“A Word of Truth” from Immanuel Lutheran Church of Mankato…
A Word of Truth #192
Temptation comes in many forms and is not the same for everyone. What I find alluring and enticing may have no impact on you and vice-versa. The Devil observes our sins and watches the situations in which we place ourselves. He then uses time, place, and circumstance to craft temptations that will play on our weaknesses and, he hopes, lead us into sin.
In the Lord’s Prayer we ask God to “lead us not into temptation.” Unlike Satan, God does not tempt us. James writes, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone…each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed” (James 1:13-15).
We pray, asking that God would keeps temptation far away from us; and we pray that when temptations do arise that God would give us the strength to reject the temptation and overcome it.
A Word of Truth #193
Bad things happen! Wars, crimes, natural disasters, diseases, death—all affect Christians as well as non-Christians. If that is so, why do Christians bother to pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “Deliver us from evil”?
Christians pray this petition with confidence, because God does mercifully prevent many evils from entering our lives. There are many biblical examples of God hearing the prayers of His believing children and miraculously delivering them from evil. Think of the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea, or Daniel being delivered from the lions.
On the other hand, when God does permit evil to enter the lives of Christians, we aught still pray this petition, confident of the fact that God will keep His promise to work all things, even bad things, out for our good.
This has been “A Word of Truth” from Immanuel Lutheran Church of Mankato.
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