Pastor Sam’s sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer (see Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4) is currently looking at a wonderful and challenging section of the prayer: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
I find this to be challenging. After all, in Matthew 4 we see another phrase: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” There is a place and a time when our faith in God must be tested, and our reactions/responses in those situations allow us to see where we stand in our Christian walk.
But the wonderful thing is that we can ask our Father to deliver us out of those situations!
In the sermon, Pastor Sam stressed the importance of avoiding temptation. There are certain occasions where it’s better to run than to fight. Of particular note is the insidious nature of sexual sin. Temptation is a deliberate trap set by a real devil, and we as the people of God are advised to pray both for avoidance and deliverance.
Avoidance. The book of Proverbs is chock-full of warnings against being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. The Word of God and the gentle leading of the Holy Spirit are available to us, so that we might be steered away from paths that lead to destruction.
Deliverance. Pastor Sam referred to that key verse, First Corinthians 10:13, that stresses the Lord’s provision of “a way of escape” when temptation occurs. We who believe in the Lord should make a habit of presenting ourselves before God in prayer, so that when we are tempted our first response is to seek God for help rather than seeking to handle situations on our own.
Sometimes, we falsely believe that we are “strong enough” to walk along the edge of a precipice without falling off. Folks, that’s not cool. Rather than testing our own limits, we are called to the discipline of hearing and heeding the still small voice of God. It is He who can explain to us the true nature of the situations we face. It is He who provides the way of escape.
Whether your walk with the Lord has been for ten days or forty years, the counsel is the same: We can’t handle temptation on our own.
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