Grown Up's Guide to PrayerSample

Day 4: Lead Us . . . Not! 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, when I pray for your protection from evil, help me to mean it. I want to be delivered from temptation instead of walking straight into sin and regret. Help me say no to me and yes to something bigger—following Jesus. 

Reading

Jesus taught his disciples how to pray grown-up prayers. He wants your prayers to grow up too. If you’re not a Jesus follower, then you may pick up a few tips on prayer. If you are a Jesus follower, then you really have no choice but to follow Jesus’s instructions on prayer. As we’ve discovered, he’s very specific:

“This, then is how you should pray . . .” (Matthew 6:9)

Jesus proceeds to teach us how to pray. We learn that the purpose of prayer is to align our will with God’s. We are to surrender our will, not impose it. This should come as no surprise, right? We are Jesus followers, not Jesus consumers or users. In the Gospels, there was an individual who attempted to convince, manipulate, and use Jesus. His name was Judas.

Judas had an agenda for Jesus—Judas’s will be done. And in the end, Judas failed. So will we unless we surrender our will instead of imposing it. 

In this posture of surrender, Jesus instructs us to seek God’s provision, pardon, and protection. Today, we’ll focus on praying for God’s protection from temptation. 

"And lead us not into temptation . . ." (Matthew 6:13)

Do you pray this? We pray for parking spots, safe travel, and good grades. But what about God’s protection from temptation? 

Can you pray this with a clear conscience? You can’t be planning to give in to temptation and pray not to be led there. Well, technically you can, but that would make you—here’s that word again—a hypocrite. 

There are no winners in the game of sin now, ask forgiveness later. That’s a game that assumes the worst about God. It assumes he can be maneuvered and manipulated. That god—so inept he winks at our sin and then forgets about it—is a figment of our religious imagination. Fortunately, that god does not exist. 

Instead, we have a holy God who loves us and sent his son to die for our foolishness and disregard for wisdom, truth, and common sense. God doesn’t wink at sin. Sin costs too much for that. So, Jesus said that when we pray, we’re to say:

"And lead us not into temptation… but deliver us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:13)

Some translations say “the evil one;” others say “evil.” We can’t plan evil and in the same breath pray to be rescued from it. But we do just that, over and over, don’t we? We lead ourselves into temptation, convincing ourselves it’s not dangerous. Then we ask God to deliver us from our evil. Worse, we lead ourselves into temptation, then turn around and blame God for the evil. 

Why do we do it? Why do we walk right into the danger zone? There are the usual suspects: fear, isolation, greed, anger, jealousy—the list goes on. All those things can be summarized under two headings: self-protection and self-gratification. 

When you follow these two rogues, who does your life center on? You. When you take your lead from these two appetites, somebody eventually gets hurt. Actually, at least two somebodies get hurt—you and somebody you care for. 

Self-protection and self-gratification are poor leaders. They lead you in circles. You chase your own tail for more, more, and more. Your appetites are never fully satisfied. And when you feed them, they grow, and round and round you go. 

Making protection and gratification your leaders is all about you. Pursue them, and you’ll eventually find yourself asking the question philosophers, poets, and songwriters ask but can’t answer: Why am I here? 

But there’s a better question, the Jesus question, the “Your kingdom come” question: Who am I here for?

Ask that question, and the world opens up to you. Fulfillment, meaning, and purpose are always found across the border from what’s in it for me? 

A meaningful life requires us to become a means to an end to someone other than ourselves. Meaning and purpose require us to say no to us so we can say yes to something bigger—following Jesus. Jesus said that if we want to follow him, we have to deny ourselves. 

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

Jesus extended that invitation on multiple occasions: “Follow me.” He offers us a better way of life than my kingdom come, my will be done. Following Jesus and embracing surrender is the alternative to being led into temptation. He offers us a better Lord, a better leader. 

Reflection

Can you honestly pray lead me not into temptation? Does the thought of that create a bit of anxiety? Tension? Pay attention to that tension and ask God to show you where you might be playing the game of sin now, ask forgiveness later.