Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Oh my goodness how deceptive evil things are! And how quickly we fall for the lies. I read a book once that gave an example of a hill and how holiness is on the top, while sin is on the bottom. It is easy to understand that it does not take much effort to roll down the hill and fall into evil, while it takes lots of time, effort and intentionality to climb up the steep hill towards righteousness. This is one of the reasons why it is vital that we pray for God’s help.
Sin is like the evil One behind it, it promises us all sorts of pleasures and comfort, while giving us only false & counterfeit peace, joy and righteousness. If it gives us anything at all, it is only temporary and we are usually worse off because of falling for the lies. But what I love is that word “deliver.” This speaks about how God will, not only help us avoid evil, but that He will deliver us from it.
The more we grow in Christ, the more united with, & surrendered to Him we are, the less evil will draw us in, and we will indeed be delivered from it. The more delivered we are, the less that evil thing, and the one behind it, will have power over us and the less we will act like our old, sinful self. This is the process we call Sanctification…and praying this beautiful prayer, often, can help us stay attach to Jesus and become more and more like Him, free from all sin just like we were always intended to be.
<>< Peace, Diane
