Teach us to Pray, part 41: Lead us not into temptation

And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 'Give us each day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" (Luke 11:2-4 NASB) 

The word translated as "lead" is eispherō and means "lead into". McArthur cautions us against thinking that God tempts us to sin. "God does not tempt us (James 1:13), but He will subject us to trials that may expose us to Satan's assaults, as in the case of Job and Peter (Luke 22:31,32). This petition expressed the believer's desire to avoid the dangers of sin altogether." (MBC p 1133)

Matthew Henry explained further. "That temptations to sin should be as much dreaded and deprecated by us as ruin by sin; and it should be as much our care and prayer to get the power of sin broken in us as to get the guilt of sin removed from us." 

The very thought of sin should be so heinous to me that I would desire to avoid it at all costs. Our Lord gave a wonderful example when He taught His disciples to pray in this way. What I am saying with the words, "lead me not into temptation" is, in essence, that Satan would not be allowed to assail me in such a way, tempt me so severely, that I fail to stand firm. 

The model prayer in Matthew includes the request "but deliver us from evil" and that is the point of requesting that God not to "lead me into temptation". When temptation comes, I am to ask God to deliver me from it. 

Temptation can be appealing, tantalizing, exciting, can't it? In a very foolish way, I have not always wanted to avoid all temptation. When the temptation is severe, it is much easier to yield, and then give the enemy credit for the attack. In the words of Flip Wilson, "The devil made me do it." God, of course, is not deceived. Satan may have attacked, but I am the one who yielded. 

If I could only see Sin the way God sees it, if I could understood the horrible price that was paid and keep it in the forefront of my mind, I would not be so quickly enticed. The only solution, then, is to do what Jesus told us to do. I, we, must pray that we will not be led into temptation so great that we cannot avoid it. I must be diligent to pray for my own deliverance from evil. I must want to avoid evil, sin, wrongdoing, wrong thinking, wrong speaking.

I must remember that it is the temptation to sin, and the yielding that follows, that ultimately brings me to the consequences of sin. The price of sin is the very thing I must avoid, and that begins with avoidance at the very start. 

Join me, then, as I earnestly pray, "Lead me not into temptation." If sin will take us further than we ever meant to go, cost us more than we ever meant to pay, and keep us longer than we ever meant to stay, and it will, then let us hold firm. Let us refuse that first step on the journey of destruction and count on our Lord to help us, because He says He will. 

The Day that Rocked the World

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 

Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:1-10 NIV)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Easter story looks entirely different to me today. I'm not sure how I've missed this all these years! 

For the first time, it appears that the earthquake that rolled the stone back occurred while Mary Magdalene and Mary were standing there at the tomb. It was not just a low level shaking. I have seen tombs in Israel and the stones that cover them. It would take more than a gentle shake to move those stones. They are enormous, solid rock. 

Here's how it happened. Mary Magdalene and Mary almost certainly remembered that Jesus said He would rise on the third day. Even the priests and Pharisees remembered that He'd said it, so surely his disciples did. Maybe the two women were just brokenhearted and wanted to grieve at the tomb, but maybe they wanted to see for themselves, just in case. I can see this in my mind's eye and it absolutely astounds me. 

Mary Magdalene and Mary rushed up to the tomb, and the stone was still there. Their hearts probably sank for a minute. As is obvious from history, God loves the dramatic, and He threw in a little flare for the first believers on the scene. As the two women are standing there, God sends an "earthquake" that is a real "stone roller" and is really an angel rolling back the stone. The angel becomes visible and sits on the stone. 

The guards are there, as are the women. The guards see that stone rolling and are shocked, but when they look up and see the angel on the stone, they are so frightened that they faint dead away. Remember, the guards are there to prevent this very thing from happening. These are not wimp guards. These are tough Roman soldiers, unconscious on the ground.

The women were probably afraid, because the angel said what angels always say. "Fear not." I know that this is serious business, but this next part always strikes me as funny. The angel looked at the women and said, (this is the Leanna paraphrase, but check its accuracy above) "Jesus is already up and gone. Do you want to take a peek and see?" Women being women, of course they had to take a peek.

Here's what's amazing to me. If I had arrived on the scene and found the stone gone and the tomb empty, I would not have known what to believe. There would have been several explanations that could have fit the scene. Only one explanation fits what these women saw. The stone was there. The guards were there. The tomb was just like it had been when they last saw it, or so it seemed. As they watched, the stone rolled away, and the angel appeared. This was not a Lazarus moment. Jesus was already walking around in the garden. These women had no doubt that Jesus was risen because He was already gone when the stone moved.

When the angel told them Jesus was already on the way to Galilee, they were off like a rocket, heading to find the disciples and let them know. In their fear, and their joy, and their bolstered faith, (and their obedience to what the angel had said) they ran headlong into Jesus. 

Only rolling the stone away with witnesses present would have been enough to convince His disciples that Jesus' body had not been stolen. They had to be sure, and because of the way God orchestrated the events that early Resurrection morning, they were. 

God didn't sacrifice Himself to save us, only to complete the job in such a way that no one could be sure. He did even the last little bit of the job in such a way as to enhance our faith, to confirm our faith. He's in the details, and He made sure of every one.

We have a risen Savior, and we don't have to wonder or doubt. He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! 

Silent Saturday

And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave. 

Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.' Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first." Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how." And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone. (Matthew 27:59-66 NASB)

Despite all Jesus had told them ahead of time, His followers were shocked and heart-broken when He was crucified. They were devastated when they realized that He wasn't going to do a miracle and get Himself off that cross. He was dead and their world was shattered. The two women followed the body to the tomb, saw Him laid in the grave, saw the stone rolled over the entrance. 

He was gone. All hope of the Messiah, the new Kingdom was over. It was the end.

It was also the beginning, but no one knew that yet. 

It was the chief priests and Pharisees who expected something to happen, not his followers. The unbelievers remembered that Jesus had said He would rise after three days and they knew He did what He said He would. There was something in those unbelievers that believed He might rise, but there was also something more that believed a grand deception might be under way. They were taking no chances. The stone was already there, but they secured a seal on the stone and put guards before the stone. Jesus wasn't getting out of the grave if they could help it.

For the disciples, it was a terrible time. God was silent. They didn't know what to think, what to believe, much less what to do. They grieved. They wailed. They gnashed their teeth. They wept. Everything they had staked their lives for on the last few years was gone.

Most believers commemorate Good Friday and celebrate Easter, but we don't always take note of Silent Saturday. It is a deeply profound moment in time, however, because we so often experience those frightening days when our hope is shattered and God is silent. It is in those silent times that we are easily overwhelmed with desperation, thinking God has abandoned us, terrified that we will not survive our trial. 

It is in the silence, however, that God does some of His best work. It is in the silence that we learn to walk by faith and not by sight, that we learn the value of hope, the importance of perseverance. It is in the silent times that we stake our claim and learn to hold firm. It is in persevering through the silence that we learn to "own our faith" and become rock solid. We change from a Simon to a Peter.

Silence is a precious rarity but is a good way to acknowledge that God is still in charge, even when He is silent. He is still working out His plan, even when we can't see His hand. He is still on His throne, even when we feel He is gone. 

Today, spend some time in absolute silence. Let the phone ring unanswered. Let the emails wait. Take some time to be completely alone, totally silent, and meditate on the One who bring joy and light on the other side of the dark and the quiet. 

Be still and know that He is God.

Sunday is coming, with all the joy it brings, but don't forget to acknowledge Saturday. It's the beginning that makes Sunday so much sweeter.

Teach us to pray, part 40: The Price of Forgiveness

And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 'Give us each day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" (Luke 11:2-4 NASB)

There is no better topic for Good Friday than the issue of "forgive us our sins" and the price that was paid for that forgiveness. Understanding the price paid for forgiveness requires that we understand the need for forgiveness. On this early morning, the birds are filling the air with song, light is just beginning to fill the sky, and peace reigns, or so it appears. The stain of sin seems far removed, but the vision from which I shrink is the dark blot of sin in me. 

My preference is to think of myself as the daughter of the King of heaven, but that relationship was made possible only by the unbounded mercy that covered my sin. When God created this world and placed man (and woman) in it, He pronounced it good. There was nothing evil or wrong or bad in it. No sin. 

This is hard for me to comprehend, but there was no sin in Adam or Eve, either. There was choice, though, and it was that choice that ushered sin right in the door to its happy home in the hearts of humankind. It wasn't the serpent that brought sin into the world. He wrapped it in an attractive package, but it was mankind who unwrapped that package and embraced sin with open arms.

In their defense, Adam and Eve did not believe the consequences of sin would be so great, so far reaching. When Eve reached out for the fruit that would, she believed, make her wise, she was not yet a mother. She never once considered that her decision would result in one of her sons murdering the other, nor that the murdering son would be lost to her, as well. Would she or Adam have done something that would result in the loss of their two sons? Maybe not, if they had realized the price. 

That's one of the problems with sin. All we see is the enticing option. We never see the long-term cost. If we did, it might stop us in our tracks. It is the nature of sin, however, that the price is great and the payday is, many times, long in coming. If I am honest about my own sin, I have to admit that my bad choices, my sin, though long repented and forgiven, still reap a price years later. Sin is far more attractive than it should be. 

If we only knew the price, I think, and then I remember. We do know the price. God gave us the law, and we kept right on sinning. He allowed discipline and we responded by cleaning up our acts for a time, then, like a dog returning to its vomit, we went right back to the sin we loved. 

I had a horse that could not be broken once. I tried everything to gentle him, without success, then finally, reluctantly sold him. He did not have a good end, but, by the time of our parting, I had endured enough of him. He was welcome to whatever came his way. God, however, did not respond to our sin by giving up on us. He did not abandon us to our own wickedness. God, in His infinite mercy, said, "There is a price that must be paid for all of Leanna's sin, for all mankind's sin, and it is so high that I will have to pay it Myself." And He did. 

Scripture tells us about the cross. We know with our mind what it cost Christ to pay our debt, but our hearts cannot take it in. He endured terror and pain, death and shame, and He did it for me. For you.  

It is customary to spend some time considering the cross on Good Friday, but our time might be well spent in considering our compulsion to sin that made the cross necessary. For today, I'm asking God to show me my sin the way He sees it, to show me the ways in which my sin made the cross necessary. I know my sin. What I need to see, all over again, is how God sees my sin, for it is only when I see myself as I am that I can truly understand the enormity of what Jesus did for me, the horrific price He paid. We aren't meant to stay in this difficult place, but it is important to visit it long enough to appreciate the light that Christ bought for us. Join me today on this journey of self-enlightenment, this journey of darkness, as we see ourselves in the light of God and recognize our own unworthiness. 

Teach us to pray, part 39: Forgiving and Forgetting

And He said to them, "When you pray, say: ' Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 'Give us each day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" (Luke 11:2-4 NASB)

In the previous post, we learned that God forgives promptly, completely, and permanently. This is the way we are supposed to forgive, as well, but we have more difficulty than is necessary with forgiving, and it is frequently because we choose not to forget. 

I do not mean to be sexist with this next comment at all, but I'm pretty sure it's true. Men, in general, don't have much of a problem with forgiving and forgetting. Brooding on a slight, rehearsing it over and over, is something women do, and not uncommonly. I have seen women keep a hurt as fresh as the day it happened for decades.

I am not immune to this tendency. The last time someone deeply wounded me, I brooded for days over the slight. Finally, I had to accept the fact that neither understanding the motivation behind the wound nor understanding why the events unfolded as they did were necessary for me to forgive. Forgiveness was not optional, nor was forgetting. It turns out that forgetting is impossible as long as I rehash the event repeatedly every day. I had to take every thought captive. 

Of course, Satan wanted to bring thoughts of the event to mind. I could have easily continued to wallow in those thoughts, but I chose to quote scripture instead and, every time thoughts of the person and the wound arose, I combatted my tendency to anger and hurt by praying blessings for the person who had wounded me. As you can well imagine, the enemy fled in the face of that battle tactic. The Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is far more effective than we realize, and considerably underused.

Pride is often the root of my refusal to forgive and forget. As we know, God does not bless pride. Sometimes my unforgiveness reveals the pride I have hidden. This is an ongoing source of surprise for me, but a slight often results in considerable repentance on my part because my reaction to the slight reveals unrecognized sin in me!

Henry Ward Beecher  wrote "'I can forgive, but I cannot forget' is only another way of saying, 'I will not forgive.' Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two and burned up so that it never can be shown against one." Those days I spent brooding, "trying" to forgive, were exactly the attitude Beecher was addressing. Not forgetting was not forgiving. 

If God has forgiven the enormity of my sin (and He has), it is the height of arrogance when I refuse to forgive a slight that someone has caused me. If I am to ask God to forgive me as I forgive others, I cannot reasonably expect Him to forgive me when I refuse to forgive someone else.

There is something enormous that I have learned about forgiving and forgetting. It turns enemies into friends. There is greater power than we realize in choosing to forgive completely and to pray for our enemies. It frees us from the power of our hurts and it also frees us to love as Christ, who loved us while we were yet sinners, loves. 

Sue Freeman commented to an earlier post on forgiveness and her words carried such truth that they bear repeating. "Hatred can do more damage to the vessel in which it is stored than to the object on which it is poured." Unforgiveness damages us far more than it does the person we are refusing to forgive. 

If there is something you have failed to completely and permanently forgive, why not join me and choose to let it go today? The freedom to be found in forgiveness is worth the relinquishing of pride it requires. Let's stop pouring out unforgiveness and hatred and start pouring out forgiveness and the love of Christ instead. If we are to love as Christ loved, we must first forgive as Christ forgave.

Teach us to pray, part 38: Forgiving like God Forgives

And He said to them, "When you pray, say: ' Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 'Give us each day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" (Luke 11:2-4 NASB)

The issue of forgiveness is so vitally important to the life of a disciple that we are going to look at this subject in a bit more depth. In the Model Prayer recorded in Matthew's gospel, Jesus prayed, "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." In both accounts, the importance of forgiving others in order to have our own sins forgiven is clear. The problem is that I, of course, want my own sins forgiven promptly. The sins of others toward me, however, tend to loom larger than my own, and I am not as quick to forgiveness as I want God to be toward me. This should not be.


If I want the forgiveness of God, I need to forgive like He forgives. A brief look at the way God forgives draws a sharp contrast between my own tendency toward a form of forgiveness and His utterly complete forgiveness.

1) God forgives promptly. If we confess our sins, He forgives us. He doesn't make us wallow in shame or beg repeatedly to wear Him down for forgiveness. When we confess, He forgives. We should offer that same promptness in forgiveness. (1 John 1:9)
2) God forgives completely. He removes our sin "as far as the east is from the west". (Psalm 103:12) and sweeps them away like a cloud. "Isaiah 44:22)
3) God forgives permanently. God forgives and forgets. He blots out our sins and remembers them no more, rather than bringing them back up over and over again. He does not continued to rehearse our sin to keep them memory fresh. (Isaiah 43:25)

If God forgives promptly, completely, and permanently, then I, too, should forgive promptly, completely, and permanently. We will look at "forgiving and forgetting" in more detail tomorrow, but Scripture makes it clear that I cannot hold on to the hurts of others if I want to have forgiveness myself. 

Corrie ten Boom said that forgiveness is an act of the will. Martin Luther King described forgiveness as an attitude. "Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude." When there is something to forgive, I must choose to forgive it. I must also choose not to rehearse it over and over again, which requires that I take every thought captive. If thoughts of the offense recur, my job is to recall that offense only as forgiven and move on.

Forgiveness is a choice. God chooses to forgive us, and so should we forgive others. This Holy Week, we celebrate the forgiveness purchased for us on the cross by Christ. As we thank Him for the price He paid, let us also forgive those who have offended us, and do it just as thoroughly, just as promptly, and just as permanently as God has forgiven us.