ON THE VANGUARD

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

I am a map-guy. I know we live in a day and age where the GPS can tell us our every turn, but I have to admit I am a guy who loves to look at a map. Maybe this is a trait I inherited from my dad who would study an atlas for hours. Or maybe I am just old school, as I am also the kind of guy how has an e-reader but still prefers an actual book as opposed to the electronic version. Either way, I find myself now days as I saw my dad doing for years, just looking over the map and studying each turn and possible landmark. It isn’t that I do not trust the GPS or have problems listening to ‘Glenda’ give me instructions through her robotic voice, but I want to see it for myself. I want to be sure that the road I am on is indeed the road I need to be on.
Now I will say that even with a map in my hand, I still manage to get lost. This happened just last March when I was returning home from Texas. I knew that the 380 would eventually join me to the I-30. Yet somehow I had gotten lost and had to resort to ‘Glenda’ helping me for a minute to get back on track. While this happened in reality, I find it happens to me spiritually as well. There have been many times when I am following a spiritual map, only to find that somewhere along the way I managed to get lost. Honestly, in these moments I find myself lost because I gave into to the sights, to the temptations. I cannot help but wonder how many temptations I have given into simply because I did not pray as Jesus directed.
To His disciples, Jesus gave instructions on how to pray. In the final piece of this prayer He spoke on temptation and our request to not be led into it. But I have to say that if I am not praying not to be led into it, it seems as though being in it gets easy. And temptation in this verse is more than just putting a plate of cookies in front of a kid, it is the word PEIRASMOS, meaning trials, experiments, and moments of proving. Jesus showed us to pray that we would not be lead, EISPHERO, or brought to, moments of proving, but we would instead be delivered. This word for ‘temptation’, however, is the same word found in I Corinthians 10:13, where we read that no ‘peirasmos’ has seized us except that which is common to man. These temptations are common to man, and they work to capture us. Would it not be wise then to pray that we not be lead to them?
And what is the reciprocal? The reciprocal then is the prayer for deliverance from the evil one. Jesus taught us near the end of His prayer to pray for deliverance, RHOUMAI in the Greek. This word translates as a rescue. We all will find ourselves in moments where we will need to be rescued. Rescued, though, from what? We need to be rescued from the evil one. This is the Greek word PONEROS, translated as labors, hardships, pressures, toils, or perils. We so many times think of this as the devil and his cohorts, but it is so much more than just a person. It is any trap that the person can also lay out to catch us. It is the hard times, it is the vise-grip of life squeezing us, it is the losses, the frustrations, and the flat out pains. In all these moments do we not find ourselves screaming out, “Enough!” At that moment we just want to be delivered. And the great news is God is able to deliver us.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, and in each piece of this prayer His power was spoken. God’s name was praised, His kingdom was spoken and His will was agreed to. Our daily needs were named and provision was made. Our sins blocking us from our blessing were confessed and we also spoke forgiveness to those offending us. And finally the request for direction was made, and deliverance called out for in the moments when we have been trapped. There is so much power in this prayer, and there really is no way I can sit in church and speak these words so monotone anymore. This prayer is a prayer of strength, not of boring hum-drum life. These are the words of Christ, written in red, and dripping with power.