The Prayer Jesus Taught Us. pt 7

The Prayer Jesus Taught Us. pt 7

“Following The Leader”

Matthew 6:13 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

“Following the leader, the leader, the leader, Following the leader, where ever he may go!” My daughter Gloria comes home singing this song from Advent ECS, saying “daddy you must follow the leader, follow me daddy! “ Jesus teaches the disciples to pray to the Father that he would not lead us to temptation but deliver them from the evil one. This indirectly instructs us many things but mainly two that stand out to me today. 

First that our heavenly Father is the leader.  He is the one who is leading us. If we are faithful to him, we are following. Some might think that praying this way insinuates that if we don’t pray this way that the He will lead us to temptation, but

James 1:13 says “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself

So, we know he will not do that. It’s more like a father leading a child down a winding hill with dangerous curves and steep run offs. That father will lead their child away from danger to stay in safety, to get down the hill.  When we pray for the father to lead us, we acknowledge he is the leader and we are following, that as he leads that he would guide us away from temptations that we are prone to fall into. We are prone to wander on our own aren’t we, in our thoughts, our habits, our conversations, we need the Father to lead us into safety in these areas every day, 

The second, thing is that there is evil out there, an evil one who wants to cause us harm. We need the Father to protect us from our wandering and to protects us for the one who wants to harm us. The enemy, Satan, is on a constant attack against the children of God, whether we realize it or not. I think both these asks in the Lord’s prayer is a request and a reminder that we need the Father’s constant leading and protection.  It’s like we are in a War that has already been won, but there are still pockets of resistance out there that are trying to cause us damage in our journey of faith.  We don’t have to be afraid or fear because we have the victory, but the battle is still very real. Take Paul’s encouragement in

1Corinthinas 10:3-4 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

and James at

James 4:17 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Forgiving can be hard in some instances, but God knows exactly what we need and why we need it. So much so, he makes our forgiveness conditional.  If we don’t forgive, we will not be forgiven. Jesus wasn’t mincing words here, its direct and to the point.  As strong as this statement is, I think it has the heart of the Father behind it. God wants what is best for us, and being forgiven is what is best for us, it opens the cage and cycle of unforgiveness we have been trapped in. In turn forgiving others helps us walk out of that cage and experience freedom from the cage of unforgiveness that has been opened. It has been said that unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It ultimately damages us.

So, as you pray the Lord’s prayer today, pause and remember this when asking for the Fathers leading and deliverance, He is faithful to do it. “Following the leader, the leader, the leader…”

And Remember

Jesus Loves you, and so do I!

Pastor Will