The Lord's Prayer

[OneAccord]

FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES (cont.)

This verse 'Forgive us our trespasses' begs the question of continual forgiveness. We know that the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross was once and for all, so why would the Lord include this in a pattern prayer, assuming most people who pray this are His chosen/elect, and have already recieved the forgiveness He offers by His blood?

We are forgiven once and for all, and yet we still wrestle with our flesh and sin in our lives.

In 1 John 1:9 Amplified Version it says If we freely admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought and action].

God's forgiveness is continuous, our purification is not a done deal when we recieve Him on the day of our salvation, it is an ongoing process. On God's part, He extends continuous forgiveness, enduring mercy, on our part we need to humble down and recognize our continous need for it.

This continual need of God's grace and working in our lives is evidenced in each verse in this personal petition part of the Lord's Prayer. We may recognize that God provides, and trust in Him to give us our daily bread, as He always has, but we still have a continuous need for it. We still have a continous need for His forgiveness, we still need to ask of Him to lead us not into temptation on an ongoing basis.

Ask and keep on asking, we are not yet complete, we are works in progress. We don't just pray the Lord's Prayer once and it's done, we need to pray this way for the rest of our earthly lives.

[OneAccord]

AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US

AS

Here's an interesting little word. This word 'as' is the bridge between the previous verse where we are asking forgiveness for our own trespasses to this verse where we are to be forgiving others.

Here's Webster's:

AS: To such a degree or extent

Like

In like manner

This little word 'as' is asking us to forgive others in LIKE MANNER or TO SUCH A DEGREE OR EXTENT as we are asking and expecting God to forgive us!!!!!!! Ponder that, my fellow Christian!

WE

'We' means the whole church, which is comprised of each individual in the same ways that the ocean is comprised of many drops of water.

Again we are reminded that this is a collective prayer--all who are in the church, the body of Christ, are comissioned to this ministry of forgiveness to "those who trepass against us".

FORGIVE

Webster's:

FORGIVE: to cease to feel resentment against

to give up a claim on account of (debt)

to grant remission of an offense, debt, or penalty

to pardon

to free from the consequences of an injurious crime

This is the story of the cross---God sent His only beloved begotten Son to die a brutal death in order to forgive us our sin--and not only did Jesus Christ do that for us but here He is commissioning us to forgive others in like manner.

It is not my intent to get into a discourse on forgiveness here, although it is a core Biblical theme, the nuts and bolts of salvation. I do however want to impress upon you that here hidden in the very heart of the Lord's Prayer is a call for the church to the ministry of forgiveness.

In my mind, this is very important, as this prayer is powerful in its brevity, it is streamlined down to the barebones, and forgiving others is one of the essentials that we see here.

And who are we to forgive?

THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US

Not only are humans busy sinning against God but also against each other!

God is in the business of forgiving those who trespass against Him, and we are to be in the same business of forgiving those who trespass against us. "Those who trespass against us" is all-inclusive. Jesus has plenty of teachings on this. As a church and as individuals we are to forgive those who persecute us, and not only to forgive but to bless them! We are to overcome evil with good, we are to love our enemies, not just the brethren, and so on.......

This is contrary to our sin nature. We want to keep account, eye for an eye, we want to see justice done in like measure. But forgiveness is a law in the kingdom of God! It is the ultimate act of love, which is the supreme law, the law of laws! We are called to conform to the image of Christ, to have His mind, and therefore to forgive in like manner as we ask God for our own forgiveness.

[OneAccord]

AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US (cont.)

Unforgiveness breeds hate, condemnation, unrighteous judgement and enmity. We are not called to unforgiveness, in the same way that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world (John 3:17). We are called out as laborers together with Christ (1 Cor 3:9) and we are called to a "ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor 15: )

When Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom, He gave him authority to bind and loose (Matt 16:19). Condemnation and unforgiveness binds, just as the sinner is bound under Satan until he recieves the forgiveness of God, so are we able to bind our brother and our enemy in the cords of unforgiveness.

In John 20:23, Jesus made a very amazing statement as He was commissioning the apostles to send them forth. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." I think that most saints don't truly grasp the import of these words! When you do not forgive someone you are retaining their sins!!!!

This word "retain" in the Greek is Krateo and according to Strong's it means:

to have power, be powerful

to be chief, be master of, to rule

to get possession of

to become master of, to obtain

to take hold of

to take hold of, take, seize

to lay hands on one in order to get him into one's power

to hold

to hold in the hand

to hold fast, i.e. not discard or let go

to keep carefully and faithfully

to continue to hold, to retain

of death continuing to hold one

to hold in check, restrain

This is very interesting in light of the verse at hand. When we do not forgive (remit, release) a sin, (and in this case it is actually somebody else's sin, the sins of any), we are 'taking hold of' them, 'siezing' them, 'becoming master of' them, 'having power' over them. We spiritually have this person bound, yet we are given also the authority to loose them in forgiveness. This is a pretty heavy responsibility!

Here in the very center of the Lord's Prayer, the pattern prayer for those who call themselves disciples of Christ, we find this statement "as we forgive those who trespass against us." It is inserted in such a way that it almost assumes that we understand this, that when we stand before God with our confessions, asking Him to forgive us this day, we are also bound to confess the sins of others as well. The forgiveness we recieve is not to stop with us, but to flow forth out of our hearts unto our neighbor as well. What a beautiful principle!

o/

Oh dear Lord, I thank You that You would lead us into all truth, that You are ever-present to lead us in the paths of righteousness. I pray You would impress upon the hearts of every saint that bears Your precious name the kingdom principle of forgiveness. Help us to see in the Spirit the power that is wrought in every act of forgiveness. I pray that the Love with which You so love the world would increase and abound in exceeding abundance, wider, deeper, higher, and broader with each act of forgiveness. Oh Father help us to grow in to the fullness of this ministry of forgiveness for Your sake. \o

[tov]

I just finished a new tune.

It includes The Lord's Prayer & 3 Kingdom parables

I hope you like it...

http://phenomi.net/153fish/kingdom.html

[Snowdoove]

re: The Lord's Prayer

Last year, when I was in the hospital for colon cancer, my neighbour Lois, gave a a ceramic cross with the Lord's Prayer written on it.

This week as I got out of bed I looked over and saw the prayer and then a light bulb started flashing before my eyes ~

Yeshua wrote this prayer over 2,000 years ago knowing that over time, His people would be saying this prayer day in and day out. (or should be)

He knew then and Now that SIN would be a problem for everyone thru the years.

I guess sometimes I am slower at catching on, then others.

I believe I understand the whole meaning now. :t:

Snowdoove :il:

[OneAccord]

LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

This is a really interesting passage. At first glance it seems pretty cut and dry---we are to ask God not to lead us into temptation, not to challenge us, not to test us. In other words, "Lead us down Easy Street, don't give us anything too hard that might cause us to stumble." This appears to be a cry issuing from our desire to escape temptation and testing.

But in a deeper examination of this verse, it is much more complex than that. There is much hidden in these five words. Let's open up this scripture and search out the hidden treasure buried within.

Here, as in every other part of the Lord's Prayer, we see a major Biblical theme--temptation. This is a themes that runs through the entire Bible, from the opening scene in the Garden of Eden to the overcoming ones in the Book of Revelation. We see temptation at every turn, in every narrative, pracitcally on every page. Not even Jesus escaped temptation, it is woven throughout the gospels as well.

So what is temptation and what is the purpose of it?

TEMPTATION comes from the verb TEMPT which in Webster's means:

to try, to test, to prove

to seduce

to entice to an act which is evil, immoral or unwise

to invite or allure

to try the patience of or provoke

to put to a test

TEMPTATION is the act of tempting OR the state of being tempted (we'll look at both sides of this later)

The Hebrew and Greek words for "tempt" are also translated as "test" or "trial" in various translations. Temptation is thus the vehicle through which we are tested or tried.

And what is being tested or tried? The character of the one being tempted! Every time a temptation is put into our path, we are essentially being put on trial to prove our character, to see whether we would choose the blessing or the curse, the good or the evil, life or death (Deut 30:19). The Book of Job is a wonderful illustration of this.

The entire Book of Proverbs is a handbook of the art of overcoming temptations. It clearly delineates the choices we are given between the Faithful Wife and the Harlot, Wisdom and Folly, in the opening chapters. The Harlot is portrayed graphically as a master temptress, standing practically side by side with Wisdom, both of them crying out the the people to come to them--yet one leads to life and the other to death. What an awesome picture of temptation! The rest of the book is filled with proverbs that show the contrast between the consequences of our choices. The whole book is literally pleading with us, the sons and daughters of God, to choose the paths of righteousness.

The very first temptation was, of course, that of Adam and Eve--in which the first Adam chose the way that leads to death and mankind has been living in the fallout zone of that yielding ever since.

But Christ, the last Adam, was tempted in all points the same way, (Hebrews 4:15) yet came forth as gold (Job 23:10)---He was the overcomer and He got the victory and is now leading His children in the way that leads to life, reversing the destruction and curse that was wrought when the first Adam succumbed to the seductress.

Every character in the Bible was tempted, some falling, some walking in victory. Each story is meant as an ensample for us (1 Cor 10:11), as in like manner, every one of us must be confronted with temptation, not just once but many times over in our lifetime. Even daily in the small matters, and at key points in our lives with grand trials and tribulations. Our response to each temptation defines or demonstrates our character. We either come forth as pure gold (Job 23:10), as overcomers (Rev 21:7), as one washed with the fuller's soap (Malachai 3:3), OR we fall into the snares, nets, and traps laid by the fowler (Prov 7:22,23).

[OneAccord]

LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION (cont)

James said "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved (proved), he will recieve the crown of life...."(James 1:12)

If we are blessed when we endure temptation, then why would Jesus teach us to pray "Lead us not into temptation?"

I have spent many days contemplating this question. If temptation is the crucible that would try us and prove us, why would we pray to avoid it? How are we to be crowned as overcomers if we pass over that which we must overcome? I don't have a definitive answer but I have some thoughts I would share on this seeming paradox.

1. We may be asking not to be led into temptation greater than we can bear. (1 Cor 10:13) This seems like a weak explanation of the verse, but we do know there is a Great Temptation, the Hour of Trial in Rev 3:10 which says "Because you have kept my command to perservere, I will also keep you from the hour of trial which shall come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."

This is an interesting verse, because what could perservering be but to resist and overcome various temptations and trials (those that are common to man) that beset us on our journey, yet there is an hour of trial that He promises to deliver us from. In this hour the whole world will be tested.......who will stand?? In 1 Cor 10:13 we see that "no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man", and yet this hour of trial will be more than that which is common, therefore He will provide the way of escape for us. So here it appears He will lead us not into a temptation greater than we could bear.

2. We may be asking to be led through and beyond temptation rather than into. This little word INTO might be the key to this verse.

INTO: A motion or direction toward the inner part of a place or thing (Webster's)

What lies in the inner part of temptation, at the very heart of temptation? The Evil One! The next verse in the prayer is 'deliver us from the evil one'. Satan, the evil one, is lurking in the heart or inner part of every temptation with his snares and nets and traps and pits (Prov 1:10-15). When we come INTO a temptation we risk falling right into his hands.

When we ask our Father to lead us not INTO temptation, we are asking Him to lead us straight on through the temptation, on the path of righteousness, straying neither to the right nor to the left. We are asking Him not to lead us INTO the hands of the evil one, lying in wait in the inner part of the temptation, but to deliver us!

Just as He led Israel through the Red Sea, He will make a way of escape for us! This is how we endure temptation! But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.(1 Cor 10:13)

The path of righteousness wil lead us through every temptation that besets us. We are counselled to "Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil."

Lord, lead us not into temptation but lead us in Your paths of righteousness, where Your Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Thank you for leading us, help us to follow You.

[OneAccord]

LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION (cont)

There is one more aspect of temptation we should explore before we move on to the next verse in the prayer. First, however, I want to look at the word LEAD, since in a prayer of such concision every word is important and has much to reveal.

LEAD (Webster's)

to guide or conduct by showing the way, route, course

to command, govern, direct

to hold first place in order, rank, position

to induce or influence

When we speak this prayer, "Lead us not into temptation" we are asking God to guide us and show us the way, the route, the course that leads out of temptation, away from temptation, beyond temptation. We are asking Him to induce or influence our will that we would make right choices and avoid unpleasant outcomes or provoke Him. We are asking Him to command, govern and direct our paths (Prov 3:6). We are asking Him to take first place in order, rank, and position in our lives.

Our response after asking Him to lead must be to follow. He cannot lead us unless we are yielded over to Him, willing to obey, listening to His voice and responsive to His comforting rod of correction which He uses to keep us on the narrow way, for our certain good.

God was often accusing the children of Israel of being stiff-necked and of doing what was right in their own eyes instead of what was right in His sight. There He was going before them where all could see in a pillar of cloud and pillar of fire (Ex 13:21,22), leading them with a strong arm and a mighty hand, giving them clear, precise instruction through the mouth of Moses, yet again and again they went astray, again and again fell into temptation. No wonder God was provoked to wrath!! Would that we had such signs and wonders leading us!! They were apparently not very good followers.

So when we pray asking Him to lead, we should pray that He give us a heart of wisdom to follow, a submissive spirit. This should be characteristic of our entire relationship with God--a desire to follow after Him, to walk in His ways, to allow Him to lead.

And so this one word LEAD opens up into yet another major Biblical principle. Our relationship as a follower. Jesus said to His disciples, Follow Me. How else could they follow but trusting Him to lead?

Back to temptation:

In our definition of 'temptation' we saw that it is the state of being tempted OR the act of tempting. It's a two-way street. We can either be victims of enticement like the simple man in Proverbs 7 OR we can be guilty of the act of temptation. When we pray "Lead us not into temptation" we tend to think of it as asking God not to allow us to succumb to an immoral seductress or deception, but it is also entirely possible that we may be snared in the trap of temptation by becoming the tempter ourselves!! We do this by tempting God!!!

Apparently tempting God is pretty darned serious. One of Jesus' rebukes to Satan in the famous wilderness temptation was "You shall not tempt the Lord your God." What did He mean by this? God cannot be tempted in the way that we think of temptation. He was quoting a verse in Deut 6:16 that said, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God, as you tempted Him in Massah." What happened in Massah? In Ex 17:7 the children of Israel tempted God when they complained against Moses when he led them to a place with no water to drink. Their complaint was born out of a lack of trust, thus they asserted their unbelief by testing God, tempting Him. In the same way that Satan was attempting to get Jesus to yield to a testing of God's ability to save Him if He jumped off a cliff.

This sin of tempting God is so serious in fact, that the first generation of Israelites delievered out of bondage were not allowed to see the promised land, because"they have put Me to the test now these ten times" (Num 14:22) Ten times!!! Every one of these times had to do with a lack of trust, with unbelief even though they had witnessed His mighty signs and wonders many times.

So we must conclude that lack of faith and unbelief cause us to tempt God! Murmuring and complaining are an evidence of a lack of trust in God! Wow! Lead us not into this temptation!

In 1 Cor 10:9 Paul has been reviewing the sins of Israel in the wilderness and admonishes "Nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents" and 10 "Nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer". The Amplified Bible renders the word 'tempt' in this verse to say "try His patience, become a trial to Him, critically appraise Him, exploit His goodness". There's a lot of meat in the Amplified definition of tempting God. Think about it.

Complaining is in a sense "charging God with wrong". When Job tore his robe, shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship he said, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away" (Job 1:21). In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. (Job 1:22) Later in 2:10 he said, "Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" Job was given every opportunity to tempt God, even his wife encouraged him to, but he did not yield. This is how God desired the children of Israel to trust in Him in their wilderness wanderings, and this is what He desires from each one of us. Pray earnestly for that kind of faith, dear saints.

So in conclusion, the Lord's Prayer, or rather, the Disciple's Prayer as some would call it, would not be complete if it didn't ask us to look at the substance of our faith and trust in the Lord. We might be beset with trials and tribulations from without that we must endure and overcome, but one of the snares hidden in each trial will be an opportunity to tempt God by doubting His ability and desire to lead us, most obvious evidenced by a complaining spirit.

Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in Him.

Oh Lord, lead us not into temptation, help us to have faith without doubting, for without faith it is impossible to please you. Lead us into greater revelation of Your Word that our faith would increase thereby. :hug:

[OneAccord]

DELIVER US FROM EVIL

Here, yet again, we come to a segment of the Lord's Prayer that is so simple and concise and yet is so wrought with meaning it would take a lifetime to truly plumb the depths of this verse. The theme of deliverance is synonymous with salvation, and the realm of evil is vast. This verse runs deep. The concept of salvation is contained in these four words, and it is a recurring theme throughout the entire Bible and in the life of every believer.

"Deliver us from evil" is the climax of the personal petition part of this prayer of prayers. Not only do we require a leader and a guide because of all the snares and traps of temptation, but we are still in need of deliverance from evil.

Every Christian who speaks this prayer has already experienced the salvation of the Lord in the day when we first cried out to Jesus with a broken and contrite heart. In that moment we were born again, a new creature, washed clean, and utterly forgiven. Col 1:4 He has delivered us from the power of the darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. All that was required of us was to cry out to Him, God parted the Red Sea and provided the Way.

In the Old Testament, Moses, Joshua, the many judges of Israel, in fact all the heroes of the OT whom God raised up every time His chosen people cried out, were merely types and shadows of the One who got the final victory for all at Calvary.

And yet here we find Jesus teaching His disciples to pray for deliverance from evil. We have already been delivered from the house of bondage, set free from slavery to sin and Satan (Romans 6:6), but we apparently need to continue to cry out for deliverance. The journey was not over once Israel passed through the Red Sea, but rather had just begun. They had a continuous need for God's presence and leading as they wandered the great wilderness. Even after they entered the promised land to claim their inheritance, their need for a deliverer was constant, as they had enemies on every side, including and especially, their own wicked hearts.

And so it is for us. The Old Testament stories are much like 'A Pilgrim's Progress', types and allegories of the spiritual struggles each of us are faced with, all the evil that must be overcome in order to find rest for our souls. This, dear saints, is spiritual warfare.

Jesus instructed His disciples to pray "Deliver us from evil" because when we got born again, we didn't magically get translated into the glorious city of New Jerusalem. On the contrary, we are still in the world, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one (1 John 5:19). In John 17:15 Jesus prayed on behalf of all 'those who will believe in Me' (17:20) saying "I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one." We are no longer of the world, we are of the kingdom of heaven, yet we are still in the world. Therefore we still have daily need for our Deliverer. Therefore we must continually remember to cry out, "Deliver us from evil!!"

To be continued......

[OneAccord]

DELIVER US FROM EVIL (cont.)

DELIVER

Our English word "deliver" has it's roots in the Latin 'liberare' which means to set free or liberate.

Webster's defines deliver:

(1) To carry and turn over to the intended recipients things such as letters or goods. In this case it is our lives and souls that are being delivered. God carried His children on Eagle's wings (Ex 19:4) and the intended recipient was Himself. Today we have Jesus carrying us in His hands to bring us to the Father.

(2) To give into another's possession or keeping. We are being delivered from Satan, sin, darkness and evil into God's keeping, we have become God's possession, His peculiar treasure.(1 Peter 2:9)

(3) To set free or liberate. This is the most common notion of Biblical deliverance. Jesus announced at the very beginning of His ministry His mission to deliver when He recited Isaiah 61:1,2 in the synagogue in Luke 4:16-21.

".........to proclaim liberty to the captives........ to set at liberty those who are oppressed......." The Amplified Bible translates "set at liberty" as "send forth as delivered".

(4) To release or save, as from evil or trouble

(5) To aid in the process of giving birth or being born. I want to discuss this facet of deliverance later as it holds some wonderful truths.

US

Again the ever-present reminder throughout this prayer of the need to pray not only for ourselves but for ALL our brethren.

FROM

These little words surprise me with how much meaning they hold. They are not as insignificant as one might think, and often help to throw yet more light on a verse.

Websters:

A particle or functioning word specifying:

(1) A starting point, source or origin. In the context of this verse it is important to note that the starting point, source or origin is EVIL.

(2) A removal or separation in space, time, or order. Separation is an important Biblical concept; basically being called, set apart, & sanctified, like the priests in Leviticus. In this context deliverance from evil means being set apart, separated out of, sancitifed from evil. We could also say being made holy. "Be ye separate and be ye holy". Pretty significant, eh?

(3) Discrimination, distinction, as in 'one from another'. We see this distinction between God's people and the nations in several motifs in the Bible. The separating of the sheep from the goats (Matt 25:32), the wheat from the tares (Matt 13:30). God's people have a mark or seal that makes them distinct (Rev 7:3), Israel had the circumcision. We are called to be a peculiar people, a royal priesthood. In our deliverance from evil, we should bear a distinction or mark.

The Greek word for 'from' is APO and is defined in an online Hebrew/Greek lexicon as:

"Separation of one thing from another by which the union or fellowship of the two is destroyed."

Wow! In other words, our fellowship or union with evil is destroyed as we are separated out of it. What an awesome picture of deliverance and salvation is contained in this little word 'from'!!!

EVIL

The Greek word for 'evil' is PONEROS:

full of labors, annoyances, hardships, perils

bad, of a bad nature or condition

physical-diseased or bad

ethical-evil, wicked or bad

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word RA is used for evil and has a wide spectrum of defitnitions and translations assigned to it-----evil, bad, misery, pain, adversity, affliction, disaster, calamity, harm, wickedness, on and on and on.

Webster's defines evil:

"Morally wrong, sinful, wicked, repulsive, bad, harmful, characterized by misfortune or suffering, disastrous, due to bad character or conduct, and so on and so on.

Here in Matthew 6:13 in the Lord's Prayer, the Greek word for evil is used in the nominative sense, better translated as The Evil and sometimes translated as The Evil One--implying Satan. Evil in this sense implies the collective evil, all evil.

This word 'evil' paints a pretty broad picture and there is seemingly no end to the manifestations of this RA or PONEROS. We live right in the midst of a world filled with evil, and we in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. (Phillipians 2:15) Not only that, but before we recieved Christ as our Deliverer we were captives of evil, prisoners of evils, slaves to evil, even lovers of evil! Yikes!!

This collective evil is the 'spirit of the anti-christ', encompassing all that is not of Christ. The forces of good and evil, the Christ and the anti-christ, the annointed and the defiled, are polar opposites. We humans live either in one realm or the other. We are subject either to Christ in the kingdom of God, or to the anti-christ in the kingdom of darkness. One or the other reigns over our hearts and lives. In Deut 30:19 God made it black and white for the children of Israel. I call heaven and earth today as witness against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing (good and evil); therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. Joshua also called them to "choose ye this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15).

The moment we pledged our heart to Jesus we were delivered from the power of darkness. The day that Israel passed through the Red Sea they were delivered from bondage to Pharoah, a type of the devil. And yet evil was still a constant presence even though the Lord had established His temple right at the center of their camp and likewise in our own hearts.

There is a saying that goes "we have met the enemy and the enemy is us!" There is also a great Native american prayer that says, "O Great Spirit, give me strength to fight my greatest enemy, myself!" Who was Israel's greatest enemy? Surely not the inhabitants of Canaan? God promised them total victory if only they obeyed His commandments. Surely not the Pharoah or the many kings dwelling in the land? God had already shown them that He would prevail when He took out Pharoah in a seemingly impossible situation, as well as the kings of Og and Sihon.

No, Israel's greatest enemies were themselves. We see over and over again that they did evil in the sight of the Lord, even after their initial deliverance. It was because of their own evil every single time that they were not able gain a complete and absolute victory in claiming their inheritance.

The prophet Jeremiah in chapter 17:6 tells us that "the heart is deceitful above ALL things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?" And Jesus teaches us in Mark 7:20-23 "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. ALL these evil things come from within and defile a man."

Today God has set up His tabernacle right in the center of the heart of every believer and yet sin and evil still abound in our flesh. Paul wrestled hard with this distressing truth in his wrenching discourse in Romans 7 when he declared (7:19) "For the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice." & 7:21 "I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who will to do good". Finally he cries out "O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?" This is Paul, our pattern saint, crying out for deliverance from evil, the evil in his own heart!

Whenever the children of Israel, who are a type of the NT church, did evil in the sight of the Lord, they would bring down defeat upon themselves. They were powerless to deliver themsleves and generally made a pretty good mess of things when they tried to do anything without seeking God's counsel. And yet, whenever they finally cried out to the Lord, He heard them and was faithful to deliver. "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." What an awesome promise! And not just once, but over and over again! All we have to do is cry out! Jesus gave us an eternal reminder of this truth in the Lord's Prayer.

"Deliver us from evil!!"

If we humble ourselves and cry out for a deliverance from the evil in our own hearts, God will take care of the rest. We are empowered to deal with any circumstance, no matter how grim if we are pure in heart, filled with a spirit of love and a sound mind. The more that we are filled with the mind and Spirit of Christ, delivered from the evil and darkness in our hearts, the more able we are to overcome and endure anything that comes against us. What a powerful truth. Cry out to Him for this deliverance!

Oh Lord, deliver us from the evil that lives in our own flesh, our carnal nature, the deceits of our heart! Fill our hearts with more and more of your light, expose the darkness within us that we would become brighter and brighter unto the perfect day! Help us not to forget to turn to You each day for deliverance, that our hearts would not be lifted up against You. :il: