On My Mind: Is Changing The Lord's Prayer Necessary?

Our Father, Who art in heaven

Hallowed be Thy name.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we

also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead (bring) us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power

and the glory forever.  Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13

Should the words of the Lord's prayer be altered?

Pope Frances thinks so.  The head of the Roman Catholic Church

has officially changed the passage, "And lead us not into temptation..."

to "do not let us fall into temptation".  His rationale for changing

the words spoken by Jesus Himself is that he believes God, as a

loving and heavenly Father, would never deliberately

 lead anyone into temptation.  

Pope Frances has approved a change in

the Lord's Prayer

The pontiff claims, "It is not a good translation because it speaks

of a God who induces temptation.  The one who leads you into

temptation is Satan. That's Satan's role."

Comedian Flip Wilson's favorite catch phrase was,

"The devil made me do it."

Unfortunately, in the case of fallen humanity,

while undoubtedly looking for an entrance at the scene of the crime,

 and depending on the situation, the enemy of the souls of mankind   

 is not always to blame for someone falling into temptation and sin.

According to the classic biblical reference book,

Marvin R. Vincent's "Word Studies In The New Testament":

"It is a mistake to define this word, "temptation" as only a "solicitation to evil".

Translated from Hebrew to Greek, the word comes to represent any kind

of trial or tribulation faced by the believer in life.

.

  For example, in Acts 16:7 when the apostles, Paul and Timothy, decided

to go into Bithynia, a Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor,

the Spirit of Jesus prevented them from doing so.  The previous verse

informs the reader that prior to this warning, the apostles  had "passed through

 the territory of Phrygia and Galatia, (located in central Asia Minor) but as they 

 traveled further east, the Holy Spirit forbade them not to go there".

It was up to Paul and Timothy to heed and obey the voice of the Holy

Spirit, or to give into the temptation to continue on with their journey.

 In faith, Paul looked to heaven for confirmation of the Spirit's 

 warning and was answered by the Lord Himself.

There later appeared to Paul a vision of a man from Macedonia

asking him to come and help the people there. Paul went at once

towards Macedonia, knowing that God was calling him West,

not East. Christianity would henceforth become the basis of 

 western civilization, first in Europe, and later in America.

In II Corinthians 13: 4-5 Paul reminds believers: "For though

He was crucified in weakness, yet He goes on living by the

power of God. And though we too are weak in Him, as

He was humanly weak, yet in dealing with you, we shall

show ourselves alive and strong in fellowship with Him,

by the power of God.

 Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether 

 you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it.

Test and prove yourselves, not Christ. Do you know

thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience that

Jesus Christ is in you-unless you are counterfeits,

disapproved on trial and rejected?"

The Book of James attests: "Let no one say when he is

tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of

being tempted by what is evil and He Himself tempts no one."

James 1:13

Because all human beings have inherited the fallen nature of

Adam, they can be, given the right set of circumstances, tempted

 to sin when they are, as James wrote, ..."drawn away, enticed, and baited

 by their own evil desires."   In our fast-paced 21st century world of

today, the Internet and advancing technology serve as a great

distraction which millions of people around the world indulge

in on a daily basis, and this includes millions of believers too.

While technology and especially the Internet has brought the

nations and people of the world a whole lot closer than before,

the enchantment of cyber space is full of many black holes.

The chances of falling prey to the devastation of life-altering

temptation is an all too real possibility these days, and is

as easily accessible as one simple click on a computer keyboard.

 However, if we proclaim that we are believers and followers 

 of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are without excuse if we

choose to follow after the desires of our own sinful hearts,

without seeking first the wisdom and discernment of God,

 as provided through the Holy Spirit.  

Sometimes when it seems that the Lord is not listening to us it 
 is because He has already answered, as with the planning of
the apostle Paul's itinerary in witnessing the gospel of grace.
Our sovereign Father sees what we do not see and He always has  
the better plan with a purpose worked out for His beloved child.
  It is simply a matter of faith and trust. 

Spiritual discipline can only be fully exercised through earnest,

soul-bearing prayer, and from the diligent and careful study

and meditation on the Word that God speaks through the Scriptures.

"And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that

the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God."

Ephesians 6:17

"That you may walk, live and conduct yourselves in a

manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring

to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work

and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge

of God, with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight and recognition."

Colossians 1:10

"For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power,

making it active, operative, energizing, and effective;

it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to

the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and (the 

immortal) spirit, and of the joints and marrow of the

deepest parts of our nature, exposing and shifting and

analyzing and judging the very thoughts

 and purposes of the heart.

Hebrew 4:4

 James further attests, "Believers who look carefully into the faultless law, 

 the law of liberty, and are faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it,

being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer

(who obeys and applies the law to their lives) shall be

blessed in their lives of obedience."

James 1:25