In Matthew 6:13, Jesus teaches us to pray, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." This is the fifth, and final part of Jesus' teaching on prayer, we've been studying this summer. One of the reasons commentators struggle with this part of the prayer is because in James 1:13, we're told that "God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone." God does not, in fact he cannot, lead us into evil. It wouldn't just go against his character, it would go against his very nature. "In him is light, and in him, there is no darkness at all." (see 1 John 1:5).
God never presents sin to us. It's so critical we understand this truth. God is good. God is light. God is life. God doesn't toy with us. We're not fish in an aquarium. God's not some fishermen up there, casting lures, hoping to ensnare us.
In reality, it's Satan who is the opportunist. Satan exploits every conceivable human weakness to first hook us. And once he hooks us, he reels us in, and nets us, and sorts us in his boat, before he consumes us and destroys us entirely.
Don't be deceived, Satan is the originator of temptation. If you're an alcoholic, Satan will offer you a beer. If you're an addict, he'll have someone push a crack pipe in your face. If you're obese, he'll shower you with candy, bread, desserts. If you're angry, he'll put a gun in your hand. If you're weak, he'll tease you with a flash of flesh, to get you to click, or glance, or stare. If you're lonely, suddenly a person appears not your spouse. If you're generous, he'll say, "why not announce it with trumpets to be heard and seen." If you're hungry he'll say, "why not turn these stones to bread."
We are in an epic struggle. Your soul, and my soul, is Satan's prize. Satan uses temptation to destroy us. So this must become a focus of our prayers. There is the temptation within me. There is the temptation within others. Temptation exploits a weakness. The weaker you are, the more vulnerable you become.
In regard to temptation, James 1:13-15 says, "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. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death."
That is the process of destruction, my friends, from start to finish. I want you to notice, however, that it begins with "our own evil desire." Temptation only works if there is a pre-existing condition of the heart, if you've been feeding a desire.
When I was in in grade school I recycled aluminum cans for cash. Kids harassed me for being a dumpster diver, but their words didn't matter much on payday. One day I was collecting cans by the high school, when I found a six pack of unopened beer hidden under a garbage can! I couldn't believe my good fortune!
I looked around to make sure no one was watching. One by one, I opened the cans, dumped out the beer, and added them to my collection. In my mind, I was six cans richer! When I told my friend about my find, he incredulously said, "Are you stupid! We could have gotten hammered!"
My point is that if there isn't any desire, there isn't any temptation. The key to overcoming temptation is feeding different desires. Jesus says, "Blessed are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you will be filled." You can drink all you want and still be empty. Jesus says, hunger/thirst for righteousness... seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness... and it will fill your soul... you'll find it!
In Matthew 15:18-19 Jesus says, "The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander."
Did you hear that? Evil originates from the heart... and so there is Satan making his appeal, through temptation, that we act on the desires of our hearts. Let us pray that for God to deliver all of us from the evil one! You. Me. Us.
Our prayer for one another should be 2 Timothy 2:25-26, "that God grant [us] repentance, leading [us] to the knowledge of the truth, that [we] may come to [our] senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken [people] captive to do his will." So what I've been saying is that temptation is something Satan uses to destroy us--but not without the collusion of our heart.
But allow me to differentiate trials from temptations. Whereas Satan uses temptation to destroy us, God allows, and uses "trials" and "times of testing" to strengthen us. In the Bible Abraham was tested. Job was tested. Jesus himself was tested. James 1:12, says, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."
Trials come upon everyone, regardless of their faith or standing before God. A trial can come through natural disaster, through disease or sickness. When mankind sinned, the ground on which we live became cursed. A trial can come through our own folly. We make a foolish choice, and an avalanche of consequences befall us. A trial can come through someone else's sin or folly. They make a foolish choice, but then we suffer because of what they did. Herod beheaded John the Baptist. Pilate had Jesus crucified. Saul had Stephen stoned to death for his faith. In Revelation, Nero was burning Christians at the stake. God was asking them to endure their fiery trials!
The trials that come by virtue of our own participation of sin, or that of others, tests the character of our faith. When Satan afflicts his utterly worst pain on our lives through dictators, natural destruction, disease, and death... will we still worship God?
James 1:12, says, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." Trials, though excruciatingly difficult, can have a positive spiritual benefit. But temptation? Temptation weakens us, and lets Satan exploit us, damage us.
We can pray to be delivered both from temptation--the weakness of our flesh. We can pray to be delivered from trials, pressures, tests. An example of this is Jesus telling believers to pray about the circumstances in which the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed (which happened in A.D. 70). He said pray that it will not happen when you are nursing, or pregnant, or during winter, or on the Sabbath. God delivers us from temptation but most often he gives us strength to endure painful trials.
I've encouraged my brother to pray, as he deals with the fallout of choices he's made his whole life. God has forgiven him, for sure. But he is in the midst of a trial. He has to walk by faith not by site. He has to trust God to provide for his needs daily. He has judges, parole officers, making his life very hard. He had a very deep hole to climb out of financially. So he can pray for God to protect him. But he can also pray for God to use these painful things to teach perseverance/rebuild character (very thing God's doing).
Let me end by giving you five ways to overcome evil.
First, refocus your hungers and thirsts on righteousness. You become what you feed, what you orient your heart around. Take lust. If you feed a sin all week long, you're an accident waiting to happen. But if instead you've nursed a holy desire all week long, you are a blessing waiting to happen. So what are you? An accident waiting to happen or a blessing?
Second, fully weigh the consequences. Take a temptation to its logical, most extreme conclusion. Jesus says in Mt 5:29-30 its better to gouge our your eye, or cut off your hand, then your whole body be thrown into hell. He's not suggesting we maim ourselves, but his point is literally true. Eternity lay in balance of temptation.
Third, safeguard your sensual nature. Choices lead to others choices; Sinful choices lead to harder and harder choices. Take the evil of abortion. We tell a mother, make the choice for life. But she cannot, the momentum is already there for her to kill her unborn child. So to stop abortion, we have to declare war on the choices that lead to that decision. So what are the chain of choices that lead to abortion? Or that lead to adultery, or murder, or drug abuse, or any other evil? What's the on-ramp? Once you know the precipitating choices, you can create safeguards. Good parenting creates safeguards. It says to a young woman, don't be with that boy, don't go to that party.
Fourth, develop prayer support. Ask people to pray for you. In the Lord's prayer, Jesus teaches us that prayer is an "us" thing not a "me" thing. Right?
Fifth, walk in God's mercy and grace. It's when you pray for deliverance, you realize how deeply you need God's grace, but also to forgive, as you've been forgiven...