The
Lord’s Prayer
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However, aside from
this civil responsibility, they owe a
debt to the world, of which Paul
spoke when he said he was a debtor to
all men. The Christian has something
the world does not have, the gospel
and this he should share with them.
Paul felt keenly the
burden of that debt. He knew what
awaited him in Rome: opposition,
imprisonment, death; but this did not
deter him. He owed Rome a debt, and
he must pay it, whatever it might
mean to him personally. Therefore,
Paul went to Rome.
We owe a debt as
surely as Paul did. This accounts for
foreign missions. Paul did not
confine his work to his own circle.
He had a world vision. He took
Isaiah’s statement literally,
that it was too light a thing for him
to minister to Israel only, “to
restore the preserved of
Israel,” to minister to those
who already were in the church. God
said, “I will also give thee for
a light to the Gentiles, that thou
mayest be My salvation unto the end
of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6. Paul
accepted this responsibility.
Applying this
principle to the situation today, we
find ourselves confronted with a
world task. Under these conditions,
it is too light a thing that we
should confine our work to our own
neighborhood. It is well that we have
revivals “to restore the
preserved of Israel.” However,
we must not devote an undue portion
of our time to work of that nature.
We must lift up our eyes and view the
field. The gospel must be sent to the
entire world, and precious talent
must not be confined to hover over
the churches. We cannot all go to
field’s afar, but we can all
sacrifice; we can all pray. To such
as cannot go but gladly would if
circumstances permitted, this
precious promise is given, that
“as his part is that goeth down
to the battle, so shall his part be
that tarrieth by the stuff: they
shall part alike.” 1 Samuel
30:24. Blessed be God.
There are many who
would gladly go into public work if
they were free to do so. However,
home duties hold them. There are
faithful mothers and wives who must
stay at home and are deprived of the
joy of assisting their husbands in
soul-saving work. Let them be of good
courage. The Lord understands. He
promises that those who tarry by the
stuff shall share with them that go
down to the battle. Wonderful
promise! If we get forgiveness for
our sins only upon condition that we
forgive them that trespass against
us, the first thing we must do before
we ask forgiveness is to examine our
own hearts to ascertain if there are
those we have not forgiven. As is
noted above, we are not to wait until
they come to us. We are to go to
them. Matthew 5:23,24. Christ
considered this so important that He
said we are to leave our gift at the
altar and go first to see the
brother, and then bring the gift.
God commends prayer,
and He would have all men pray.
However, there are times when prayer
must wait. Go first, He said,
and be reconciled with thy brother.
If all followed this advice, there
would be love and harmony in the
church, and Christ’s promise
would be fulfilled, that “If ye
have love one to another,” then
“shall all men know ye are My
disciples.” John 13:35.
Let the mind dwell for
a moment on this promise. We all
desire to convince the world of the
truths we hold. We like to have them
be convinced that there are a people
who have God’s approval that
have the truth for this time. Can we
ever do this? Yes. “By this
shall all men know that ye are My
disciples, if ye have love one to
another.” This is the test.
This makes our duty
and our privilege clear. I must go to
every brother with whom I am at
variance and be reconciled to him. I
must do this to have my own sins
forgiven, and I must do this to
convince the world that I belong with
the people of God.
It is a sad commentary
on our Christianity that God finds it
necessary to remind us daily that we
ate to put out of our hearts all
malice and hatred if we expect to
receive God’s pardon. No
Christian has any right to pray the
Lord’s Prayer if he harbors
resentment against any. If he
nevertheless prays, he stands
self-convicted by his own prayer, for
he asks only that God will forgive
him as he forgives. Let us therefore
ask God to help us pray rightly,
“For give us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors.”
“Lead
Us Not Into Temptation”
“Let no man say
when he is tempted, I am tempted of
God: for God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth He any
man.” James 1:13. If God does
not tempt, who does?
Satan does. “Then
was Jesus led up of the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted of the
devil.” Matthew 4:1. “He
was there in the wilderness forty
days, tempted of Satan.” Mark
1:13.
Man tempts himself.
“Every man is tempted, when he
is drawn away of his own lust, and
enticed.” James 1:14. Satan,
however, is the originator of
man’s temptations. He presents
some alluring temptation to man, and
man falls into the trap.
It should be noted
that the Bible also states that God
tempts. “It came to pass after
these things, that God did tempt
Abraham.” Genesis 22:1. Is this
statement a contradiction of what
James says above, that God does not
tempt? That “God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth
He any man”?
We think not. James
speaks of being tempted with evil.
Note also, that the statement that
God tempted Abraham, in the margin
has the reading, “God did prove
Abraham.” Paul, recording the
event, said, “By faith Abraham,
when he was tried, offered up
Isaac.” Hebrews 11:17.
The Hebrew word for
“tempt” in genesis 22:1 is
defined, “test, put to the test,
tempt, try, and prove.” An
example of the word is found in the
record of Hezekiah’s sickness,
when he made the mistake of showing
all his riches to the ambassadors
from Babylon. The record reads that
God “left him, to try him.”
2 Chronicles 32:31. The word
“try” is the same Hebrew
word translated “tempt” in
Genesis 22:1.
Tests and trials are
necessary for God’s people. Adam
and Eve were tested in the Garden of
Eden. They failed. Job was also
tested. He stood the test. Job said,
“He knoweth the way that I take:
when He hath tried me, I shall come
forth as gold.” Job 23:10.
Abraham also stood the test; so did
Christ.
God tests His people
to make them stronger, to develop in
them powers of resistance. Daniel
observed, “Some of them of
understanding shall fall, to try
them, and to purge, and made them
white.” Daniel 11:35. “Many
shall be purified, and made white,
and tried.” Daniel 12:10. This
kind of test and trial is entirely
different from Satan’s
temptation that he brings on for the
purpose of enticing men to sin. Job
knew that he would come forth from
the trial as gold. Daniel said that
those who stand the test would be
purified and made white. On the
contrary, when Satan tempts, he hopes
to cause men to sin. God tries men to
make them strong, to resist
Satan’s temptations.
When God tests a man
and brings him into temptation, or
gives the evil one permission to do
so, He closely watches Satan that he
does not go beyond the line God has
set. Satan may go just so far and no
farther. Paul puts it well when he
says that God “will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are
able; but will with the temptation
also make a way of escape, that ye
may be able to bear it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13. God knows how
much we can bear, and He will not
permit Satan to go above the limit.
He will see us through, if we will
but trust Him. As Satan brings on one
trial after another, God watches
carefully. And at the precise moment
He will say, “Stop.” And
Satan obeys.
As stated above,
trails are necessary for God’s
people if they are to acquire the
necessary strength for complete
victory over sin. At this time
in the world’s history trials
are necessary to prepare us for the
coming events that will try men to
the utmost. God’s promise is,
“Because thou hast kept the word
of My patience, I also will keep thee
from the hour of temptation, which
shall come upon all the world, to try
them that dwell upon the earth.”
Revelation 3:10. “The
devil shall cast some of you in
prison, that ye may be tried.”
Revelation 2:10. But the glorious
promise is made, “As thy days,
so shall thy strength be.”
Deuteronomy 33:25. Blessed is the man
that endureth temptation: for when he
is tried, he shall receive the crown
of life.” James 1:12. It was
with this in mind that James could
say, “My brethren, count it all
joy when ye fall into divers
temptations; knowing this, that the
trying of your faith worketh
patience. But let patience have her
perfect work, that ye may be perfect
and entire, wanting nothing.”
Verses 2-4.
What, then, is the
meaning of the prayer when we are to
ask God not to bring us into
temptation? We accept Paul’s
explanation when he says that while
God will permit us to be tempted, He
will not permit Satan to tempt us
above what we are able to bear. 1
Corinthian 10:13. The prayer means
that we are to ask God for strength
to bear what He has for us, that we
not sink beneath the load. In the
midst of the trial, when it seems
that we can bear no more, we are to
remember that God keeps watch over
us, that He also watches Satan, and
that He will permit just so much and
no more. We may be sure that God is
on our side and will not forsake us.
In the dark hours we may look to God
in faith and assure ourselves that
“when He hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold.” Job 23:10.
When we are passing
through trials we know that we are in
the hands of God, that He is
observing us ands is carefully
measuring each stroke. We know that
His purpose is to try us, to purge
us, and to make us white. Daniel
11:35. We are to pray for the
necessary strength to bear what God
permits and to have faith that He
will find the way of escape, as He
has promised.
When Christ came to
the hour of His great trial, He
“offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and
tears unto Him that was able to save
Him from death, and was heard in that
He feared.” Hebrews 5:7
The prayer, “Lead
us not into temptation,” may
therefore be interpreted to mean,
“Lead us not into any temptation
harder that we can bear.” This
prayer is according to God’s
promise, and will therefore be heard.
When we are in the midst of some
great trial, we are to remember this
promise and this prayer and are to
say, “Lord, Thou hast promised
not to make the trial harder that I
can bear. I seem to be at the
breaking point, but I have faith,
Lord, that Thou knowest best. If Thou
seest that I can bear a little more,
I believe Thy word and trust in Thy
strength. Lord, “Thy will be
done.”
“Lead us not into
temptation,” is a prayer of
trust and faith in God. It is not
“Save me from this hour,”
but “Keep me in this hour.”
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