The enemy indeed lurks in the darkness and wishes to devour us. I imagine that he will be similar to carnivorous predators. They seek first the weak, the injured, the prey that is off by himself. Don't try to go through trying times alone.
Jesus prays for us to be kept from the evil one Jn 17:15, in this we can know that we are never alone for Jesus prayed for protection over the disciples and "for those who will believe in me through their word" (Jn 17:20). And Jesus is interceding for us even now (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25). He is our advocate (1 Tm 2:5; 1 John 2:1). So we are never alone, for Jesus is always praying for us and we have God's protection, but we know that we will be allowed to be tested (Ps 26:2; 2 Cor 12:9; Heb 11:17-19; Jas 1:2-4, 12; 1 Pt 1:6-7)
We often misuse Jesus' statement, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them," (Mt 18:20). If you take this by itself, it seems as those, perhaps we only have the presence of our Lord if we have fellow believers with us. This idea is preposterous, and poor theology. Thanks be to God, He has sent us the Helper (Jn 16:7). This is an advantage we have over believers prior to Jesus' death. In the Old Testament, there were times when the Spirit of God came upon believers, but we thankfully live in a time where God has offered us the indwelling of His Spirit. This is yet another blessing of the already-not-yetness of the world we live in. The veil has been torn (Mt 27:51) and we have access to God that was not known before, yet we do not live in the paradise that God intends. Our concrete hope is of that which is still yet to come.
You could argue that at this time in history because there was not yet the indwelling of the Spirit that Jesus' presence was only amidst were more than one believer was gathered, but this too overlooks the context of this verse. For a nicely written article on the misuse of Matthew 18:19-20 see Tim Chaffey's blog post.
Below is just a fun story that relates to the importance of helping others.
When I went to Yellowstone with my family about 10 years ago, we had a really awesome experience. We got to see a grizzly bear try to prey upon a bison calf. This grizzly must have been starving because the herd of bison herd he was approaching in this effort was one of the larger herds we saw while in Yellowstone. The way in which the bison protected their young was one of the most amazing things I have witnessed.
It was clear that the bison noticed the approach of the bear. The bulls almost immediately began lining up to form a barrier to protect the cows and calves. As the did so, the cows began gathering all the calves up and leading them away from the bear. As the bear tried taking different approaches to find some way around the bulls, they kept moving to block any potential advance. They moved with such synchronicity and maintained a line that made it impossible for the bear to get past them to get to the cows and calves without having to first encounter multiple bulls (who weigh between 800 and 2000 pounds). This was not a fight the bear was going to win.
Could the bear have succeeded if the bulls did not protect their young? Almost assuredly yes. But on our own we are like those bison calves. We need the protection of our God, and it is also beneficial to accept help from our fellow believers. Why face alone what you can face with others by your side? Yet if you don't have the time or way to get others to face something with you, remember that the Holy Spirit is always with you and just as God sent angels to minister to Jesus after His 40 days in the desert, He can send angels to help us too (Psalm 91:11-13; Dan 6:22).
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