Overcoming Trials and Temptations

The Lord’s Prayer: You Can Pray!  Part 5

Matthew 6:13; And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever.  Amen.

This model prayer is a masterpiece of wisdom. This prayer teaches us that we can pray about any problem we face in life. As a matter of fact, every life problem is dealt with in this brief prayer. You can catagorize any problem you will ever have will fit into one of the things the Lord deals with in this model prayer. God can meet any need we will ever face if we trust Him!

God’s answer to our INSECURITY: His Person, “Our Father…” Many people try to impress others, buy things, get therapy, to build themselves up. God’s answer to our insecurity is His Person. When we learn to really say OUR FATHER, that settles it!

God’s answer to our INDECISION: Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done…His eternal and earthly PLAN for our life. He has a Master plan and a Personal Plan.

God’s answer to our WORRY: His PROVISION as He provides us each day our daily bread. The daily things we are prone to worry about: health, finances, shelter, clothes. God says relax.

God’s answer to our SIN and GUILT in our Walk with God: His PARDON as we receive forgiveness from sin. Many of our problems are caused by an unclear conscience.

God’s answer to BITTERNESS in human relationships: His PEACE as we forgive our debtors. The antidote to your strained relationships is forgiveness.

God’s answer to FEAR, TRIALS, and TEMPTATIONS: His Protection and Power.

The last petition deals with TEMPTATIONS. The word temptation is a very comprehensive word dealing with trials, persecutions, difficulties, and also temptations to evil. This word is not a narrow word, but a wide word. Temptation is man’s oldest problem. All of us have been tempted and all of us are tempted on a daily basis. All of us have weaknesses, and Satan tests us to find where that weakness is: temper, drinking, eating, spending, lust, of the flesh, eyes, pride, envy, cursing, or bitterness. There is some area in your life that is not under perfect control.

Satan tempts us to destroy us; God allows temptations to strengthen us. The very same thing that can destroy you can also fortify you.

Acts 20:19: Serving the Lord with all humility, tears…temptations…

(You can see also 1 Corinthians 10:13 Luke 22:28)

God never encourages us to sin, but He does encourage those who have sinned.

The message of Scripture is FEAR GOD and SIN NOT; but when you do sin, DESPAIR NOT, for mercy and forgiveness is available.

It is far better to overcome temptation than to fall prey to the temptation. How can we conquer the temptations that war against our soul?

1. Ask for His Deliverance: “Deliver us from evil…”

Every day realize you must ask for his deliverance. Do not think, OH, today I shall not be tempted. I can leave off prayer today. I am strong enough from yesterdays prayers. Let him that thinks he stand, take heed lest he fall.

Luke 22:40; Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

Luke 22:46 Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

When Jesus underwent his hour of temptation, what did he do? He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples for an hour. Pray! When was the last time you prayed for one hour when you were tempted. Do you know what we are prone to do under temptation? We forget to pray and fall to the temptation!

I said earlier in this series that prayer is the greatest problem solving technique known to man. No matter what problem you are having, pray over it and pray through it. Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, the Creator, the One who knows the best thing for us, says PRAY lest ye enter into temptation.

Where do you need deliverance? From physical PAIN? From a troublesome PLACE? From broken PLANS? From difficult PEOPLE? From sinful PRACTICE?

Some of you here today need to be delivered: from FEAR, PAINFUL MEMORIES, CHILDHOOD SCARS, PRESENT HABITS that are pulling you down.

If you are being tempted to some evil, you must pray. God can deliver us from the evil that is all around us. There is no shortage of evil in this world. We never outgrow TEMPTATION. We never outgrow TRIAL. One of Satan’s desires is to get a Christian to feel guilty from being tempted. Temptation is not wrong in itself! Jesus was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin and that He himself has endured all forms of temptations: that is earthly trials, physical need, pain, difficult people, He is able to help us who are daily tempted.

God delivers! He can deliver us from evil plans and evil people and from the Evil One, Satan Himself.

Psalm 34:17, The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

Psalm 34:19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

2 Timothy 4:18, And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever!

 When should you pray for God to deliver you? Have you ever been tempted to commit a felony when your kids have irritated you to the limit?  

A wife was asked if she ever contemplated divorce. Divorce? No, Murder, Yes!

Do you answer sarcastically to your boss when he blames you for his mistakes in front of your co-workers. When you are filling out your tax returns. When you smell the aroma of hot cinnabuns at the mall. HELP!!

2. Focus on His Kingdom: “Thine is the Kingdom…”

Jesus Christ continually sought to give His followers a vision of His Kingdom. We are taught to pray, THY KINGDOM COME. We have to realize that this earth is the scene of a massive rebellion against the rule and authority of the God of heaven. The One behind all this rebellion is the EVIL one, Satan Himself. One day, this world, with all of its pride and rebellion and attractions and allurements will all be burned up. God’s Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and eternal joy will abide forever. We are to make decisions today that will bear fruit for eternity. We are to live today focused upon God’s eternal Kingdom.

A. Be Sure you are a MEMBER of this Kingdom

In order to overcome temptation, we must be sure we are inheritors of God’s Kingdom. That is, we must be born again.

Jesus said in John 3:3, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Are you born again? You can know you have eternal life! To fight this spiritual warfare against the world, the flesh, and the Devil, we must be born again, that is we need to receive the divine life of God to quicken our dead soul. This can be termed regeneration. The start to our deliverance is SALVATION. When we know we inherit His kingdom.

B. Surrender as a SOLDIER in this Kingdom

Once you are saved, realize you are in a battle. Then we need to put on all the armor of God. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

Ephesians 6 is a classic passage dealing with our spiritual warfare against the Devil. Paul enumerates different parts of our Christian armor. We need to stand and withstand against spiritual powers of wickedness. One of the parts of this armor is the helmet of salvation. A helmet guards the head, and the point is, if you do not have salvation, your mind will be open to all of Satan’s attacks. We are soldiers in His Kingdom, and we need to be armed with the weapons of our warfare.

In Luke 22:28-32 Jesus is facing the mighty trial of Gethsemane, Betrayal, Denial, and utter forsakenness of the cross. In the midst of this, he keeps the vision of the kingdom before his disciples, for the time of Christ’s suffering would also be a time of temptation for the disciples to forsake His work.

Verse 31 tells me that Satan searches us out, he attacks us here and there seeking to find our weakness. Is your weakness alcohol? Finances? Women? Adultery or fornication? He can arrange circumstances that will set you up for a fall. In this case, the trial was one of denying the Lord Jesus. Peter failed in the moment of temptation, but his faith ultimately did not fail. God used actually used this temptation in Peter’s life so that he could strengthen his brethren. Through failure, Peter can still strengthen and help others, because he properly responded to his failure by true repentance.

3. Rely upon His Power: “and the power…”

Let us not be of those who have a form of godliness but deny the power of God. Let us believe in the power of God. Jesus told the Sadducees, Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God.

A. The Power of HIS WORD:

When we are tempted, turn to the Word. Fear the Lord, and fear to sin, turn to the Word and God will give you true peace. There is no peace in unrighteousness. Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them.

Isaiah 26:3; Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon thee: because he trusteth in thee.

What did Jesus do when Satan tempted him? He quoted Scripture, and he committed Himself to what the Scripture said.

B. The Power of HIS BLOOD:

The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. How do we resist the accuser of the brethren?

Revelation 12:11, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

When you are being tempted, enter boldly the throne of grace on the basis of the shed blood for you. Claim His blood. Thank God for the precious blood of Jesus.

C. The Power of His SPIRIT:

We need to realize the indwelling of the Spirit in our life, then plead for His power in our life. Yield to the Spirit’s control. Resist the desires, the impulses of the flesh.

4. Live for His Glory: “and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

The glory of God speaks of His character. To live for His glory means we desire to manifest the perfection of His character in all we say and do. We glorify God by submitting to Him. To overcome temptation and trial, do not focus upon the trial, focus on the glory of God. Focus on Jesus!

Do you know what Jesus focused upon as He went to the cross. He despised the shame of the cross, but He also knew that God would be glorified by His death upon the cross.

John 17:1, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

No where do we see the attributes of God so clearly manifest as in the cross of Jesus! We see the LOVE, the JUSTICE, the HOLINESS, the RIGHTEOUSNESS, the WRATH of God all at the cross. That is why we are to preach the cross because the cross brings glory to God! The preaching of the cross is what God has ordained to save men!

The word “glory” is a very important New Testament word. In 1 Peter, for example, it is used eleven times. Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Whatever we do now we are to do for HIS GLORY, and His Spirit of glory can rest upon us now as we endure trials and suffering. (1 Peter 1:7; 4:14).

When we are committed to live for His glory we are willing to endure all things for His sake. We are not ever going to quit. We are going to ENDURE all the way to the end, because we live for His glory now and we long to see Him in glory for ever and ever!

As we close this series on the Model Prayer, let me ask you, How important is your prayer life to you? Do you realize that YOU CAN PRAY? Your prayers do not have to be fancy, they just have to come from your heart that has faith in the Lord of glory. I desire that our church be a miracle, something that can only be done because God did it. HE will do it as we pray.

This is not only a model to pray, it is a pattern for living.