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“Lead
Us Not Into Temptation” By
W. Bruce Tooley In
the preceding verse Jesus has taught His disciples to ask God
to forgive them of their sins. Now Jesus instructs them to ask God not to
lead them into temptation. When we ask God to lead
us I believe we are asking God to bring us into safety and not back into the
folly of sin. We are acknowledging that God has an integral part in our
lives and we depend upon His divine providence.
We realize that we are weak, ignorant and helpless in dealing with Satan
and need God's help in overcoming temptation; we need for God to lead us. We
Are Not Tempted By God Temptation
can be defined as either an enticement to sin or a
test or trial. When we ask God not to lead us into temptation we know
that we are not asking God not to entice us to sin. James 1:13
states "Let no one say when he is
tempted, ‘I am tempted by
God’. for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone
". God
never tempts anyone to commit a transgression
against divine law, but God does test or try His people to determine
their strength, loyalty and ability. God thusly tested Abraham in Genesis
22:1-19 by telling him to offer up Isaac,
his only son. Abraham followed God's command and took Isaac
up on the mount to offer him as a sacrifice but an angel of God stopped
him. In verse 12 an angel told Abraham "now
I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son,
your only son, from Me ". In
Exodus 20:20 Moses told the people of But
why would God allow us to be tested and tried? Peter comforts
us when he states that these trials we go through are for the purifying of our
faith (1 Pet. 1:6,7). James writes "My
brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing
that the testing of your faith produces patience " (1:2,3). These
trials tested their faith and revealed their character. There
Is Hope Even In Hardship It
would seem to be a hopeless situation to face these manifold trials alone. We
don't have to! Jesus said when we pray we must ask God to help us in times of
these grievous temptations. We have the promise of God's help. "No
temptation has overtaken
you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are
able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be
able to bear it" (1
Cor. 10:13). Jesus knows the temptations and
sorrows that we have (Heb. 4:15) and is able to give us great comfort.
The early Christians were told to pray
that when persecution came that their “flight
be not too
severe" (Matt. 24:30) even
though Jesus told them to count it all joy when they were persecuted
(Matt. 5:12) and that they could even flee (Matt. 10:32). Jesus prayed for His
disciples "I do not pray that You
should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil
one" (John 17:15). God
Will Deliver His People Along
with praying that we are not led into temptation we also ask God "to
deliver us from the evil". We are now asking God
to spare us or to save us from the influence of evil. This evil may be
the general term for evil as in Rom. 12:9 and 1 Thess. 5:22.
Or it may be a reference to Satan himself (Eph. 6:16). Either we are
asking God to deliver us by quickly taking away the evil or giving us comfort
when we are afflicted. As
Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, let us remember
that Jesus had previously been sorely tempted by Satan (Matt. 4:1-11).
He knew the heart felt cry that would be deep within the
follower of God as he would be pursued by the roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8).
We can trust God to deliver us from the strength of the devil and his deadly
snares. & Choosing
the By
Phillip Stuckey “Enter
ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is
the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it” (Mat 7:13-14 KJV). These
verses are part of the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. It is begun in
Matthew 5 where we see the Lord describing the righteousness of the kingdom (Matthew
5:20). If we consider all that is said in these three chapters, what
would we conclude about being one of God’s people? How much will it cost us?
How easy of a path is it? In
our text the Lord tells us that it will be a difficult way; self-sacrifice in
every step. It is a strait gate. The idea here is not something opposite of
crooked but rather it is a compressed way with obstacles close about; not the
path of least resistance. The
Lord has laid a choice before us and whatever way we pick, there will be
consequences. He exhorts us here to choose the hard way, the difficult way. The
one that requires diligence to enter, thus few will choose it (Luke
13:23-24). It is the way that leads to life (John
14:6). Sadly, most will choose to go the easy way – the broad way,
the way of self-indulgence that leads to death. No,
the path to Christ’s kingdom is not easy. It is not the path of least
resistance. It is fraught with trial and peril at every turn. If we will walk
it, we must do hard things. We must make difficult choices; choices that the
Lord himself made in living a sinless life of perfection for us to follow after,
to strive for. But the reward at the end is well worth it! (2
Corinthians 4:17) We’re
Christians. We cannot take the easy path. We must take the hard path; the path
our Lord took (1 Pet 2:21).
Mediocrity cannot be our standard, no matter when others round about us take
that path and call it right. We must walk the hard road, we must run the race,
we must fight the good fight (1 Tim.
6:12). Will you choose the narrow way? & “The
Signs of a True Apostle” By
Bob Myhan Paul
wrote to the church at The
apostle is here defending his apostolic authority, which had been challenged by
his detractors in the church at What
were “the signs of a true apostle”? The attending phrase, “signs and
wonders and mighty works,” indicates that he was speaking of the miraculous
abilities which set the apostles apart from all others. But what were these
miraculous abilities? Shortly
before His ascension, Jesus told the apostles, “And
these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons;
they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink
anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick,
and they will recover." (Mark
16:17-18) Paul
listed nine “manifestations of the Spirit” that were given to believers (1
Cor. 12:8-10). It is clear that not all believers were given all the gifts. The
means by which the Spirit bestowed these gifts was “through the laying on of
the apostles’ hands” (Acts 8:14-19; 16:1-6). Stephen and Philip were the
first who were not apostles to manifest miraculous power but they did not
manifest it until after the apostles had laid hands on them (Acts 6:1-8; 8:5-7;
21:8). After Pentecost, only those in the home of Cornelius were an exception to
this rule. Two
lying worshipers fell dead at Peter’s feet (Acts 5:1-10), Elymas was blinded
at the word of Paul (Acts 13:6-11) and both Peter and Paul were able to raise
the dead (Acts 9:36-41; 20:7-10). Thus,
“the signs of a true apostle” were (1) unlimited miraculous power and (2)
the ability to bestow limited miraculous power on others by laying hands on
them. Paul
should not have had to remind the Corinthians of this for they were his “work
in the Lord” (2 Cor. 9:1). They should have rebuked Paul’s critics, instead
of being adversely influenced by them. & |