Resisting Temptation and Choosing Not to Sin

I didn't expect to do a mini-series, but it seems a shame to move on without finishing the Lord's prayer. Today, we're looking at the last of the six "requests" in the model prayer. 

You probably remember that there are three God-centered requests (hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done) and three me-centered requests (daily bread, forgiveness, protection from temptation.)

When Jesus prayed, "Lead us not into temptation," He was not implying that God tempts us. The NLT is, I believe, more in line with His intent. It translates this verse as, "Don't let us yield to temptation."

The root from which the word translated as "lead" is derived comes from a word which means "to carry along." It might be used to describe being "carried along by the wind..." 

James, half-brother of Jesus, tells us that temptation is not from God. (James 1:13) He does, however, lead us to situations in which we will be tempted. One example of this is when the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, at which time He endured the temptation of the evil one. (Luke 4:1) 

The goal of allowing the temptation is always to refine us, strengthen us, and demonstrate the power of God in our lives. It's not to see us fail.

When Jesus prayed that we not be led into temptation, He was saying, (Leanna Paraphrase) "When you lead me to the place of temptation, either keep me strong or rescue me, but don't let me yield to it." 

I don't always pray like this. Usually, I save my "don't let me yield" prayers until the midst of temptation.

Jesus didn't wait until the last minute to pray for deliverance. He was intentional. When you decide before hand to be sinless for the duration of your life, you do what it takes to avoid yielding to the evil one, including praying in advance for help in standing firm. When the redemption of the world is depending on your sinlessness, you choose not to sin from the start.

It's the kind of prayer Jesus intended us to pray, as well, because He presumed we, too, would want to be sinless. 

Therein lies the rub. Do we want to be sinless or not?

Ponder that for a few moments if you dare.

If we want to be sinless, we'll do what it takes to get there and stay there. We'll beg God to help us in advance, to keep us strong, to protect us from yielding. We'll avoid situations that set us up from failure. 

Instead of staying home from the work God has assigned us, as David did, we'll continue about our Father's business. 

Instead of walking on the rooftop and gazing at a stunning temptation until we give in, we'll flee the temptation. 

Instead of inviting our temptation into our home, we'll run the other direction. 

Avoiding temptation can be done in the heat of the moment, when we are at our weakest, but it's best begun in advance. 

Do we entertain the idea of sin? Do we indulge the enticement? If so, resisting when temptation comes will be hard to do. 

Temptation is coming to us all. The choice to yield is up to us. If we want to avoid sin, let's make a choice now. Do we want help in resisting? Ask for it in advance.

We may not resist every time, but we'll come a lot closer if we pray for protection from yielding ahead of time.

"And don't let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Matthew 6:13 NLT
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In case you missed it, here's the link for yesterdays post: Praying for What We Should Instead of What We Want

If you feel led to partner with this ministry (US, Jordan, the digital world), here's the link to give your tax-deductible donations: Global Outreach Acct 4841 

Or you can mail your check or money order to: Global Outreach/ PO Box 1, Tupelo MS 38802. Be sure to put Account 4841 in the "for" line.

#prayer #temptation

Maggie Speaks Out: Eye Protection

The ever-amazing Maggie the Wonder Dog is guest blogging again today. In case you haven't met her, she's a six-year old Shih Tzu who can dance like a ballerina, sneak like a spy, and herd cows like a border collie. 

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Yes. That's me, wearing glasses. 

I've had a tough two weeks. I had a huge corneal abrasion in my left eye and it hurt bad. Ouch. My mama said it was as big as a pencil eraser. Big. Anyway, my mama had to put eye salve in my eye. It was messy and gooey and kinda yucky, but it did make my eye feel better. It didn't make it well, though. No salve now. I have eye drops every two hours. We are busy around here.

Yesterday, I went back to see Dr. Black. He shined a light in my eye and said my hurt place is better but still not well. Thank you for praying. I hate to say this, but you need to pray some more. You have to keep going until the job is done. Don't quit now! Pray for Maggie the Wonder Dog's eye! Tell everyone.

I still have two hurt places. They're big for corneal abrasions, but not as big as an eraser, so that's good. 

Sometimes, doctors do the most unusual things. Dr. Black said, "This might be dead tissue. I need to check." Couldn't he tell I was alive? No. He took a Q-tip and rolled it over my eyeball! I was shocked. No one has ever rolled a Q-tip over my eyeball before and I hope they never do it again. 

My eye wasn't dead. (I could've told him that without the Q-tip torture.) It was a scar. I do not like scars. That is too much like scare, and scars scare me. So I need you to pray my scar gets well. Please and thank you. (My mama told me to say that.)

Now comes the shocking part. Dr. Black said dogs like me (Shih Tzu's) are prone to eye injuries and I need to be careful not to get hurt again. My mama was already on it.

Yesterday, my mama said, "You girls stay here. I'm walking to the mailbox. Your surprise might be here." When she came back with a box, I thought, "Oh, good. Jerky." It was not jerky. It was glasses. For me. Someone should talk to my mama about treats and surprises. Guinea pig sisters and glasses are not good surprises, even if the sister surprise turned out okay in the end.

It is good that my mama picked a cute style but it is not good to wear glasses. I can hardly hold my head up when I wear them and the wind can't ruffle my eyelashes. 

My mama said, "Maggie, we have to be careful with your little eyes. You don't want another hurt, do you?" I do not. Then, she started singing. She is always singing. 

"Oh, be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see." 

My mama told me that some humans have a little trouble protecting their eyes, too. They will look at anything. They will read anything. They will watch anything. Even if it is not nice.

Here's the rule at our house:

 If you don't want to show it to Jesus, you don't need to look at it, either. 

Mama said some people will think I've gone to meddling now, but that's okay. Eyes are very important. What goes in your eyes goes straight to your brain. When it gets in your brain, it goes straight to your heart. I think there's a song about that, too. The eye bone's connected to the brain bone. The brain bone's connected to the heart bone. Well, maybe not. But that's how it works. 

If you don't want something that is not nice getting caught in your heart and having to ask Jesus to get it out, you better not look at it, read it, or watch it. I don't have to tell you what's not nice. You know. If Jesus wouldn't like it, it's not nice.

Here's the Wonder Dog Lesson of the Day:

Protect your eyes.

That's the short version, so we can all remember. If Jesus doesn't like it, you shouldn't either. And wear your glasses. If you can hold your head up off the ground.

The end. By Maggie the Wonder Dog.

ps - Don't forget to pray about my scar! Thanks. Maggie.

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In case you missed any of the past week's posts, here are the links:  Maggie The Wonder Dog and the Hurt Eye, Maggie: Avoiding the Light, Maggie: Sister Love and the Body of Christ, Maggie: Forgiving and Forgetting, Maggie: Being Light, The Grateful Heart: Predawn Stillness, The Grateful Heart: Orchestration of God, and The Grateful Heart: Avoiding Distraction.

The most read posts of the past week: (for the first time ever there's a tie) Maggie:Forgiving and Forgetting and Maggie: Being Light.

Here's the link to The Clay Papers, (a collection of stories about pottery class and becoming what the potter intends) available as an e-book for personal use or to send as a gift for only 99 cents. 

Here's the link for The Road to Bethlehem: An Advent Prayer and Devotional Guide, available on Amazon for 99 cents e-book. Paperback $6.00 (Also available to send as an e-gift)

#MaggietheWonderDog #cornealabrasion #purity #JesusChrist

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. 

Battle in the Wilderness: Avoiding Opportunity (Luke 4:13, 1 Peter 5:8,9)

When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:13 NASB)

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. (1 Peter 5:8, 9 NASB)


What a relief it must have been when the time of testing was over! How wonderful for the tempter to be through for a while! It's important to understand, however, that the devil had only taken a break from tempting "until an opportune time."  Jesus had fasted in the wilderness for forty days. From the devil's perspective, He was at a weak point, at least physically. Unfortunately for the tempter, Jesus may have been weak physically, but His spirit was strong, and He drew on the truth He had stored in His heart.

Peter tells us that the enemy of our soul "prowls about like a roaring lion" looking for easy prey to trap and defeat. The Message describes him as "ready to pounce". Times of physical weakness are certainly an opportune time for temptation. We are vulnerable to temptation when we are tired, sick, or  physically uncomfortable in some way. We are also vulnerable to the devil's temptation when we are weak spiritually. When we encounter disappointment, grief, anger, or failure, we often find ourselves snuggling up to those emotions rather than our Heavenly Father. It puts us in a terribly vulnerable spot.

If the enemy is watching for a weak moment, ready to poune on us and defeat us, how can we defend ourselves? Peter said we are to be on the alert. Pay attention and recognize those thoughts that clearly do not come from God because they are not consistent with His nature, and resist. We do not have to follow every impulse that comes our way.

We also need to be faithful to do what Jesus clearly had done. Study and memorize Scripture. He had a ready answer for every temptation because He was prepared in advance. He also paid attention to those Scriptures when the Spirit brought them to mind. It would have been easy to ignore that verse about not living by bread alone and turn the stone into a loaf of bread. Instead, when that truth came to His mind by the prompting of the Spirit, he listened and used it to His advantage.

Pray today that, at every temptation, the truth our  loved ones learned as children will come to mind. Pray too that they will listen to the prompting of the Spirit and make right choices. Pray that, in making better, wiser choices, they will be drawn back to our Lord. Pray, too, that we will be faithful to obey as well.