Saturday, March 7, 2020

The Lord's Prayer: The Seventh Petition

The seventh petition of the Lord's Prayer is this:  "But deliver us from evil."

In truth, this is the second half of the sixth petition.  I find it helpful to imagine praying them as one:  "Lead us not into temptation; instead, deliver us from evil."

Of course, the attacks of the Evil one are many and varied.  But in the end they are all temptations!  The Devil is not content to just ruin your life or kill your body.  He wants you to reject the salvation you have in Jesus Christ!  And that means he wants to tempt you away from the faith with every thing he does.

Consequently, the Reformers explained the seventh petition in this way:  "We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven."


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