Lead us not into temptation

The final phrase in the “The Lord’s Prayer” includes these words, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. In the world in which we live there are many sources of temptation, but the greatest source of temptation may not be outside of us, but rather inside of us. Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a person.” (Matthew 15:11) The Bible reveals that our hearts are the source of all kinds of wickedness. So when we pray “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”, we are praying for deliverance from both external and internal sources of temptation that the evil one uses to ensnare us. Because Christ encourages us to pray for deliverance we can be confident that He will indeed deliver us! Deliverance is a theme throughout the Scriptures, God delivered the nation of Israel out of bondage, He delivered the three Hebrew children from the fiery furnace and He continues to deliver His people today! Are you in need of deliverance? Trust in Jesus for whatever you need today and know that He is a faithful God!

1.     Is there a specific need that you have today? Does it include specific deliverance?

2.     How has this study of the “Lord’s Prayer” helped your own prayer life?

Give us our daily bread and forgive us as we have forgiven

Today we will look at the phrase from The Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”. Up until this point in the prayer the focus has been squarely on God and His power. But now the focus is going to shift slightly to God and His provision for our needs. The key word here is “needs”; Jesus describes it as “daily bread”, a metaphor for necessities rather than luxuries. Proverbs 30:8 gives us some great insight as to how we should pray for our needs, “Give me neither poverty (lest I resent you) or riches (lest I forget you).” Our Heavenly Father’s desire is for us to trust Him with every need of our life. He is a good Father. The second part of this phrase concerns our relationships with others. Jesus rightly links our relationship with God to our relationship with others. We should always be keenly aware of the sin in our own lives, and not just the sin in the lives of others. We should always remember that the cross, on which Jesus died, was composed of two beams. There was a vertical and horizontal beam. The vertical beam secured our restored relationship with our Father God. Perhaps the more difficult of the two beams was the horizontal beam that Jesus was forced to carry on His back on the way to the top of the mountain. This horizontal beam represents our human relationships that Jesus through His sacrifice on the cross, graciously restored. So now that we have been forgiven we should be willing to forgive others. If God through Christ has so powerfully forgiven us, shouldn’t we be willing to extend that grace and forgiveness to others? May we rejoice today in the provision and forgiveness given to us by our great God through Jesus Christ!

1.     What is the difference in a need and a want? Are you trusting God for your needs, or complaining because He hasn’t granted all of your wants?

2.     In what ways does being forgiven by God change or improve your relationships with others?

3.     Is there someone you need to forgive?

"Your Kingdom Come"

The Kingdom of God is a reoccurring theme in Scripture. Jesus addresses it many times, and He does so again in “The Lord’s Prayer” with these words “Your Kingdom come, your will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Jesus teaches all of us to pray this prayer, but do we really follow through with obedience? Sometimes my prayers sound like this “My kingdom come, my will be done”. Perhaps you can relate? We have a tendency to put ourselves first in life and in our prayers. One writer has described this attitude of our age as the “The supremacy of self”. But of course this is nothing new, the Apostle Paul writes of this in Romans 1:25 “Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever! Amen.” When humanity exchanges the truth of God for a lie, idolatry is always the result. We would be quick to condemn this kind of attitude displayed in others, but what about the subtle ways it is displayed in us? How often are we quick to be offended, or allow our pride to become the issue between others and ourselves? When we do this, in essence we are saying “My will be done”. Jesus teaches us to pray in a way that quiets our desire for our own way. It was a prayer that He taught us and exemplified in the garden when He prayed, “Father, not my will but yours be done”. (Matthew 26:39) Jesus is not asking us to pray in a way that He hasn’t. In fact He prayed this prayer under far more difficult circumstances than we could ever imagine. Today as we continue to explore the depth of truth in the model prayer given to us by our Lord, may we submit our wills to the will of our perfect Heavenly Father.

1. Why do you think we have such difficulty aligning our will with the will of God?
2. What are some ways that we can intentionally monitor our pride and submit to God’s will?
3. How do you intend to take a “Next Step” this week in applying what you have heard today from the Word of God?

Pray like this

When Jesus begins His discourse on praying in Matthew 6 He says, “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.” Jesus assumes that a devoted follower of God will pray, but He does instruct us on the right way and wrong way to pray. He focuses on two powerful contrast, public prayer verses private devotion, and content verses character. The problem with the hypocrites is that they “...stand and pray…that they may be seen of others.” The problem as Jesus points out is not public prayer but the motivation for public prayer. The hypocrite’s motivation is to be seen of men. The public prayer must match the private devotion of the believer and when it doesn’t the result is a life of hypocrisy. The disciple is called to private devotion that God chooses to reward openly. Next Jesus addresses the content of prayer. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases…for they think they will be heard for their many words.” An increased quantity does not equal an improved quality of communication. Prayer is not a device used to manipulate God, but is the means ordained by God to meet out needs, “...for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” The challenge then is to distinguish good priorities verses God priorities. Jesus gives us His priorities for prayer in verse nine, “Pray then like this: “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 also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever, Amen.” His priorities should be ours. Good priorities for prayer often focus on our needs, God priorities center on His glory. May we glorify Him with our lives and our prayers!

1. Why do you think we often focus on ourselves during prayer, rather than focusing on the glory of God?
2. What are some examples of “God priorities” in our prayers?
3. In what ways do you think your relationship to God with prayer can improve?