Lead Us Not Into Temptation but Deliver Us
Copyright South Bay Community Church
Sermon Preamble
We are in the sermon series titled, “Thy Kingdom Come” taking a deeper look at the scripture, commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer or the disciples’ prayer, and how this prayer shapes the life of the believer. We hope to be saturated with this prayer so that it becomes our new prayer for a new year in the light of our life experiences and God’s activity in our life. In this message, we will focus on the sixth (lead us) and seventh (deliver us) elements of the Lord’s Prayer: “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” found in Matthew 6:13.
Recap of Matthew 6 scripture looks at who, when, where, what, why, and how of the teaching by Jesus on prayer.
Jesus emphasizes the posture and attitude of prayer to which God responds. Jesus speaks to the crowd on the practice of prayer, He identifies two negative prayer examples we must not follow, clarifies who and how to pray. First, we must not pray like the hypocrites who only pray for the glory and reward of being seen (Matthew 6:5). Second, we must not pray like the pagans who use repetitions and many words (Matthew 6:7).
Jesus also identifies the purpose of prayer no matter where you are. “Pray to your Father in private who sees what is done in secret and will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). Jesus is not prohibiting prayer in public or in community. The repeated use of the plurals “our” and “us” reinforces the importance of prayer in community.
The Lord’s Prayer identifies seven petitions that we address to our Heavenly Father. The first three are “Thy” petitions that directly address the nature and character of God: Thy Name, Thy Kingdom, and Thy Will. The “Thy” petitions are specific to God’s children. “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). “And giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:112). The Lord’s Prayer is repeated worldwide, but not all can say that they are children of God. To truly address God as Father, it means we have received God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and have accepted God’s kingdom rule over our lives. Those are the people who are children of God.
The remaining four petitions are “Us” petitions. These are petitions to God for action by God that are directly related to our needs and concerns: Give Us, Forgive Us, Lead Us, and Deliver Us. In the “Us” petitions, Christ tells those who truly know God as Father, to ask God to perform specific actions on their behalf. “Give us this day” is an “Us” petition and responds to the question, “when do we pray?” Since the four “Us” petitions are interconnected with each other, those petitions share the same timing. The prayers are daily. The standard of daily prayer is a minimum, not a maximum. Indeed, we are instructed to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). In this message, we focus on the prayer petition at least daily to “Lead us” and “Deliver us.”
Jesus teaches understanding about – Lead us not and Deliver us from evil
“And do not lead us into temptation. But deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13 a). The petition to “lead us” is qualified with the words, “do not.” The petition to “deliver us” specifies that it is “from evil.” We may wonder why we need to ask for these things. In our minds, the Heavenly Father, who is the perfect father, already knows and can provide what God’s children need. When we pray “not leading us into temptation” and “delivering us from evil” speaks to the nature of our relationship with our Heavenly Father and God’s grace and love for us. The nature and quality of communication is a critical indicator of the health of any relationship.
We are children, not beggars, in relationship with God who deeply loves us
When we ask our Heavenly Father to do something for us, God does not view us as beggars, without rights. God views us as children who are deeply loved. In the Luke 11 account of Jesus’ teaching His disciples to pray, Christ addresses the relationship between us and our Heavenly Father. “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13).
Jesus wants us to know that our Heavenly Father loves us
God’s love for us is generous and provides God’s best for us. God wants us to live lives consistent with God’s love for us. The petition, “deliver us from evil,” helps us focus on our relationship with our Heavenly Father. In some translations, this is the end of the prayer.
Some have been taught to end the Lord’s Prayer with “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (Matthew 6:13b). This scripture is a praise response to God’s character, attributes, and activities (doxology).
The petitions defined in Biblical Greek
The Greek word translated in English as “lead” means to carry into. The Greek word translated in English as “temptation” means an experience of evil and adversity. Jesus’ teaching is to pray that God not carry us into the experience of evil. When we experience adversity, God will provide for us, like God provided for Abraham and Isaac, his son, when Abraham carried him to an altar. “God tested Abraham and said to him … ‘Take your son, your only son whom you love ... offer him there as a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2). “Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son” (Genesis 2:13). God provided the ram in the bush as a burnt offering instead of Abraham’s son.
The Greek word translated in English as “deliver” means to draw to oneself. The Greek word translated in English as evil means painful, toilsome, full of hard work, or tedious work. So the teaching from Jesus on this petition is to pray that God draw us closer to God away from work full of toil and pain. “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).
Jesus prayed to the Father for what His disciples would soon encounter and for their protection
Jesus’ connection to the Father made Jesus aware of what His disciples would soon encounter. Jesus taught them how to pray for what they would experience as disciples. “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it (the world) hates you” (John 15:19).
Jesus prayed for His disciples, petitioning His Heavenly Father their protection applicable to us today. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15). There is an evil spirit of this world who is determined to stamp out the light of our God. The #1 targets of this evil spirit are the children of God whom God loves and have received God’s Son. This is one reason why “bad things” happen to good people. In all things God works for the good of those who love God. “For we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
As we accept Jesus Christ, we are God’s called and chosen people
The Apostle Paul gives insight of those who first practiced the Lord’s Prayer. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7). It is common to place ourselves as beneficiaries of God’s all-surpassing power as God’s called and chosen people.
It is not as common to see ourselves as described in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are HARD PRESSED on every side, but not crushed; PERPLEXED, but not in despair; PERSECUTED, but not abandoned; STRUCK DOWN, but not destroyed.” We live in a world where those who love God are hated; darkness is present; the evil one holds sway. Like the early believers, we too are engaged in a spiritual battle.
The Lord’s Prayer is a request for tests that God deems appropriate, not a request for no testing
God shows us the purpose and outcome of the trials. “See. I have refined you, though not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). God allows us to be tested.
“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold –though your faith is more precious than pure gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world” (1 Peter 1:7). Our faith stays intact through the trials. The tests show that our faith is genuine and remains strong with praise and glory to God.
The original Jewish listeners knew that some of their ancestors did not make it through the testing and into the fulfillment of the promise. Like us, they fell short of the glory of God because they thought to live their life “my way.”
This is why we pray do not carry us into a place of testing where we will fail or fall short of God’s glory. It is not a request for not having tests or trials, but a request for tests that God deems appropriate. This request in Matthew 6:13 is made AFTER we accept forgiveness from God, as described in the prior verse of Matthew 6:12.
Even though the test is appropriate for our relationship with God, there are times when we miss the mark
Jesus healed a boy with a demon that the disciples could not heal. The disciples asked Jesus privately why they failed to heal the demon out of the boy. Jesus identified their need. Jesus puts us on the path for deliverance. “This kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21 as inserted in some manuscripts). Fasting prepares us to hear and receive from God.
We also miss the mark because of the evil that lurks within us
Missing the mark is not only the result of the evil that is against us. It is also due to the evil that lurks within us, our old sin nature. “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4: 22-24). It is in those moments and situations that we need God to deliver us, draw us closer to God, cleanse us, and sanctify us.
God’s grace, love, blessings, and mercy renew and restore us to the image of God
When Jesus instructs us to ask our Heavenly Father to deliver us, it was not just to take us out of a messy or dangerous situation. God is bringing about God’s Kingdom to rule and reign. The Lord’s Prayer is for us and God to draw closer together. God shows grace, love, blessings, and mercy as God renews and restores us in our shortcomings and mistakes.
This biblical principle is repeated throughout the Bible. “They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son” (Jeremiah 31:9). He (God) leads me (brings me to) still waters. He restores my soul. He leads (brings) me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:1-6). He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way (Psalm 25:9).
Application of the sermon series titled, “Thy Kingdom Come.”
As we conclude our sermon series on the teachings of Jesus to us in the Lord’s Prayer, let us pause and reflect on “The Message” version of Matthew 6: 9-13.
“Our Father in Heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best – as above so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS INCLUDING FOR USE IN FAMILY GROUP
Sermon Preamble
So that the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 becomes a new prayer for a new year, let’s explore God’s activity in our life and our life experiences in response to verses 9 through 12 discussed in messages the past few weeks. Let us pause and think about these scriptures.
-9. “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name.” What does it mean to be, with others, a child of God most high and holy?
-10. “Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” How do we live in the tension of partial fulfillment of the already but not yet?
-11. “Give us this day our daily bread.” What is my expectation when asking God to meet my needs?
-12. “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” What has been the result for my life of
God’s forgiveness; is there someone in need of that same forgiveness from me?
Recap of Matthew 6 scripture looks at who, when, where, what, why, and how of the teaching by Jesus on prayer.
-As Jesus teaches us the posture and attitude of prayer, which part of the teaching do you consider most important to apply to your life experiences? When, where, and how should we pray? What must be included in our prayers and why? What difference does it make to pray as taught by Jesus?
Jesus teaches understanding about – Lead us not and Deliver us from evil
-In what ways and why must our prayer be more than simply asking God to meet our needs that God already knows?
We are children, not beggars, in relationship with God who deeply loves us
-In consideration of our relationship with God, what difference does it make that we are beloved children of God and not beggars?
Jesus wants us to know that our Heavenly Father loves us
-In what ways should we live a life consistent with God’s love for us?
The petitions defined in Biblical Greek
-When God carries you through adversity, how does God provided for you?
-As God draws us into closer relationship, in what ways has that relationship relieved us from hard, painful, and burdensome work?
Jesus prayed to the Father for what His disciples would soon encounter and for their protection
-When have you noticed the impact of Jesus praying to the Heavenly Father for our protection from the evil spirit in the world?
As we accept Jesus Christ, we are God’s called and chosen people
-As God’s chosen people, the followers of Christ, in what ways have you experienced both the all-surpassing power of God while being hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down?
The Lord’s Prayer is a request for tests that God deems appropriate, not a request for no testing
-When has God allowed trials in your life to test your faith?
Even though the test is appropriate for our relationship with God, there are times when we miss the mark
-When have you missed the mark, referred to as sin? How does Jesus put you on the path for deliverance and cleansing?
-What are the values of fasting and prayer?
We also miss the mark because of the evil that lurks within us
-What in your old self (the old sin nature) needs to be replaced with the new self, reflecting the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness?
God’s grace, love, blessings, and mercy renew and restore us to the image of God
-Why does our request for God to deliver us bring about the rule and reign of the Kingdom of God?
Sermon Preamble
We are in the sermon series titled, “Thy Kingdom Come” taking a deeper look at the scripture, commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer or the disciples’ prayer, and how this prayer shapes the life of the believer. We hope to be saturated with this prayer so that it becomes our new prayer for a new year in the light of our life experiences and God’s activity in our life. In this message, we will focus on the sixth (lead us) and seventh (deliver us) elements of the Lord’s Prayer: “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” found in Matthew 6:13.
Recap of Matthew 6 scripture looks at who, when, where, what, why, and how of the teaching by Jesus on prayer.
Jesus emphasizes the posture and attitude of prayer to which God responds. Jesus speaks to the crowd on the practice of prayer, He identifies two negative prayer examples we must not follow, clarifies who and how to pray. First, we must not pray like the hypocrites who only pray for the glory and reward of being seen (Matthew 6:5). Second, we must not pray like the pagans who use repetitions and many words (Matthew 6:7).
Jesus also identifies the purpose of prayer no matter where you are. “Pray to your Father in private who sees what is done in secret and will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). Jesus is not prohibiting prayer in public or in community. The repeated use of the plurals “our” and “us” reinforces the importance of prayer in community.
The Lord’s Prayer identifies seven petitions that we address to our Heavenly Father. The first three are “Thy” petitions that directly address the nature and character of God: Thy Name, Thy Kingdom, and Thy Will. The “Thy” petitions are specific to God’s children. “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). “And giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:112). The Lord’s Prayer is repeated worldwide, but not all can say that they are children of God. To truly address God as Father, it means we have received God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and have accepted God’s kingdom rule over our lives. Those are the people who are children of God.
The remaining four petitions are “Us” petitions. These are petitions to God for action by God that are directly related to our needs and concerns: Give Us, Forgive Us, Lead Us, and Deliver Us. In the “Us” petitions, Christ tells those who truly know God as Father, to ask God to perform specific actions on their behalf. “Give us this day” is an “Us” petition and responds to the question, “when do we pray?” Since the four “Us” petitions are interconnected with each other, those petitions share the same timing. The prayers are daily. The standard of daily prayer is a minimum, not a maximum. Indeed, we are instructed to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). In this message, we focus on the prayer petition at least daily to “Lead us” and “Deliver us.”
Jesus teaches understanding about – Lead us not and Deliver us from evil
“And do not lead us into temptation. But deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13 a). The petition to “lead us” is qualified with the words, “do not.” The petition to “deliver us” specifies that it is “from evil.” We may wonder why we need to ask for these things. In our minds, the Heavenly Father, who is the perfect father, already knows and can provide what God’s children need. When we pray “not leading us into temptation” and “delivering us from evil” speaks to the nature of our relationship with our Heavenly Father and God’s grace and love for us. The nature and quality of communication is a critical indicator of the health of any relationship.
We are children, not beggars, in relationship with God who deeply loves us
When we ask our Heavenly Father to do something for us, God does not view us as beggars, without rights. God views us as children who are deeply loved. In the Luke 11 account of Jesus’ teaching His disciples to pray, Christ addresses the relationship between us and our Heavenly Father. “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13).
Jesus wants us to know that our Heavenly Father loves us
God’s love for us is generous and provides God’s best for us. God wants us to live lives consistent with God’s love for us. The petition, “deliver us from evil,” helps us focus on our relationship with our Heavenly Father. In some translations, this is the end of the prayer.
Some have been taught to end the Lord’s Prayer with “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (Matthew 6:13b). This scripture is a praise response to God’s character, attributes, and activities (doxology).
The petitions defined in Biblical Greek
The Greek word translated in English as “lead” means to carry into. The Greek word translated in English as “temptation” means an experience of evil and adversity. Jesus’ teaching is to pray that God not carry us into the experience of evil. When we experience adversity, God will provide for us, like God provided for Abraham and Isaac, his son, when Abraham carried him to an altar. “God tested Abraham and said to him … ‘Take your son, your only son whom you love ... offer him there as a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2). “Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son” (Genesis 2:13). God provided the ram in the bush as a burnt offering instead of Abraham’s son.
The Greek word translated in English as “deliver” means to draw to oneself. The Greek word translated in English as evil means painful, toilsome, full of hard work, or tedious work. So the teaching from Jesus on this petition is to pray that God draw us closer to God away from work full of toil and pain. “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).
Jesus prayed to the Father for what His disciples would soon encounter and for their protection
Jesus’ connection to the Father made Jesus aware of what His disciples would soon encounter. Jesus taught them how to pray for what they would experience as disciples. “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it (the world) hates you” (John 15:19).
Jesus prayed for His disciples, petitioning His Heavenly Father their protection applicable to us today. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15). There is an evil spirit of this world who is determined to stamp out the light of our God. The #1 targets of this evil spirit are the children of God whom God loves and have received God’s Son. This is one reason why “bad things” happen to good people. In all things God works for the good of those who love God. “For we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
As we accept Jesus Christ, we are God’s called and chosen people
The Apostle Paul gives insight of those who first practiced the Lord’s Prayer. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7). It is common to place ourselves as beneficiaries of God’s all-surpassing power as God’s called and chosen people.
It is not as common to see ourselves as described in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are HARD PRESSED on every side, but not crushed; PERPLEXED, but not in despair; PERSECUTED, but not abandoned; STRUCK DOWN, but not destroyed.” We live in a world where those who love God are hated; darkness is present; the evil one holds sway. Like the early believers, we too are engaged in a spiritual battle.
The Lord’s Prayer is a request for tests that God deems appropriate, not a request for no testing
God shows us the purpose and outcome of the trials. “See. I have refined you, though not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). God allows us to be tested.
“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold –though your faith is more precious than pure gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world” (1 Peter 1:7). Our faith stays intact through the trials. The tests show that our faith is genuine and remains strong with praise and glory to God.
The original Jewish listeners knew that some of their ancestors did not make it through the testing and into the fulfillment of the promise. Like us, they fell short of the glory of God because they thought to live their life “my way.”
This is why we pray do not carry us into a place of testing where we will fail or fall short of God’s glory. It is not a request for not having tests or trials, but a request for tests that God deems appropriate. This request in Matthew 6:13 is made AFTER we accept forgiveness from God, as described in the prior verse of Matthew 6:12.
Even though the test is appropriate for our relationship with God, there are times when we miss the mark
Jesus healed a boy with a demon that the disciples could not heal. The disciples asked Jesus privately why they failed to heal the demon out of the boy. Jesus identified their need. Jesus puts us on the path for deliverance. “This kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21 as inserted in some manuscripts). Fasting prepares us to hear and receive from God.
We also miss the mark because of the evil that lurks within us
Missing the mark is not only the result of the evil that is against us. It is also due to the evil that lurks within us, our old sin nature. “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4: 22-24). It is in those moments and situations that we need God to deliver us, draw us closer to God, cleanse us, and sanctify us.
God’s grace, love, blessings, and mercy renew and restore us to the image of God
When Jesus instructs us to ask our Heavenly Father to deliver us, it was not just to take us out of a messy or dangerous situation. God is bringing about God’s Kingdom to rule and reign. The Lord’s Prayer is for us and God to draw closer together. God shows grace, love, blessings, and mercy as God renews and restores us in our shortcomings and mistakes.
This biblical principle is repeated throughout the Bible. “They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son” (Jeremiah 31:9). He (God) leads me (brings me to) still waters. He restores my soul. He leads (brings) me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:1-6). He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way (Psalm 25:9).
Application of the sermon series titled, “Thy Kingdom Come.”
As we conclude our sermon series on the teachings of Jesus to us in the Lord’s Prayer, let us pause and reflect on “The Message” version of Matthew 6: 9-13.
“Our Father in Heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best – as above so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS INCLUDING FOR USE IN FAMILY GROUP
Sermon Preamble
So that the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 becomes a new prayer for a new year, let’s explore God’s activity in our life and our life experiences in response to verses 9 through 12 discussed in messages the past few weeks. Let us pause and think about these scriptures.
-9. “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name.” What does it mean to be, with others, a child of God most high and holy?
-10. “Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” How do we live in the tension of partial fulfillment of the already but not yet?
-11. “Give us this day our daily bread.” What is my expectation when asking God to meet my needs?
-12. “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” What has been the result for my life of
God’s forgiveness; is there someone in need of that same forgiveness from me?
Recap of Matthew 6 scripture looks at who, when, where, what, why, and how of the teaching by Jesus on prayer.
-As Jesus teaches us the posture and attitude of prayer, which part of the teaching do you consider most important to apply to your life experiences? When, where, and how should we pray? What must be included in our prayers and why? What difference does it make to pray as taught by Jesus?
Jesus teaches understanding about – Lead us not and Deliver us from evil
-In what ways and why must our prayer be more than simply asking God to meet our needs that God already knows?
We are children, not beggars, in relationship with God who deeply loves us
-In consideration of our relationship with God, what difference does it make that we are beloved children of God and not beggars?
Jesus wants us to know that our Heavenly Father loves us
-In what ways should we live a life consistent with God’s love for us?
The petitions defined in Biblical Greek
-When God carries you through adversity, how does God provided for you?
-As God draws us into closer relationship, in what ways has that relationship relieved us from hard, painful, and burdensome work?
Jesus prayed to the Father for what His disciples would soon encounter and for their protection
-When have you noticed the impact of Jesus praying to the Heavenly Father for our protection from the evil spirit in the world?
As we accept Jesus Christ, we are God’s called and chosen people
-As God’s chosen people, the followers of Christ, in what ways have you experienced both the all-surpassing power of God while being hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down?
The Lord’s Prayer is a request for tests that God deems appropriate, not a request for no testing
-When has God allowed trials in your life to test your faith?
Even though the test is appropriate for our relationship with God, there are times when we miss the mark
-When have you missed the mark, referred to as sin? How does Jesus put you on the path for deliverance and cleansing?
-What are the values of fasting and prayer?
We also miss the mark because of the evil that lurks within us
-What in your old self (the old sin nature) needs to be replaced with the new self, reflecting the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness?
God’s grace, love, blessings, and mercy renew and restore us to the image of God
-Why does our request for God to deliver us bring about the rule and reign of the Kingdom of God?
Posted in Thy Kingdom Come
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Posted in lead us, deliver us, temptation, evil, prayer, petitions, beggars, children, Lord\\\\\\\'s Prayer, chosen people, tests, trial, relationship, Kingdom, miss the mark
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