Jesus crosses the brook Kidron to go into the Garden of Gethsemane. The brook Kidron was seen repeatedly in the Old Testament as the place where they destroyed the idols when a new king would come in and clean house. Was Jesus going there to put to death an idol that was trying to tempt Jesus to submit to it? He battles in prayer in that garden, but He prevails. He submits not to His own will but to the Father’s will, as He always had.

John records an awesome account of when they come to arrest Jesus. He asks who they are seeking, and they say, “Jesus of Nazareth.” His response is “I am.” Some translations, in trying to make it sound “right,” add in the word He. “I am He.” But that’s not what He said. He said simply, “I am” in the original Greek.

When He says, “I am,” they all draw back and fall to the ground. Why? “I am” is the name of God. It’s the name God gives Moses at the burning bush, where Moses stood on holy ground.

They came at Jesus with weapons. Jesus’ weapon was His name, who He was, His nature as God, His authority as God.

Peter isn’t yet in Christ. He hasn’t become a partaker of the divine nature, which he will later pen about in his second epistle. He is still in the flesh, not in the Spirit. He thinks his flesh is strong, but it’s not. We are all weak. The sooner you realize that the better. Peter has to learn he is weak so he can be made strong in Christ. He needed to fail in the flesh so he would understand the church had to be built on the rock of Christ, not the rock of Peter.

Everything that happens to a believer works together for our good. Don’t allow the world to teach you that trauma has defined you. God created you perfectly and is orchestrating everything for good. God doesn’t plot and carry out evil. He’s greater than evil and has overcome it. Don’t identify with your trauma. Identify with Jesus the overcomer!