April 28 Daily Devotional

Lead us not into temptation

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." That is the final request [in our Lord's Prayer], and it means this. We are asking that we should never be led into a situation where we are liable to be tempted by Satan. It does not mean that we are dictating to God what He shall or shall not do.

God does test His children, and we must never presume to tell God what He is or is not to do.... But though it does not mean that we are to dictate to God, it does mean that we may request of Him that, if it be in accordance with His holy will, He should not lead us into positions where we can be so easily tempted and where we are liable to fall....

This is what our Lord meant when He said to His disciples at the end, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." There are situations which will be dangerous to you; watch and pray; always be on guard lest you fall into temptation. And coupled with that is this other aspect of the petition, that we pray to be delivered from evil.... We need to be delivered from it all. It is a great request, a comprehensive petition.

Why should we ask that we may be kept from evil? For the great and wonderful reason that our fellowship with God may never be broken.... Our supreme desire should be to have a right relationship with God, to know Him, to have uninterrupted fellowship and communion with Him.

That is why we pray this prayer, that nothing may come between us and the brightness and the radiance and the glory of our Father which is in heaven. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 76-7

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”

Comments on D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, A First Book of Daily Readings

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