Teach Me To PrayMuestra

The Lord’s Prayer: The Seventh Petition

Call me naive, but I'd like to think that I don't have any enemies. I mean real enemies--people who would like to assault or kill me.

That’s what Satan would like me to think. The Bible calls him a dragon, a lion, a serpent, always prowling about looking for people to devour. He is indeed a deadly enemy. He would like to attack us physically; invade our minds; re-enslave our wills; and trap us forever in the burning, sulfurous dungeon that is his destiny.

“When you pray, say: Deliver us from the evil one” (Luke 11:2; Matthew 6:13). Mean this when you pray it. The words "devil" and "hell" have lost much of their meaning in the way people talk today. They are joke words, rude emphasis words. But they contain a deadly reality--that the prince of darkness is seeking whom he may devour, and he’s coming for you.

Jesus crushed the serpent’s head when he died and rose again. All people who trust in him as their Savior are forgiven and immortal, safe and secure. Claim your forgiveness from Christ, grow in knowledge and power from the Word, and pray for the final deliverance. When you are in heaven, you will never need to pray this petition again.