When Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:13 & Luke 11:4 he included the words…. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. If you think about it these words are very profound and significant. After all, none of us want to be led into temptation, do we? Yet, in his prayer Jesus asks the Father to deliver us from evil. And this is the profound part… DELIVERANCE. God, delivers us from evil. Now, the significance here is that by definition a person cannot be delivered from anything that does not have power over them. If you are kidnapped and held captive against your will then your captors have power and control over you. If you cannot escape on your own then you need to be rescued or delivered. So, you see, deliverance is something that we receive. We are rescued by someone other than ourselves. We are delivered by a power greater than ourselves. And this is what we need to remember, it is God that delivers us from evil. God delivered the Israelites from the evil of slavery in Egypt. God delivered Daniel from the evil of being eaten by the lions. God delivered Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, from the evil of the fiery flames. God delivered Peter from the evil of imprisonment. God delivers us from evil. Whenever we succumb to any temptation and sin then the compulsion to sin was greater than our ability to resist. In a moment of time we find ourselves powerless over the thing that tempted us… we become captives of the thought or act and the consequences thereof. If you have ever struggled with sin then you may have discovered that sometimes in spite of your greatest efforts not to engage in sin that you find yourself doing it anyway. You have a bad habit you cannot quit, an emotion you cannot control, thoughts that you cannot dispel, behaviors you cannot stop. The Apostle Paul explains this situation for us very clearly in Romans 7:18-19 (NLT) when he says… 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. Do you find yourself doing things that you don’t want to do? If so then you have fallen captive to evil. In Romans 7:23-24 Paul goes on to explain… 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? If you have been brought into captivity to sin then you need to be rescued, liberated and set free. You need to be DELIVERED from evil. Oh, God, deliver us from evil! But there is more. You see, many translations of the Bible interpret the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:13 & Luke 11:4 this way… And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. Ahhh, it is Satan himself who takes us captive with evil. After all he is the Evil One, the Father of Lies. And from the beginning we have succumbed to the lies of the devil when he tempts us. And because we believe his lies we fall under his power. In 2 Timothy 2:25-26 (NIV) the Apostle Paul says… 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. Did you get that? The devil takes people captive to do his will. And how does he do that? In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 Paul says… 3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Those who have been brought into spiritual captivity have had their minds blinded by the Evil One. They can’t even think right. A person’s mind that has been blinded cannot figure out reality. It is like a person with a broken brain trying to fix their own broken brain. It would be like a blind person trying to lead a blind person. In Luke 6:39 Jesus said… Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? If our minds have been blinded then captivity is darkness. It is a darkness so dark that we cannot find our way out. If we are to be set free then we must be delivered. If we are to be delivered then we need a deliverer. In Colossians 1:13-14 Paul tells us that Jesus is our Deliverer… 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood,[a] the forgiveness of sins. God delivers us from the power of Satan, from the kingdom of darkness, and transfers us into the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. Our deliverance is the reason Jesus came in the flesh. He announced his earthly ministry in Luke 4:18 with these words… “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; But, the problem so many people have when they struggle with sin is that they try to use their own might and power to rise up and overcome the thing that they are captive to. However, the Word of God says in Zechariah 4:6… ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. It is not our power that delivers us from captivity to sin it is God’s power that delivers us. We need a Deliverer. Oh, Lord, deliver us from the Evil One. And God accomplished this through the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus is our Savior and our Deliverer. In Hebrews 2:14-15 we are told… 14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The atoning power of Jesus’ blood doesn’t just forgive us of our sins. Through Jesus we are delivered from captivity to do the devil’s bidding. We may be set free! But, if Jesus has set us free from being in blind bondage to the Evil One, and captivity to Satan, why do so many Christians still struggle with sin? Quite honestly, it is because we still have a tendency to believe the devil’s lies. He still deceives. He is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and he attacks our minds with unimaginable tricks. One of the devil’s tricks is to get us to put our faith in anything other than God. That is why we turn to doctors and lawyers and bankers and the things of this world to find solutions to the problems we have rather than turning to God. We make gods of the things of this world and put God on the backburner. And God will not deliver us when we put him on the side. In Judges 10:13-14, the Lord says… 13 Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. 14 “Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.” God will not deliver us when we put our faith in anything other than Him. If we want deliverance we must put our complete faith in our Heavenly Father. Do you need deliverance from the Evil One? It begins by admitting that you have been in captivity to sin. If we have denied that we were doing Satan’s bidding when we have sinned then we have lied. Pray with the Psalmist who said in Psalm 120:2… Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips And from a deceitful tongue. Pray with the Psalmist who said in Psalm 79:9… Help us, O God of our salvation, For the glory of Your name; And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, For Your name’s sake! Pray with David who said in Psalm 39:8… Deliver me from all my transgressions; Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. And God will deliver us from the Evil One. In Psalm 37:39-40 we are told… 39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. 40 And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him. We need to trust in God. We need to pray that we are not led into temptation but that God will deliver us from the Evil One. And we need to know that God will continue to deliver us for He has promised us in Isaiah 46:4… 4 Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 19:15:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015