Here is Mark 14:38 presented in three different ways:

GNT: “Keep watch, and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Greek: γρηγορεῖτε καὶ προσεύχεσθε, ἵνα μὴ ἔλθητε εἰς πειρασμόν: τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενής.

Literal Verse: Keep wake everyone and pray for yourselves because you don’t want to show up in a trial. On one hand the breath [of life is] eager, on the other hand the flesh [is] weak.

I believe Paul spoke right into this and how important it is for me to be self-aware and to follow that with prayer.

In the first twelve verses of Romans chapter fourteen, Paul is suggesting that places of friction and disagreement may in fact be the places that God is using to deepen our faith, purify our love and bind us more closely as family. When I sin against someone in Christ I have the opportunity to confess. When I am hurt by someone in Christ I can be open to the Spirit’s working in new ways. What gets me the most though is that the moment I start to feel a touch of self-righteousness that is the time to pray all the more fervently for humility.

“It’s astonishing that God would listen to what we say to God. God is the creator and sustainer of our incredibly vast and intricate universe with its astounding diversity and order; you and I are mere specks within this universe. Why would God bother to listen to what we say to God? . . . Indeed, would God have bothered to make creatures who can speak to God and to whom God then can listen?” Nicholas Wolterstorff, The God We Worship: An Exploration of Liturgical Theology (p.76)