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THE LORD’S PRAYER PT 6

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' Matthew 6:13

Satan’s power can be exercised only at God’s discretion. He’s not free to wreak havoc on you at will. Actually, he’d rather you never learn how often God uses him as an instrument to: (1) Humble us. Even the meekest among us tends to think too highly of himself. Paul did. But God protected him from his own pride, using Satan to do it: ‘To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me’ (2 Corinthians 12:7). (2) Awaken us. When dealing with two disciples who’d made a shipwreck of their faith and negatively influenced others, Paul wrote: ‘I have given these men over to Satan, so they will learn not to oppose God’ (1 Timothy 1:20). Some of us respond to a tap on the shoulder, others need a heavy stick. Whenever God needs a heavy stick, Satan gets the call. (3) Teach us. Jesus told Peter, ‘‘Satan has asked [he needs permission] to test all of you, I have prayed that you will not lose your faith!’ (Luke 22:31-32 ). The Good Shepherd will permit the attack only if, in the long term, the pain is worth the gain. The purpose of the test is to provide a testimony to God’s saving and keeping power in your life. So today you can pray with confidence, ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one’’

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me “get it” when you correct me so you don’t have to use a bigger stick to get my attention! In Jesus’ Name, Amen