LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

*WISDOM FOR TODAY.*

*LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION*

*Scripture Treasure.*

Matt 6: 9-13

*After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.*

*Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.*

*Give us this day our daily bread.*

*And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.*

*And lead us not into temptation,....."*

*Insight and Highlight.*

God is not telling us to pray we will not be tempted.

*Scripture Commentaries.*

God is not telling us to pray we will not be tempted.

Jesus was tempted, Matt 4, Heb 4:15.

Paul tells us that temptations should not surprise us and that we should see it as common to everyone, but God will make a way for us to overcome it.

There will always be a way of escape out of whatever temptation stands before us.

1 Cor 10:13 *There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.*

In the same passage, He tells us that no temptation should overcome us because God has given us the ability to resist it if we resist it according to His word.

James 4:7 admonishes that we submit ourselves, therefore, to God. *".....Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.*

1 Thess 5: 22 tells us to *Abstain from all appearance of evil.*

1 Cor 6:18 says *Flee sexual immorality....."*

2 Tim 2:22 says *Flee also youthful lusts;..."*

Temptation is one of the ways the devil hopes to weaken our faith. Rom 8:26 says the Spirit helps our infirmities.

Besides helping us when we do not know what to pray for, He helps us by providing support and guidance, especially during times of temptation so that we do not fall into it.

The Lord's prayer is not asking us to pray so that we will not be tempted because the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted.

The Spirit did this, first to demonstrate Christ's humanity, prepare him for his ministry, and let us know that as humans, we will be tempted. Secondly, it was to serve as a model and example for believers on how to resist temptation by relying on God's word. Third, it was to teach us that though we are human, we can be without sin. He was tempted, yet without sin, Heb 4:15.

The prayer to the Lord not to lead us unto temptation is to tell us to ask God to help us never to be caught unawares in our unguarded moment and for God never to leave us alone in these temptations. It is not suggesting that God would lead us to what could destroy or harm us. It is a prayer for God's protection to prevent us from being trapped by temptation and prevent us from succumbing to temptation. 

Spirit's leading of Jesus into the wilderness must be understood as the Spirit's willingness to lead Jesus there and

Jesus' willingness to face temptation and resist evil and this serves as further examples that we will be proved suitable to God's mission if we are able to resist it as Jesus did. Jam 1:12 says *Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.*

This interpretation and explanation of Jesus as a role model of how the believer would resist temptation and why he should ask for God's presence to do what is needful in their time of temptation finds expression and more understanding in the writings of James.

James wrote that God can not tempt us. Jam 1:13 says *Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:*

There is no path God does not know. He directs our footsteps, and only the righteous can be sure He would direct them to where His protection is, Prov 16:9, 37:23.

God led the Israelites through the path of the rest sea yet provided a way of escape for them.

However, the Bible teaches us that God could permit the footsteps of an enemy to allow them to enter into their destruction within the context of divine justice.

He allowed the angel of the Lord to remove the pillar of fire that prevented the Egyptians from following the Israelites so as to allow the Egyptians to follow them into the parted Red Sea. The Egyptians were eventually drowned! Exd 14:17-28.

Psalm 68: 21 tells us that God can make His enemies to go on and continue in their trespasses or to continue in their guilty ways. The Psalmist says God will make *".....such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses."*

May we not go where God's presence will abandon us in Jesus name.

*Remorse corner.*

Lead us not into temptation teaches us God's ability to see and know where everyone goes. The prayer teaches us why we must earnestly pray that God will not allow us to go where temptation will subdue us

*Call to Word action.*

Temptation has a way of overtaking people, so we must pray for the Lord's leading to the right path but not leave us alone to stray or give us up where temptation will overcome us.

*The Christian clarion duty.*

Do not be angry to permissively lead me to my destruction.

*Prayer.*

Lord, do not abandon me in Jesus name.

Good morning all, and be blessed as you go today.

God bless you.

Shalom.