Thursday, August 11, 2011

Deliver Us From Evil

My husband was teaching last Sunday on the fact that there is evil in this world. There is a devil. There are demons also, and the Bible speaks of this. The state of this world today confirms it. Even in the lives of many friends and acqaintances just this past week, I've noticed so much trouble and evil all around them. As I was reading in Matt. 6:9-13, I began to think about some things Jesus mentioned with regards to prayer and how we must pray to be spared. This passage is what is known as the Lord's prayer. He was telling some people how to pray. First of all, the prayer is directed to our Father in heaven. He mentions how His name is holy. He prays for God's kingdom to come to earth as it is in heaven. He then asks for daily provision and the forgiveness of sins as we forgive others. Then, I read verse 13 and it stood out to me like never before! Jesus makes it a point to ask God to not bring us into temptation, but to DELIVER US FROM EVIL. Sometimes I feel that evil is all around me. What am I supposed to do? Jesus told me what to do in this passage and now I find myself doing it everyday. I've been praying for God to DELIVER ME (and my loved ones) FROM EVIL. Jesus asked the Father to deliver Him from evil in His "sample" prayer, and I'm going to also! I do feel as though I've been sort of floating in a bubble as I've asked Him daily for deliverance. I also make every effort to be led by the Lord in all my ways. I really believe that in these days of danger, God will deliver us miraculously as we pray this prayer and depend on Him, as Jesus instructed. I'm so glad that we do have a heavenly Father that is willing and well able to care for us. I'll leave you with a portion of my favorite chapter in the Bible, Psalms 91:14-16, "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him...he shall call upon Me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation."