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
