The Pope
has suggested that we reword the Lord’s Prayer when it comes to
temptation. Why would the Lord’s Prayer
be altered? As a Christian I am amazed
by how many people can basically quote these few phrases of a prayer. Most cannot tell you the Ten Commandments,
but the Lord’s Prayer is heard frequently enough that many can join in once it
is started. Why would Christians want to
mess with that?
I heard
JI Packer, an evangelical theologian, give a talk on Ephesians 6 (Christian
instruction about how to defeat Satan).
As he introduced this topic, he told us that in his late 80s he has
dedicated the rest of his life to training Christians to be true disciples of
Christ. He said Ephesians 6—how to
defeat the evil one—is the place he would start. I love and respect JI Packer; but I thought
this should be the second thing taught Christians, and the first should be our
identity as children of God and coheirs with Jesus. We need to understand that we are dearly
beloved children of God. Knowing my true
identity as a dearly beloved child of God is what energized my spiritual
life. However, JI Packer is much wiser
than me, so I will heed to his spiritual wisdom. I have come to see that what I most need to
know as a Christian is that I am a dearly beloved child of God. Therefore, the enemy of my soul is obsessed
with hiding this reality from me.
I don’t
naturally pray that I won’t be led into temptation and that I will be delivered
from evil. I ask God to protect my
family, save souls who haven’t turned to Him, and help to complete the tasks of
my day. I don’t see the ways I am being
tempted every day, even tempted by not being aware of the temptations that I
encounter every day. 1 John 4:4 tells
me: “You,
dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in
you is greater than the one who is in the world.” I definitely don’t need to be ultra-focused
on the enemy of my soul because as a Christian I have overcome him (through
Jesus Christ). However, I do need to be
aware of his evil tactics that he uses against my progress and freedom in
Christ. I don’t want to underestimate
the devil.
How am I
trite about the devil? Do I stay on
guard against his constant focus on stealing my soul from its connection to God
and His purposes for my life? Am I aware
of the ways he tempts me daily to focus only on myself and distance myself from
the love of God? I read a news story
that Chelsie Clinton tweeted Happy New Year to @churchofsatan. Some accused her of being a Satan
worshipper. I looked up the tweet to see
for myself. The tweet didn’t imply that
she had ever met the leader of the church of satan but that she was mentioning
they had been connected in a tweet several years back. Since it was on New Year’s Day; she tweeted
Happy New Year. After coming under
attack about the tweet, she commented that she had thought we had made so much
more progress in accepting one another’s different religious focus. Does she not know what Satanist believe and
do? Have we been blinded to the work of
satan in our world? We cannot be trite
about the presence of satan in our culture and his dogged desire to tear our
lives apart. 1 Peter 5:8 instructs
us: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for
someone to devour.”
None of
us can be trite about the devil. We are
told to be constantly on our guard. We
need to have an awareness of his daily traps and temptations that lead us away
from knowing a confident love of God in all our affairs. All this focus on the Lord’s Prayer has
stirred me to be more faithful in praying it daily. I am not just repeating the words but letting
the words and phrases sink deep into my reality. I’m claiming every phrase and word in my
daily life. The Lord’s Prayer is helping
to reorient my soul to the love and presence of God.
Copyright © 2018.
Deborah R Newman
teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights
Reserved.
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