"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil."--Matthew 6:13. Jesus, giving the last part of the Model Prayer. Again, this is in contrast with how the hypocrites are praying to be seen by men. The prayer is that we might allow God to lead us not into temptation but to deliver us from evil. I want to break this part of the prayer down into two parts as it will help us gain a better understanding of what Jesus is really trying to say here.
Jesus first says pray that God not lead you into temptation. An initial question that could come to mind is do we really need to request that God does not lead us into temptation? This is the wrong question to ask simply because we know from James 1:13 that God does not tempt anyone. What we need to be asking God to do is to lead us in such a way that we do not fall into temptation. I am not trying to suggest that we will not be tempted because as long as we are in this world we will be tempted. One of our constant prayers needs to be though that God leads us in such a way that when we are tempted, He can give us the strength to overcome said temptations. But why? One reason is so that He might deliver us from evil.
Deliver us from evil. As I looked a little deeper into this part of the prayer, the reading should actually be "deliver us from the evil one." The word for evil here does not refer to the evil of sin but to the one who is "morally destructive" (BDAG 851). This part of the verse is quite literally referring to Satan himself. Satan is the one that tempts us day in and day out. And all the temptations Satan dishes out to us at the end of the day are morally destructive in some form or fashion.
Deliver us from evil. So what do we do? Well the answer is simple, we pray! We pray that God lead us in such a fashion that we are able to overcome temptation. The end result is that we will be delivered from the one who is morally destructive. In turn, we will be delivered from that which can bring unnecessary heartache and trouble into our lives. Temptation is inevitable but the question we need to ask ourselves is how will we respond to it? How will we respond when the evil one tempts us? We ask God to lead us away from that temptation so that we might be delivered from the evil one.
Deliver us from evil. So my encouragement to you is this. Is there a specific sin you struggle with? My encouragement to you is take steps to remove that temptation from your sight. It's a temptation so it requires strength to remove it. Ask God to give you the strength you need to remove that temptation and then do it! The end result is that you will be delivered from the evil one and you will ultimately be able to enter eternity with God. My prayer for all of us is that God may not lead us into temptation but to deliver us from the evil one.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!
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