Friday 31st May
Read Matthew 6:9-13
“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.” (NIVUK)
A regular prayer request to be led away from temptation and into good paths is clearly a necessary part of healthy spiritual life. Is there ever a point in our Christian walk where this won’t be a daily need? The apostle Paul certainly never found that to be true. Temptation was frustratingly close.
“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am!” (Romans 7:18-24a) (NIVUK)
Paul describes internal moral conflict perfectly. Some would argue that Paul is describing his life before he met Jesus. Yet the Lord’s prayer teaches us that we need to be forgiven and we remain subject to temptation – there are forces that oppose our good intentions at every step. So we pray.
How do we pray? Paul finishes his sombre, frustrated thoughts with a prayer that many might find useful… “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24b-25a) (NIVUK).
When we pray that we are delivered from the evil one and not lead into temptation, perhaps this is what we are really asking for?
