Prayer (Jun 2025)
“…deliver us from the evil one”
Dear Church Leaders (and everyone else)
Further to this introductory post…
I can think of no better place to start than the Lord’s Prayer, which can be found in Luke 11 and in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:
(The actual prayer can be found in v9-13. I have included the surrounding verses for context)
‘Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 ‘So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
5 ‘And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 ‘This, then, is how you should pray:
‘“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
(NB for verse 13, note that the Greek for temptation can also mean testing, that from the evil one could also be translated from evil, and that some manuscripts have, at the end of the verse, ...evil one, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.)
Some years ago — I can’t quite remember when, or indeed why — I resolved to get into the habit of praying the Lord’s Prayer each day, which is hardly a massive commitment, but definitely a worthwhile one. And as I have continued this practice in recent years, occasionally pondering each line carefully, I have been increasingly struck by the prayer’s timeless depth and relevance, not least in the request to be delivered from the evil one — the god of this age, the father of lies and a crafty deceiver who sometimes even masquerades as an angel of light. And I have learned that it is really important to think carefully about that last point. Satan’s deception is sometimes so devious that most people do not notice that they are being deceived. Moreover, there is a good case to be made that it is educated people who are more likely to fall for the deception.
I find the Lord’s Prayer to be a useful reminder that it is good to start by focusing on “Our Father in heaven” and his will before turning to our own needs: our daily bread, forgiveness, and the deliverance discussed above. I have sometimes wondered why the prayer does not have an element of thanksgiving, which is a feature of other prayers in the Bible. But when Jesus was asked by his disciples how to pray, the Lord’s Prayer was his reply. And to my mind it seems a more appropriate way to begin any time of prayer than ever.
Related:
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