{"id":294,"date":"2014-03-16T23:20:40","date_gmt":"2014-03-16T22:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=294"},"modified":"2014-03-16T23:20:40","modified_gmt":"2014-03-16T22:20:40","slug":"lead-us-not-into-temptation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=294","title":{"rendered":"Lead us not into temptation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leonard Ravenhill wrote, \u201cThe self-sufficient do not pray. The self-satisfied will not pray. The self-righteous cannot pray. No man is greater than his prayer life.
\nWe know how important prayer is. It is the heart of our relationship with God. So we are learning to pray from the prayer which Jesus gave his disciples as a pattern for prayer, which we call the Lord\u2019s Prayer.
\nWe begin by recognising the enormous privilege of addressing Almighty God in heaven, Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, All-knowing, Eternal, Holy, Transcendent God yet we are invited to pray to Him as, \u201cOur Father.\u201d And we pray Hallowed be your name,\u201d may God be glorified and honoured by all His Creation.
\nThen we pray, \u201cYour Kingdom Come\u201d, Amen, Come Lord Jesus, as we look forward to the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We pray, \u201cYour will be done on earth as in heaven\u201d asking God to reveal His will to us and give us the strength to obey Him.
\nLast week we thought about the next petition, \u201cGive us this day our daily bread.\u201d Our continual dependence on God for everything we need, not just for food and water but for all the blessings we so often take for granted: home and shelter, travelling and communications, and so many possessions which we think of as necessities but which so many people do not even have as luxuries.
\nThen we learned to pray, \u201cForgive us our sins\u201d, reminding us that we should always acknowledge and confess our sins and seek God\u2019s grace to repent and become more like Jesus. But we were also reminded that the proper response to God\u2019s forgiveness is for us to forgive those who sin against us. So our prayers should always recognise that God is the provider of all our needs, physical and spiritual. And this leads on to the next two requests in the Lord\u2019s prayer which are concerned with our growth in grace and maturity and holiness.
\nLEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
\nSome people only pray the first three words of that sentence. \u201cLead us not!\u201d It is as if they don\u2019t want God to reveal his perfect plan for their lives to them, or that they can\u2019t be bothered to follow that perfect plan. But if we want to become more like Jesus we have to ask for God\u2019s guidance and be prepared to follow it. The sad thing is that many Christians do fall into temptation precisely because they don\u2019t seek or follow God\u2019s leading.
\n\u201cLead us not into temptation.\u201d God is a holy God \u2013 He would never cause anybody to sin. So we need to think a bit about what this prayer means. The key word has two meanings at the same time: temptation and testing, or trial. So the prayer means two things.
\nDo not allow us to give in to temptation.
\nDo not bring us to the time of trial.
\nDo not allow us to give in to temptation.
\nThe Bible is clear that God never tempts anybody.
\nJames 1 12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
\n13 When tempted, no one should say, \u201cGod is tempting me.\u201d For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. <\/p>\n

Christians are all in the middle of a battle against temptation. It is a battle fought on three fronts against the world around, against our own sinful human nature and against the devil and all the powers of evil. We need to pray if we are going to escape all the traps of the world, the flesh and the devil. In this materialistic world which thinks that \u201cgreed is good\u201d we need to be on our guard especially for the temptations of society around us.<\/p>\n

1 Timothy 6 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
\nIn this battle against sin prayer is vital if we are going to keep hold of God and His priorities and values and standards. We must seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. \u201cYour kingdom come, your will be done!\u201d
\nBeing tempted is not sin \u2013 giving in to temptation is sin. So often we have just a moment between temptation and giving in \u2013 a brief opportunity to cry out to God for the grace and strength to resist the temptation. Too often we don\u2019t put up a fight.
\n\u201cLead us not into temptation\u201d is a prayer we can use in that very moment of temptation, a breath prayer if you like, seeking God\u2019s grace.
\nI don\u2019t know what temptations you are struggling with in these days. Somebody once said, \u201cA holy life is a succession of holy moments.\u201d Christian maturity only comes through a life-long series of victories over temptation, through prayer. Remember the words of Paul, which are not only a promise but also a challenge.
\n1 Corinthians 10 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don\u2019t fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
\nIn every situation of temptation God provides a way of escape \u2013 and we ought to take it!
\n\u201cLead us not into temptation\u201d. Do not let us give in to temptation. One very obvious practical point. We cannot pray, \u201cLead us not into temptation,\u201d if we deliberately put ourselves into situations where we know we are going to be tempted. To pray against temptation and then to put yourself in a place you know you are going face temptation is as foolish as putting your hand into a fire praying you won\u2019t get burned. Don\u2019t do it!
\nDo not bring us to the time of trial
\nThe second sense of the key word here is not temptation but trial or testing. Jesus knew his disciples would all face tough times for being Christians. Some would be persecuted, some would be martyred. Suffering in such \u201ctimes of trial\u201d has been part of the experience of the church in every age. Many of the Letters of the New Testament were written to Christians facing persecution and even death.
\n1 Peter 4 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. \u2026. 19 So then, those who suffer according to God\u2019s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
\nThe Bible explains God\u2019s purpose when Christians are facing suffering and persecution.
\n1 Peter 1 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith\u2014of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire\u2014may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
\nJames 1: 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
\nMost of us haven\u2019t experienced much of these kinds of times of trial. I have met believers in Bulgaria whose family members were imprisoned for their faith in the communist years. I have met Christians in Uganda who had relatives and church members who were martyred in the years of Idi Amin. And there are believers in Syria and Sudan and too many other places even today facing \u201ctimes of trial\u201d more horrible than we can imagine.
\nChristians need God\u2019s strength to stand firm in their faith in times of persecution. They need a holy boldness to continue to witness for Christ when they will be punished for doing so. And even in our society, we need God\u2019s grace to stand up for Jesus and preach the gospel. So it is good even for us to pray, \u201cDo not bring us to the time of trial,\u201d and for God\u2019s strength when those times come.<\/p>\n

BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL
\nAgain there is a double sense here. The word Evil can mean \u201cEvil\u201d or \u201cThe Evil One\u201d, the devil.
\nOur prayer covers either and both. The source of all evil is the evil one. The devil may attack us directly or he may attack through the world around or through our own fallen human nature. Ephesians warns us that the whole world is in the grip of the evil one.
\nEphesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
\nAnd it is true that the devil focusses his attacks on Christians. He has no need to put any pressure on lost sinners. They belong to the devil already. So he concentrates his efforts on causing Christians to stumble and fall and pushing churches to become powerless and ineffective.
\n1 Peter 5 8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
\n\u201cDeliver us from evil\u201d reminds us of our continual dependence on God when we want to live a holy life. We cannot do it in our own strength. We need God to deliver us from evil, bringing the victory over the Devil which Christ won on the cross into our own lives. But that victory is not just for us Christians, but potentially for the whole world. So we pray \u201cdeliver us from evil\u201d also for the world around us.
\nWe are praying for our friends and neighbours to be saved, that God will deliver them from evil as well.
\n2 Corinthians 43 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
\nSo we are praying for opportunities to witness. Praying when the seed of the gospel is sown it will grow and bear fruit to eternal life. Praying that young Christians will be kept safe from the attacks of the devil. As we show God\u2019s love to other people in compassion and social action we are also praying, \u201cDeliver them from evil.\u201d
\nAnd there are times when we need to confront the devil directly, when we are brought into contact with those who have been trapped in the occult, or in immorality, or in alcohol or drugs or other addictions. Jesus came to bring freedom to the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, and to release the oppressed. And Christians are called to continue in this spiritual warfare, standing up against the principalities and powers. \u201cDeliver US from evil\u201d is only the beginning of the prayer: \u201cDeliver the whole world from evil.\u201d
\nWilliam Law said, \u201cHe who has learned how to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and a happy life.\u201d If we are serious about following Jesus, if we want to know the joy Jesus gives and experience true holiness, then we will pray every day as Jesus has taught us to pray.
\n\u201cLead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leonard Ravenhill wrote, \u201cThe self-sufficient do not pray. The self-satisfied will not pray. The self-righteous cannot pray. No man is greater than his prayer…<\/span><\/p>\n

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