Praying for Protection

Big Idea: We should pray that we be protected from temptation.

Recap:

Jesus’ disciples ask him to teach them to pray.

As John’s taught his disciples.

He teaches them a simple prayer.

Luke’s version is even shorter than Matthew’s.

He was not commanding the prayer to be recited, but rather offered a template for elements of prayer.

Luther recommended that Believers memorize these texts to be used in prayer: The Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, and the Ten Commandments.

We may add to that the Psalms and prayers that Paul prayed.

Luther was clear that prayers were primarily to be for spiritual things; many people tend to focus on temporary or physical things.

Jesus was likely asked this on more than one occasion, and the Lord’s Prayer (also the disciple’s prayer) may be a template for our prayers.

But really, it is just a jumping off point. At each point in the prayer, one could spend much more time.

The prayer includes: A desire to see God’s name, and thereby his character, glorified, hallowed (made holy). That all the due reverance to a holy God would be given.

A prayer for daily needs (daily bread, but also many scholars take this to mean daily spiritual help. Jesus is the bread of life)

Forgiveness, and a plea for assistance in being like God, in our forgiving of others.

Finally, “lead us not into temptation”

Luke 11:1–4 ESV

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

First, a very important thing to understand. In the prayer, Jesus is not praying, nor asking us to pray, that God would not tempt us. God does not tempt anyone to sin.

We have to understand the difference between tempting and testing. God does test people, but he himself does not tempt them to do evil.

James 1:13–15 ESV

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Satan also tempts: In the longer version of the Lord’s prayer, attached to the prayer lead us not in to temptation, is added: “but deliver us from the evil one”

There is recognition that we have an enemy of our souls who does tempt, and that we ourselves have evil desires, and can tempt ourselves.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Luke 11:1–13

…temptations to sin should be as much dreaded and deprecated by us as ruin by sin; and it should be as much our care and prayer to get the power of sin broken in us as to get the guilt of sin removed from us; and though temptation may be a charming, fawning, flattering thing, we must be as earnest with God that we may not be led into it as that we may not be led by that to sin, and by sin to ruin.

This prayer is an acknowledgement of our need for God’s help, even his help to live obedient lives to him:

Calvin:

Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:1–4

The sentence ought to be resolved thus, That we may not be led into temptation, deliver us from evil. The meaning is: “We are conscious of our own weakness, and desire to enjoy the protection of God, that we may remain impregnable against all the assaults of Satan.” We showed from the former petition, that no man can be reckoned a Christian, who does not acknowledge himself to be a sinner; and in the same manner, we conclude from this petition, that we have no strength for living a holy life, except so far as we obtain it from God. Whoever implores the assistance of God to overcome temptations, acknowledges that, unless God deliver him, he will be constantly falling.

Calvin went on to make a brilliant point about the fact that we are tempted in both good and bad situations, because both when we are doing very well, and when we are in difficult situations, our true character and feelings are brought out:

Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:1–4

We are tempted both by adversity and by prosperity: because each of them is an occasion of bringing to light feelings which were formerly concealed. But here it denotes inward temptation, which may be fitly called the scourge of the devil, for exciting our lust. It would be foolish to ask, that God would keep us free from every thing which makes trial of our faith. All wicked emotions, which excite us to sin, are included under the name of temptation. Though it is not impossible that we may feel such pricks in our minds, (for, during the whole course of our life, we have a constant warfare with the flesh,) yet we ask that the Lord would not cause us to be thrown down, or suffer us to be overwhelmed, by temptations.

An when we pray to be delivered from sin, we are recognizing the constant danger we are in from it, unless the Lord protects and delivers us.

And so this prayer, from beginning to end, is a prayer that must be prayed in humility. We recognize our being needy. I don’t hear that word as much. We used to say, and some may still use this language, that we want to help the needy.

By this, we usually mean people in physical need. But believers need to stay humble, realizing that we are those who are always needy, that is, we are need daily of the blessings of God. We need our daily needs met so we are needy. We continue to sin, so we need continual forgiveness, so we are needy. And we need God to preserve and protect us when it comes to temptations to sin, so we are needy.

The prayer brings one before God realizing our great need. Remember what Luther said should be used in prayer: The Ten Commandment, the Apostle’s Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. Consider this: If you have trouble praying for much time at all, then at each line of the Lord’s prayer, add in thoughts from those other texts:

Father, hallowed be your name:

From the Apostle’s Creed: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth:

From the Ten Commandments: You shall have no other gods before me, you shall not make for yourself a carved image (idols). You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

Your kingdom come:

His kingdom, where the commands of God are kept, where every knee bows to the Lordship of Jesus.

A desire for the things of God: Righteousness, holiness, justice, peace, mercy, obedience to the commands, for the good of each other and a desire to worship him well

Give us this day our daily bread:

Come before him as a needy person; Even if you are well off financially, you still ought to pray this prayer, because you must not become arrogant in thinking you have no need of God to provide for you.

Even if your physical needs are met, you have need of his spiritual help and blessings.

A person who feels no need to pray to God for daily bread may very well need to examine whether they are in the faith at all. There can be no arrogance before God.

Forgive us our sins:

In our own prayer, we could spend much time here. If we have forgotten our specific sins, surely a consideration of the ten commandments, and its categories, will remind us of many of them.

Jesus expanded on these ten commandments: Adultery is done in the mind and heart, even before the physical act . One who has hate towards another is guilty as a lawbreaker of the sin of murder in their heart.

Certainly one could spend much time in praying through the Ten Commandments. So we should not flippantly say “Sorry!” liek a kid forced to say it. If we pass too quickly over this line, “forgive us our sins”, we may not truly be doing what is needed to be forgiven,

For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Sin against another puts us in debt to them. So it is, that to be Christ-like, we must forgive others. In our prayers, we would do well to verbalize those hurts and sins against us before the Lord.

We pray that we be forgiven by others, and that the Lord would help us to forgive.

And lead us not into temptation.

Again, the ten commandments,

The Apostle’s Creed. “I believe in the Holy Spirit”

Jesus said the Spirit was given as a comfort, a guide to truth, and one to empower us to serve God.

In addition to the Lord’s prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, and the Ten Commandments, we would do well to know scripture throughout. The more we know the bible, the better we will be able to pray.

Praying with Paul: Phil3.3-6

Philippians 3:3–11 ESV

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.