Have you ever considered what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer?  In the Good News recorded by Matthew, Jesus says this is how we should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.*

Did you ever wonder why Jesus’ prayer starts the way it does?  Why doesn’t it start like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, You don’t lead us into temptation, but you deliver us from evil? I mean when it comes to priorities I would like deliverance from evil more than daily bread. 

As I read it over and over what occurs to me is that all the other parts have to come first. Each verse lays the foundation of an intimate, dependent relationship, one part interconnected and building on the other.  

Our Father in heaven, – you’re our divine dad and we completely depend on you. 

Your kingdom come, your will be done – We surrender ourselves to you Father; we want you back in the centre of our lives; not our will but your will.

You give us our daily bread – Father you are the source of all we have and all we are; you provide our daily need and our need for eternal salvation.

You forgive us our debts – Father your love and grace to be transform us into people who are loving and graceful to you and to others – even our enemies.

You don’t lead us into temptation, but you deliver us from evil – Father our lives are in your hands and that’s the best place to be; because only you can lead us away from temptation and deliver from Satan and from ourselves.

I want to suggest to you that if you are praying for freedom and deliverance and you are not building an intimate, dependent, relationship then your prayers are probably futile; deliverance will be fleeting and you will be ruled by your own evil desires.

Do you want to resist the temptations that come into our life? Do you want deliverance from the guilt and shame and broken relationships created by your evil desires?

If your answer is yes, would consider making today, right now, the day you ask Jesus to be your Savior and forever friend? Will you consider asking our Father God to become your dad in heaven?

*Matthew 6:9-13 on BibleGateway

Have you ever considered what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer? In the Good News recorded by Matthew, Jesus says this is how we should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.*

We’ve seen how the last sentence can be read as, “You don’t lead us into temptation but You deliver us from evil.”

There are tools we can use to fight temptation but with the enemies Satan and self, you ultimately don’t have a hope on earth. Thankfully, you do have a hope in heaven.

The Bible’s letter called Hebrews tells us: But Jesus, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (See Hebrews 7:24-27)

Jesus intercession is when he stands between us and the enemy of our lives. Jesus sacrifice – and that includes his victory over the most intense temptation – enables him to be the true, great, and only, high priest that can deliver you; only Jesus can save you to the uttermost.

And that takes us right back to our text for today:

YOU don’t lead us into temptation, but YOU deliver us from evil.

Do you know where your help comes from?

*Matthew 6:9-13 on BibleGateway

Have you ever considered what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer? In the Good News recorded by Matthew, Jesus says this is how we should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.*

There are practical ways to deal with temptation. Distraction, change location, bounce the eyes. And yet, they are not good enough.

The Bible tells us that the enemy of your life is like a hungry, vicious, lion. He’s stronger than your will, he’s bigger than your intentions, he’s faster than your decisions.  You cannot defeat him and, if you try, he will eat you alive.

And if that’s not bad enough, remember what the Bible tells us in Jame’s letter: we are tempted by our own evil desires.  The depth of human depravity that exists within each one of us is a well that goes all the way down.  The battle with self is the greatest battle we face. The battle with apathy, food, gossip, rage, lust, and so on is ultimately not a battle with that thing whatever it is; you are fighting against the desire to exalt our self, to feed our self, to even love our self. 

With the enemies Satan and self, you don’t have a hope on earth. Thankfully, you do have a hope in heaven.

*Matthew 6:9-13 on BibleGateway

Have you ever considered what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer? In the Good News recorded by Matthew, Jesus says this is how we should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.*

We’ve seen how the last sentence can be read as, “You don’t lead us into temptation but You deliver us from evil.”

Furthermore, James 1:14 tells us that it is our own evil desires that tempt us. If you are reading this, I’m going to assume you’re a human being and like all human beings you are tempted by your own evil desires. So what do we do when faced with temptation?

Are you familiar with the marshmallow experiment? It was a study on deferred gratification conducted with children in 1972.  A marshmallow was offered to each child. If the child could resist eating the marshmallow, he was promised two instead of one. The scientists analyzed how long each child resisted the temptation of eating the marshmallow. Some of the kids gave in and ate the marshmallow right away. However, a number of others didn’t. How did these other children resist the temptation to eat their marshmallow? 

Distraction, change of location, and they “bounced their eyes.” 

You can use these same tools to fight temptation.  Should you crash and burn, what do you do?  Repent quickly – reconnect with God, make amends with others, then leave it behind.

These are good practical tools. And yet, they are not good enough.  

*Matthew 6:9-13 on BibleGateway

Have you ever considered what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer? In the Good News recorded by Matthew, Jesus says this is how we should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.*

When we read, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” in context we can see that it makes sense to say: You don’t lead us into temptation but You deliver us from the evil one.

Another thing about the text that’s interesting is that evidence strongly suggests that the word “one” at the end of the sentence, doesn’t belong there. That means we can read the text like this:

You don’t lead us into temptation but You deliver us from evil.

Now I believe that Satan is a real being, he is the destroyer, the tempter, the enemy of life and the source of evil but take a look at James 1: 13

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

What are we tempted by? Our own evil desires.

Satan is our enemy but sometimes I imagine him saying, “Hey, don’t blame me, you did that all on your own.”

Today, would you consider taking responsibility for the damage your evil desires have caused?

*Matthew 6:9-13 on BibleGateway

Have you ever considered what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer? In the Good News recorded by Matthew, Jesus says this is how we should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.*

There’s something odd about the part that says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Does God tempt people? No!

James 1 makes that very clear – God doesn’t tempt anyone. Why in the world would we need to pray for God to not lead us into temptation? That just doesn’t make sense.

One commentator has suggested that the text can allow us to include the word “You.” Actually, it’s already there in the possessive form. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, add the word you to the rest…

You give us our daily bread.

You forgive us our debts. and…

You don’t lead us into temptation but You deliver us from the evil one.

Our Father is our deliver and we don’t need protection from him. Would you consider thanking your Dad in heaven for protecting you from temptation and evil?

*Matthew 6:9-13 on BibleGateway

In what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus told us to pray the following:

…forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.*

So what keeps us from being forgiving? Pride and amnesia are two core reasons why we struggle to forgive.

Please hear this: the answer is not for you to get your act together, pull up your socks and start being a good person. Jesus’ prayers and teaching, his parables… they’re not there to tell you that you need to smarten up because you should know better by now. They tell us that we are deeply broken and need Christ to save us from the state we are in.

Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” Luke 23:34-35.  He prayed forgiveness for his executioners who never showed any remorse or desire for forgiveness. Jesus prayer on the cross is as much for you as it was for them.

Would you consider receiving God’s forgiveness into your heart today? Would you consider bringing to him all the mess, bad choices, hurtful things in your life and trading it for his love and grace?

*Matthew 6:9-13 on BibleGateway