Is evil and temptation a real thing? s31e81 Mt6:13

In the Lord's Prayer, we are reminded to pray:

Matt 6:13  "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Why do we pray? Because what is required is beyond our abilities.

Why do we act? Because what is required is the full force of our abilities.

Join me for 7 minutes to see what God asks us to do regarding evil. 

Join me for 7 minutes to see what God does for us in regards to evil.

https://youtu.be/IRiNs6jMadI

Transcript

Is evil and temptation a real thing? s31e81 Mt6:13

The Lord’s prayer has only 3 things on each side of the ledger

First, it asks us to address 3 things that are priority to God: His name,Hiskingdom, and His will

The Lord’s prayer asks 3 things that should be priority to us:

·     The provision of our daily bread 

·     Forgiveness both extending and receiving it

·     Our relationship with evil and temptation

13  And lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from evil. 

Cross References:

Jesus in the Garden Matt 26: 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Temptation always has a way of escape 1 Cor 10:1313 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Be ready for temptation

         Watch for it. Pray about it. 

Reminds me of a line from Fiddler on the roof when the rabbi was asked ·  "Is there a proper blessing for the Tsar?"

·  Rabbi: "A blessing for the Tsar? Of course! May God bless and keep the Tsar... far away from us!" [1]

         Specifically that we’d say as far away as possible

Reminds me 

                  Nip temptation in the bud.

                  Not how close to the line can I get. 

But, how do I stay far away from the line in the first place

Don’t be surprised by temptation

         To be alive is to be tempted

         Temptation is universal

         There are two aspects: 

Be ready for this spiritually

The spirit agrees with this idea and with this teaching.

Be ready for this bodily. The Flesh is weak, 

         But not beyond your ability—your body will be involved

If you find yourself NEAR temptation, take a step BACK

If you find yourself IN temptation, take the provided way of escape

Remember the character of God in all of this: He is faithful, relieable, dependable, trustworthy

         The Lord is a builder of escape hatches

         To pursue the Lord is to pursue the builder of escape hatches

The Lord is in the avoiding temptation by prayer and Him launching warning shots in the air

13  And lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from evil. 

Delivering from Evil: John 17 High priestly prayer right before His crucifiction: 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

To be a follower of Christ is to avoid temptation. To find the way of escape when tempted.  but to have Lord’s help inn being KEPT

For now, we follow Christ IN THIS WORLD. At a future date, we will be taken OUT OF THIS WORLD, put into a NEW WORLD.

         Today is not that day. we may long for it, but not now. 

Meantime, we negotiate evil, and resist the evil one

         We are KEPT, guarded, watched over

Not magic, not poof, we are at war.

We war to OBEY the guarding of God

We fight to hold onto His watching

We take care to be protected.

Why do we pray? Because what is required is beyond our abilities.

Why do we act? Because what is needed is the full force of our abilities.

         Part of it is to BE STRONG in the Lord and in the strength of His might EPH6:10

Part of it is to put on the whole armor of God. Protect ourselves. Put on the full armor of God. Lots of shodding, and putting on, and getting ready, being prepared, watch and pray

That you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil; that we may be delivered from evil or the evil one

Our battle is against evil:

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Our battle against evil is often fought with flesh and blodd, and will and positioning, and preparation

We are not ultimately wrestling flesh and blood, but we are currently wrestling WITH flesh and blood

Let’s go back to the Lord’s prayer ledger and 

·     Our relationship with evil and temptation

Summarize that relationship:

Have open eyes about it. There is evil. There is tempt. Evil One

         The goals of evil are in direct opposition to the goals of God

         God wants to have a relationship with you

         Satan wants you to have a relationship with him

You will be in a battle

The Lord’s strength is critical for standing against this evil

There is much of this that is above our paygrade. It is His strength, It is His might. It is His armor.

But we are not passive participants, where we watch the epic battle from our armchairs: no we are putting on, shodding, being strong IN, we are wrestling, we are resisting, preparing,  escaping when necessary.

Why do we pray? Because what is required is beyond our abilities.

Why do we act? Because what is required is the full force of our abilities.

13  And lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from evil.