Pray For Protection Ahead of Time
Pause:
Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down, and focus on Jesus. Pray and ask Him to open your eyes to see as you read the Scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.
Read:
Matthew 6:13: ‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’
Going Deeper:
What did Jesus have in mind when he taught His disciples to pray these words?
Commentators note that the Greek word can mean either “temptation” or “trial.” God does not tempt (i.e. entice) us to sin according to James 1:13, yet he may allow us to undergo trials that reveal what we love and trust most. The Bible provides us with examples of such trials, including Abraham being told to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22 and Jesus being led into the wilderness for 40 days and nights.
Jesus knows what it’s like to face trials and He lovingly invites us to pray for protection ahead of time. We don’t have to think long before realizing that we face trials of all kinds. Politics, a pandemic, injustice, unrest, these all represent trials. Our world is ablaze with anger, hatred, self-righteousness, and fear. These are often reinforced and even celebrated on social media, in news cycles, in our political discourse, and our churches if we’re not mindful of what Jesus is saying here. We face a severe test, all of us.
Do you know how you might be tempted and even overcome by sin amidst these trials? What do these trials bring out of you? We get to pray ahead of time that our love for God would hold up under these trials and not fail or grow cold.
The reality is this: we are weak, vulnerable people, and we are also loved by a gracious King who “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.” (Heb. 4:15) That’s amazing!
Think of how often you sinned just this week. Jesus never sinned once in His entire life. He became for us a perfect offering, a spotless lamb, who died for the sins of the world, both mine and yours. Now, as His forgiven people, we can cry out to Him in daily dependence and trust that He is willing to help us. “Lord, lead us not into temptation.”
This daily dependence softens us because it reminds us that we are no better than anyone else, we too can be overcome by sin, and we’re entirely dependent on Him to rescue us from evil. We get to pray for “us” to not fall into temptation, in other words, not just for you but for others, too.
Of course, we’ll not pray this way if we forget that the Gospel makes it safe to admit our weaknesses and sins. If we remember that then we can run to the throne of grace, and not just when things get really bad, but long before they do.
Pray:
Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to you from this passage this morning.
Listen:
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning?
Apply:
What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?