Part of the Lord’s prayer is praying for protection.
M’t:6:13: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
This portion of the Lord’s prayer reminds me of Psalm 23.
Psalms:23:1-6 1: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.:2: He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.3: He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. 6: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Why do we ask the Lord to not lead us into temptation if He would not do that?
1. God can’t tempt us with evil.
It is outside of his nature to tempt with evil. He cannot do things out of his character. God cannot change. He cannot change because he is already perfect. He also cannot stop loving you.
James 1:12-14: 12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
When we endure temptation we are blessed and we are rewarded. Endure means to continue to trust through resistance.
We are drawn away by our own lusts and then the devil pounces on it and entices or tempts us. The lust or desire may not even be bad, but the instant our desire is drawn away from God, Satan notices that and takes advantage of it by introducing temptation to us. Satan is the tempter, not God.
When we turn our focus away from God to things, immediately Satan comes to tempt us.
Matthew 4:1-3: 1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2: And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3; And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Notice Satan is called the tempter.
1Thessalonians3:5: For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain.
Satan will even take a good desire and try to tempt us in that desire.
God has given each of us a desire to rest and relax, but if we work too much and not relax, it will open the door for Satan to tempt us. Sin is counterfeit joy. If we are not receiving joy from the Lord and the things he provides, Satan will bring in sin to counterfeit that joy.
Are there temptations which are designed to make us fail? Yes, but they do not come from God—they come from Satan, and his evil angels
Ephesians 6:12-13 12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.13: Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
A lot of times we say that the devil made us do it, or he tempted us, but there are times the temptation comes from ourselves
Romans 13:14 : But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
God allows us to experience them, and they are allowed for our benefit. God told Abraham to offer Isaac—the temptation was not intended to get Abraham to sin, but to test and prove his faith.
2. God won’t mislead us.
James1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience.
The word temptation here and in Matthew are the same. Some translations translate this as trials or tests.
Sometimes God will lead us into a trial. In that trial God knows that Satan will be there to tempt you. But that is not the reason for the trial, it is to produce faith and patience.
Matthew 4:1: Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Lu:4:1-2a And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,2: Being forty days tempted of the devil.
The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. God lead his own Son into a time of testing and trial, but Satan was there waiting for him to tempt him.
Why did God do it? He did it for the benefit of his Son. He returned in the power of the Spirit.
Lu:4:13-14: And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. 14: And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
He came out stronger after the temptation. Another benefit was for us. We have an example in Jesus of how to overcome the devil because of the temptation.
Hebrews:2:18: For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to aide them that are tempted.
Hebrews 4:15-16: For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16: Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
It can often be very difficult to rein in your emotions when you’ve been hurt, but the good news is that Jesus understands. Hebrews 4:15 emphatically declares that although Jesus was God in the flesh when He walked on this earth, He still faced every temptation you and I face in life. As a result, this verse says that Jesus is “…touched with the feeling of our infirmities….”
That phrase “be touched with” comes from the Greek word sumpatheo, which means to share an experience with someone or to sympathize with and have compassion for someone. Jesus empathizes with every temptation and struggle you face in this life. He identifies and sympathizes with you, and He has compassion for you regarding what you’re feeling and the situation you’re facing.
We can ask Jesus how to overcome sin. He can help us in all areas because he was tempted in all areas. He understands how we are being tempted. We can tell him about our temptations, and ask him how he overcame that problem.
Jesus never fell into one of Satan’s traps, but He definitely faced the same frustrations we do in life. In fact, if Jesus hadn’t been tempted in every realm that we are tempted, He wouldn’t be able to understand us and serve as our great High Priest!
For instance, I can only imagine the frustration Jesus must have felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had invested three and a half years of His life into His disciples, and for the first time, Jesus needed them. Jesus asked three of His disciples to pray for Him during His hour of temptation (see Matthew 26:37-45). He asked them for only one hour of prayer, but instead of praying, they fell asleep. He came and pleaded with them a second time to pray with Him, but once more they fell asleep. For a third time, Jesus came and besought His disciples to pray, but again they fell asleep on the job.
What if you had been in Jesus’ position that night? What if you had given three years of your life to these disciples—but when you asked them to help you for the first time, they failed you again and again?
It would be normal for a person in this situation to be tempted to become resentful, upset, or even offended. However, Jesus never fell into the trap of bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness. In fact, even as He hung on the cross, He prayed for those who had perpetrated this evil on Him, “…Father, forgive them…” (Luke 23:34).
Jesus is on your side! Hebrews 4:16 goes on to promise that when you go to Him for help, you will obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So the next time you feel tempted to get upset or frustrated with someone, run to Jesus! He’s your faithful High Priest, inviting you to come boldly to Him to receive the grace you need to resist that temptation. Remember, Jesus understands precisely what you’re going through because He experienced that same temptation when He walked on this earth. But He also knows how to help you walk in love and forgiveness—just as He did in every situation, without fail!
God led Jesus into the wilderness, for 40 days, not 40 years. God led Israel into the wilderness for a journey of 11 days and they took 40 years because of sin.
Deuteronomy 8:16: Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
Prove is to test. God took them into the wilderness to humble them and test them. But that testing always ends in good.
Ro:8:26-28: 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
3. God will deliver us
Webster defines deliver as “to set free or liberate; to release or save.” Thus, “deliver us from evil” means we are asking to be freed or saved from evil. Evil is anything that tempts us to do something which is against God’s will. It is anything that would sadden or displease God if we were to follow our own desires instead of His will. Some translations say, “deliver me from temptation to do evil” or “deliver us from the evil one.”
1 Corinthians 10:13: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Two great things promised here.
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God will not allow me to be tempted above what I am able
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God will with every temptation make a way of escape.
In other words, God will deliver me if I let him deliver me.
Psa. 121:5-7 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.
2Tm:4:17-18 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
2Pe:2:9: The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
I am glad he knows how to deliver us, because I sure don’t know how to deliver us.
Heb:3:12-13 12: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.13: But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
We need to exhort others in the body of Christ to keep from evil. We can pray for others to depart from evil. There may be times that our fellow Christians need our strength to help them to keep from evil.
4. If we will pray
My part is to pray. His part is to deliver. We are to pray for protection and success from evil every day. But if we do not pray we are in trouble. God will do his part if we do our part, and pray.
You need to pray daily for protection from the evil one.
Psalms:119:133-134 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
134: Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.
Matthew 26:41: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The way you overcome temptation is that you pray. When Jesus prayed for his disciples, he prayed to keep them from evil.
John17:15-17: I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil. 16: They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Sanctify is to set them apart. God’s word will set us apart from the world and the evil therein. Jesus does not pray to keep us out of the world, or keep us from tests and trials.
Ephesians:4:22-27 22: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23: And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24: And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25: Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26: Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27: Neither give place to the devil.
Deliverance from evil also comes as we renew our mind. We need to make a quality decision to walk according to the word of God, and the evil will depart from us.
The devil hates the local church, so it is very important to have people praying for the pastor of the church and for the pastor to pray also for himself for this protection from the evil one.
Pray for protection over your family, your finances, your business, your health. Any testing, trial is overcome through prayer.
Goode Christian: learning how to be a good Christian in today's world. 