Do not let us carry the temptation inward but deliver us from all evil by drawing us to Yourself. Matthew 6:13.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
The night He was betrayed and knew He would not be with you physically much longer, My Son prayed for you that I would keep you from evil. He did not ask Me to take you out of the world, for He was sending you into the world to represent Him by bringing the good news of salvation to all people to reconcile them to Me, but He asked Me to sanctify you, to consecrate and set you apart from evil by My Word.
But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:13-21.
You can be in the midst of evil, but evil does not have to be in the midst of you. You can be in the world, but the world does not have to be in you.
Adam abdicated the throne of the son of man to Satan, but Jesus took that throne back as Son of Man, that is, the second Adam, and cast Satan and the angels who followed him out of Heaven, never to return. However, because the term of Adam’s leasehold is not yet over, Satan is still roaming about as the “god” of the world for those who will enthrone him as the master of their lives.
But for you who have received My Son as Lord, your citizenship is in Heaven and that is the source of your supply. You are in the world but not of the world. You are not dependent on the world because your source is the Kingdom. And it has pleased to give you, My children, the Kingdom.
You live the life of an ambassador. An ambassador for a nation is not dependent on the county in which he is living, his source is the nation which he is representing in the foreign nation as an ambassador. And if he needs deliverance, his home country will send its army to rescue him.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.
Do you see? You are My ambassadors, so I take care of you. My heavenly host surrounds you. Just as it did Elisha when the enemy army came to capture and kill him. And there were far more host than those ready to attack My covenant man, My ambassador. Jesus could have called on Me for twelve legions of angels to rescue Him from being taken captive by the Sanhedrin, but He did not because He had come for that hour to set you free by taking all your sins on Himself as the unblemished Lamb of sacrifice for the sin offering. Once He received all your sins into His own flesh in that hour in the Garden of Gethsemane, He had to die, for the wages of sin is death. As your great High Priest and the burnt offering, He sacrificed Himself once for all.
Jesus prayed for you that I would keep you from evil. And when He asked Peter, James, and John to watch with Him immediately after the Last Supper (the Passover Seder) in the hour in which He took all sin on Himself and drank the cup of My wrath, before Judas led forth those who were arresting Him by stealth, He told them to pray for themselves to Me that they not enter into temptation for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
And Jesus came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:40-41.
This is the second time Jesus told you to pray this request to Me that recorded in the Bible, two witnesses establish a fact so it is important for you to know this and, not only know it, but do it. I think you know the first time he taught this, it is in His teaching on prayer:
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’” Matthew 6:5-13.
In the last Life Lesson, we stopped with the verse “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Today we continue to the next verse, which is generally translated “Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil.” This, however, does not give you the full picture of what I am telling you to pray.
The word translated “lead” was originally written in the Greek language and it is the Greek word “eispheró (εἰσφέρω),” which means to carry inward. Often you will see it translated as to bring something into a place, as when the friends of the crippled man could not bring him into the house where Jesus was because of the crowd, so they carried him in by making a hole in the roof. They were determined to get him into the house.
That is the idea behind temptations, tests, trials, and afflictions, they will come so long as you are in this world as it is now, Jesus warned you of that, but He also told you that Satan had no place IN Him and that Jesus had overcome the world, they will be presented to you by Satan and his unclean spirits that follow him but you do not have to bring them into your heart and succumb to them as Judas did. As I told Cain before he slew Abel, sin is crouching at your door, but you can be its master. But he did not want to take control, he let sin rule him instead.
The word translated “temptation,” in the original Greek, is “peirasmos (πειρασμός),” which can mean trial, probation, testing, being tried, temptation, calamity, and affliction. In other words, it is something that will test you, try you, and, if you give in to it, cause affliction and calamity. In other words, avoid it at all costs if you value keeping your shalom peace, which is My plan for your life. That is why My Son warned you to pray that you do not let these things enter into your heart but avoid them altogether. I can deliver you out of a pit, but it is better if you do not throw yourself into one.
In the prayer Jesus taught you what follows that which supports you in staying away from temptation is the close of the verse, “deliver us from evil.” If you are delivered from evil, you are protected from Satan, and he cannot touch you. The word “deliver” used in this verse is “rhuomai (ῥύομαι),” which means to draw to oneself, it means I rescue you from evil by drawing you into Myself, the secret place of Psalm 91 where Satan cannot touch you.
We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God, God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:18-21.
The Greek word “rhýomai” is from eryō, which means to “draw to oneself,” to pull, rescue, snatch you up out of evil to Myself. So in the prayer Jesus taught you, this word is used, “Deliver (rhýomai) us from evil,” so you are praying “Deliver me to Yourself and for Yourself.” “Lord, deliver me out of my pains and bring me to You and for You.” In answer I remove you from the midst of danger or oppression to Myself. My Name is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are lifted inaccessibly high from the enemy. Proverbs 18:10.
“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My special treasure among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19:4-6.
I draw you to Myself out of evil to give you authority as a kingdom of priests unto Me, a royal priesthood, a people set apart, delivered out of the darkness of the world into My own marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9-10. For Jesus, in His great love for you and Me, has released you from your sins by His blood and made you a Kingdom, priests unto Me. Revelation 1:5-6.
And you pray that I deliver you from evil. The word used for evil in the original Greek is “ponéros (πονηρός,),” meaning toilsome, bad, evil, wicked, malicious, slothful. Ponērós is an adjective which is also used substantively, derived from “pónos,” which means pain and laborious trouble. Which describes the consequences that followed Adam’s sin when he left the truth of My Word to follow a lie and take on a new master. His life became one of toilsome, painful labor. But My blessing makes rich and adds no painful, sorrowful toil with it. The choice is up to you. But it is better to choose the blessing by obeying My wonderful Word then to reject goodness and follow the lies of the evil one, which always leads to death and destruction.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your seed, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days. Deuteronomy 30:19-20.
Avoid going places you should not go and looking at things you should not put before your eyes. The deeds people are doing in darkness are diabolical and destructive. I want you to discern evil, so you can stay away from it, but I do not want you to know it by living it. Evil is all about you but you do not have to take it in. Shut it out.
Pray that you do not enter into temptation, but primarily that you do not carry it into your heart when it presents itself. Do not even look at many of the things that are so easily accessible on the internet today, it is better not to know them. Your mind will feed on whatever you put before your eyes and let into your ears. I will protect you, but you have a part as well. Guard your heart for from it flow the issues of life. You mouth will speak from the abundance of your heart, make sure you are controlling what you are letting into your heart. Pray for My help in this every day. If David had not stared out his window that day and looked at what he should not have seen, his life and that of his children, indeed that of the nation, would have been very different. I forgive and forget but there are consequences that can go down the generations.
Remember that My eyes are too pure to look on evil. I even had to look away from Jesus on the Cross when He was covered with your sins from the beginning to the end of time.
Imitate Me as My dear children and walk in love. Love is pure. Love tolerates no evil. It will not allow two masters. I have nothing in common with evil and you should not either.
For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Romans 16:19-20.
I love you. Be mindful of the tactics of the evil one. Never let him catch you off guard. Guard you eyes, your ears, and your heart. Pray, “Do not let temptation enter into us, but deliver us from all evil by drawing us to Yourself.”
“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41.