Pastor Harrison Goodman hosts the weekly HT Vlog, “The Catechized Life.” Pr. Goodman serves as pastor of Saint Paul Lutheran Churches in Winside and Carroll, NE. Find each episode here.
“But this matter He has put last; for if we are to be preserved and delivered from all evil, the name of God must first be hallowed in us, His kingdom must be with us, and His will be done. After that He will finally preserve us from sin and shame, and, besides, from everything that may hurt or injure us.“
“Therefore we finally sum it all up and say: Dear Father, pray, help that we be rid of all these calamities. But there is nevertheless also included whatever evil may happen to us under the devil’s kingdom-poverty, shame, death, and, in short, all the agonizing misery and heartache of which there is such an unnumbered multitude on the earth. For since the devil is not only a liar, but also a murderer, he constantly seeks our life, and wreaks his anger whenever he can afflict our bodies with misfortune and harm. Hence it comes that he often breaks men’s necks or drives them to insanity, drowns some, and incites many to commit suicide, and to many other terrible calamities. Therefore there is nothing for us to do upon earth but to pray against this arch-enemy without ceasing. For unless God preserved us, we would not be safe from him even for an hour.”
“Deliver or preserve us from the Evil One, or the Malicious One; and it looks as if He were speaking of the devil, as though He would comprehend everything in one, so that the entire substance of all our prayer is directed against our chief enemy. For it is he who hinders among us everything that we pray for: the name or honor of God, God’s kingdom and will, our daily bread, a cheerful good conscience, etc.”
“Therefore we Christians must be armed and daily expect to be incessantly attacked, in order that no one may go on in security and heedlessly, as though the devil were far from us, but at all times expect and parry his blows. For though I am now chaste, patient, kind, and in firm faith, the devil will this very hour send such an arrow into my heart that I can scarcely stand. For he is an enemy that never desists nor becomes tired, so that when one temptation ceases, there always arise others and fresh ones. Accordingly, there is no help or comfort except to run hither and to take hold of the Lord’s Prayer, and thus speak to God from the heart: Dear Father, Thou hast bidden me pray; let me not relapse because of temptations.”
“But such feeling, as long as it is against our will and we would rather be rid of it, can harm no one. For if we did not feel it, it could not be called a temptation. But to consent thereto is when we give it the reins and do not resist or pray against it.”
Everyone experiences temptation, though not all in the same manner. It’s easy to understand people who sin like you sin. It’s harder to have compassion on those who experience different temptations. In Christ, we can find compassion for those who experience temptation without excusing sin.
We pray “lead us not into temptation” because the odds are stacked against us, and nobody could avoid or resist temptation on our own, but this is not a fair fight. God fights for us, and lets us live free in the gospel.
Show description.
God teaches us to pray to remind us that our life as Christians isn’t an ever upward climb of improvement, and it isn’t a sin that grace may abound, but a constant return to God in the face of temptation.
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