Episode 072 – The Lord’s Prayer Pt 8: Temptation and Deliverance
Key Passage(s): Matthew 6:13; Matthew 4:1-11; Matthew 26:36-46
The part of the Lord’s Prayer that asks God not to “lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil” has created a lot of confusion. Even Pope Francis has sought to modify this language. Is God in the habit of leading us into testing and temptation? Is there a difference between the two? And how are we to understand the moments when Jesus was tempted? In this episode, we answer these questions, as well as addressing the reality that when we focus on Jesus’s divinity at the expense of his humanity, we fail to understand how brutally difficult his own trials and temptations were. But when we understand this, and what he did to overcome, we learn how to do the same in our own lives.
Discussion Questions
- What was your biggest takeaway from the teaching?
- Knowing that there is a difference between temptation and testing, does this change your perspective on this part of the Lord’s Prayer? How so?
- When have you gone through a situation where you felt like God was testing you? What was it? Do you feel you were faithful to God’s will through it? What did you learn through it?
- Knowing that temptation is something we all face, when are you most susceptible to temptation? Do you have a strategy to deal with temptation that prevents you from falling prey to it?
- Like Jesus, when have you gone through a test that you asked the Father to take away from you? What happened, and what did you learn?
- Knowing you may not see the victory of your testing in this life, will you look at things differently? Will you act differently?
- How will you begin living out the truths of this teaching this week?
For Further Study
- The Lord and His Prayer by N.T. Wright
- LORD, Teach Us by William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas
- The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard – Chapter 7 deals specifically with the Lord’s Prayer
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Amen.
It shows all the humanity thatJesus feels, asking God to take it all away, feeling overwhelmed. But…God don’t lead us to it without leading us through it, especially His son! He walks it out, make me realize how much I can ensure that is minor compared to what Jesus faced. Wow, what a good eye opener.
Brad,
You kept saying Gethsemadi rather than Gethsemane. Is that a more accurate Hebrew way of saying the name?
Nope. It might just be that a new southern accent is developing in this Michigan boy who now lives in Nashville 🙂 In Hebrew, “Gethsemane” is Gat Shmanim, which literally means, ????”Place of the Oil Pressing????.”
Funny!! Thanks for the teaching. I’ve been able to use quite a bit from these teachings and especially the IBC conferences in the Engedi Leadership School, where I have occasion to teach.
So great to hear, Steve!
My pastor has challenged us to daily go through the Lord’s prayer, and this section has been causing me problems and I recalled this lesson from years back and rewatched it to help bring clarification and understanding.
The hard part is when these temptation and trials are longer than a moment. when they, without deliverance from God, will last the rest of your or a loved one’s life.
Yes, all will be restored, but staring down a life that, again outside god’s direct intervention, will be a trial that is hard to reconcile with your lesson on lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
As you said, bad things happen in this fallen world that are not the direct result of bad things we do.
The second part of you lesson is spot on. Evil does not get the final say, and Glory to God that he ransomed heaven to cross the divide between fallen man and himself. Christ, in the ultimate act of Love died for my sins and gives me new life, empowering me to be restored to the purpose he created me for, despite me screwing it up. This is the Deliverance form evil, that I will be with god eternally and that I can know god in this life and partake of the joy of being part of his restoration by bringing heaven to earth in my life.
The conclusion that you said about the lead us into temptation where you delineate between testing and temptation and that while we may not be led to it, it may be on our path might be only part of what god is saying here; well at least to me.
The word Lead is translated as brought or bringing in other places, and after going through the references, it implies a more carried approach, with more direction than the English word lead would imply.
I say this because the Lord’s prayer is one that changes our focus. When I am living by faith, in the direction and way the Lord is leading me, Temptations or trials are still trying, but bring joy (James 1:2-3).
the next question is where does this joy come from? If you are in prayer, and this is very important, see Matthew 26:41, then it is not you who is fighting that temptation, or facing that trial, but Christ in you, and we get empowered to make it through what we never could before. That is a cause for Joy, and it is a point where we have also fulfilled the previous line of the Lords prayer, his will be done.
The word lead is used to describe how the paralytic is “lead” to Christ through a roof. If we allow ourselves to be “lead’. Or even bore along by Christ, and follow him, temptation will no longer be an issue, because we will have something that this world can never compare too.