The Leadership of God
The Lord is our Shepherd, Psalm 23 tells us so. And Good Shepherds lead their flock to green pastures, still waters, safety, refuge and peace.
The enemy of our souls also wants to lead us. He is a counterfeit of God and perverts the grace of God into all sorts of falsehood. His leading will only lead you to sin, destruction and death.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” — Matthew 6:13
In continuing with our series delving into bringing the patterns of the Lord’s Prayer into the rhythms of our everyday womanhood…This part of the Prayer addresses the voice we will listen to in our day to day. Will we heed the voice of the enemy, or that of our loving Lord and Savior, the One who laid His own life down on the cross for us (John 15:13)?
Sin is tempting, but Scripture says, we cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons (1 Corinthians 10:21). If it offends your conscience, knowledge of the Word, or convictions, it shouldn’t be a question what your next step is to be.
The Greek word used for “lead” here is “eisenenkēs”. It means to lead into, bring in, or announce. Later, the word used for “deliver” is “rhysai”, meaning to rescue and deliver from danger or destruction.
God is not the author of confusion, and will never lead us into what appears good but is truly poisonous. God never tempts us, but the enemy does. And by this verse we know that God is faithful and mighty to deliver — to rescue us from all evil.
We face many temptations in this life. Ephesians 6:12 tells us we fight against rulers, authorities and cosmic powers over this present darkness. Satan is called the prince of the power of the air and the god of this world (Ephesians 2:2, 2 Corinthians 4:4). These are not light terms, and should help us understand how seriously God takes spiritual warfare. Not to mention the task of dying to our own sinful nature…
Thus, we pray. And we pray as Jesus modelled to us here. We ask God to not lead us into temptation, and to deliver us from all evil.
If I may, I’d like to ask you to consider, what are your weak points when it comes to temptations? Ask the Lord to reveal it to you. If you were Satan, where would you attack yourself first — then, pray into that specific area. How does the Lord want to strengthen you in this area? Note where you are weakest in your daily rhythms, and ask the Lord for His sufficient grace to work there (2 Corinthians 12:9).
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” — James 4:7
As we await His return…
To follow our journey of learning biblical femininity, find us on Instagram here.
To be in the know about our dresses, coming soon… join our waitlist here.