Well, I never meant it to take this long! But I realised that I started this series about this time last year when our church was having a week of prayer – and we’ve recently finished the 2024 week of prayer.

The final part of Jesus’ prayer is bracketed by ‘forgive others as God has forgiven you’. In a sense, that’s looking backwards to sins we have committed.

So in that context, we are told to pray ‘Lead us not into temptation’. Which is a forward look to potential sins.

The first thing to say is that God does not tempt us to sin – James 1:13 – but he does allow us to go through various trials. In fact, it’s pretty much a certainty that as Christians we will go through different kinds of trials or testing. Though we also have the promise that we will not be tested beyond our ability to endure it – 1 Corinthians 10:13.

The first chapter of James is quite helpful with this. It opens with the statement that we should count trials as ‘joy’ (James 1:2) – because when our faith is tested we grow stronger. But James also identifies the source of our temptations. Not God, but our own desires, our sinful natures. 

So the prayer could be worded ‘lead us not to the place of testing’. Rather, Psalm 23 for instance describes other, positive, places where God does lead us: ‘beside still waters’ and ‘in paths of righteousness’. 

This leading is not ‘dragging’, against our will – it is more like guiding. Our own hearts or desires will tend to take us away from God. Through his Word and the inward prompting of the Holy Spirit, he will lead, or guide, us away from temptation and towards righteousness.

It is not just our inward desires that can tempt us. Clearly there are temptations all around us, though they will almost always find footing in our minds.

Deliver us from Evil

The second part of this prayer ‘deliver us from evil’, refers to an external source of temptation. The word ‘evil’ is not an abstract word – it is a personal word. It is often translated as ‘deliver us from the evil one’. While this could mean an evil person, it most likely refers to the devil. So, deliver, or rescue, us from the devil. 

The devil is a spiritual being who is more powerful than we are but is powerless against Jesus. As an example, Jesus tells the disciples that Satan wanted to ‘shake’ them, something Peter says he will be able to resist (Luke 22;31-34). It turned out that he couldn’t as he denied Jesus three times. Nevertheless, Jesus delivered him by praying for him (Luke 22:32), restoring him after his resurrection (John 21:15-19) and subsequently making him the leader of the church in Acts 2:14ff. Peter could not withstand the devil in his own strength, but with Jesus’ strength the devil was disempowered and Peter was raised to be a witness and apostle in the church.

‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us form evil’ is a prayer for protection from influences and forces that are stronger than we are, but over which God has ultimate power.

Some versions of the Bible include a doxology (praise) after this final part of Jesus’ prayer:

For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen

It’s unlikely this was in the original manuscripts, but it is a very appropriate way to finish this prayer as it brings our focus back to our all-powerful, glorious Father who will love, care for, provide and protect his children.