Live in Harmony With the Model Prayer Part II

"DO NOT BRING US INTO TEMPTATION" 

Considering what happened to Jesus shortly after his baptism can help us to understand the need for the request:  "Do not bring us into temptation."  Jesus was led into the wilderness by God's spirit.  Why?  "To be tempted by the Devil." (Matthew 4:1; 6:13) Should that surprise us?  Not if we grasp the main reason why God sent his Son to the earth.  That was to settle the issue raised  when Adam and Eve rejected God's sovereignty. Questions needed time to be settled. For example, was something wrong with the way God created man?  Was it possible for a perfect human to uphold  God's sovereignty regardless of pressures from "the wicked one"?     And would mankind be better off independent of God's rulership, as Satan implied?  (Genesis 3:4, 5)  Answering such questions would require time but would show all intelligent creation that Jehovah exercises  his sovereignty in a beneficial way.

Jehovah is holy and therefore never tempts anyone to do evil. Rather, it is the Devil who is "the Tempter." (Matthew 4:3)  The Devil can create tempting situations. Yet, it is up to each individual whether he will allow himself to be brought into temptation or not.  (Read James 1:13-15)  For his part, Jesus immediately rejected each temptation by the use of a relevant quotation from God's Word.  Thus, Jesus up held God's rightful sovereignty.  But Satan did not give up. He waited  "until another convenient time."  (Luke 4:13)  Jesus continued to resist all of Satan's efforts to break his integrity.  Christ upheld the righteousness of Jehovah's sovereignty and proved that a human that a perfect human can be faithful despite the  most extreme test.  However, Satan attempts to ensnare Jesus' follower, including you. 

Because of the ongoing issue regarding God's sovereignty,  Jehovah allows the Tempter to use this world to tempt us.  God is not bringing us into temptation. On the contrary, he has confidence in us and he wants to help us.  Out of respect for our free will, though, Jehovah does not automatically prevent us from falling into temptation.  We have to do two things-remain spiritually awake and persist in prayer. How does Jehovah answer our prayers?  

Jehovah give us his powerful holy spirit , which can strengthen us and help us to resist temptation. God also forewarns us through his Word and the congregation about situations that we must avoid, such as spending excessive time, money, and energy on nonessential material things.  Espen and Janne live in an affluent European country where the need was great. With the birth of their first child, they had to stop pioneering, and now they have a second child.   "We often pray to Jehovah," says Espen,  "that we may not fall into temptation now that we are unable to spend as much time as we previously did in theocratic activities.  We ask Jehovah to help us maintain  our spirituality and zeal for the ministry.  

Another temptation that has come to the fore in modern times  is the viewing of pornography. If we fall into such a temptation, we cannot blame Satan. Why?  because Satan and his world cannot force us to do anything against our  will.   Some have given in to this temptation by allowing their minds to dwell on what is bad.  But we can resist, even as thousands of our brothers have done. -1 Corinthians 10:12, 13. 

Next time: Live in Harmony With the Model Prayer Part II - "DELIVER US FROM THE WICKED ONE"

From the Watchtower magazine