The Devil Made Me Do It!

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." —Matthew 6:13 (NIV)

I know I'm "too young" to remember The Flip Wilson Show, which ran from 1970 to 1974. However, I do remember hearing the phrase "the devil made me do it" several times, which was made popular by a character named Geraldine Jones, played by Flip himself. Though the phrase was intended to incite laughter in the audiences it played to, I’d have to say that there is truth to the catchphrase. Now, I don’t want anyone to think that we can blame everything on the devil himself. That’d be ridiculous! But, our Lord put that phrase in His model prayer for a reason. Even though it’s found in Matthew’s account, we do not find that phrase in Luke’s account. The fact remains that it’s in there, and for good reason!

Let me back up just a bit. There might be the inclination to look at the phrase prior which says “lead us not into temptation” and assume that it was referring to our being put in a tempting situation that can lead to sin by Jesus Himself. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. We read in James 1:13-14 the following:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” (NKJV)

It’d be better suited to see that phrase as more of a request for the Lord to protect us from putting ourselves in situations that can lead us to sin, because we are dragged away by our own evil desire and enticed. Hence, the follow-up request to ‘deliver us from the evil one’, or ‘deliver us from evil’ in that satan is the author of evil and the two go hand in hand. Where we go wrong is thinking more often times than not, that we can resist the devil on our own strength. We rely way too much on our efforts to try and ‘resist’ the enemy. I can tell you from personal experience that it never works—never! Self-reliance is one of the believers worst enemies and satan knows it. We are weakest when we rely on self and not on Him. Take a look at what James 1:6b-8 has to say:

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (NIV)

Here, James is reminding us that we MUST ask Jesus to help us in our daily walks with Him. Before we are even in a postition to resist the wiles, attacks or temptations of the devil, we read that we must possess humility before our Lord. Remember that God hates pride. He opposes the proud. Our sinful inclination is to trust self. As I said earlier, that’s called self-reliance or self-sufficiency. It’s the “I can do it on my own” attitude or posture before a Holy, Just and Righteous God. Nothing good comes from pride and self-sufficiency. If in doubt, I’d encourage you to read the account of David and the census. Or, read why Sodom was destroyed—hint, it wasn’t only due to sexual immorality, though that was a reason. It was due to the sin of self-sufficiency as we see in Ezekiel:

“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters’; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abominable offenses before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it and I saw fit.” Ezekiel 16:49-50 (AMP-Classic Edition)

Bottom line, when I rely on my own strength, is when I’m most likely to fall and the evil one, the devil will take advantage and seek to “steal, kill and destroy.” Again, we MUST come to the Lord in humility and ask Him to help and guard us from compromising situations we might put ourselves in due to our sinful nature.

BAD NEWS!

When presented with the following two options of bad news vs. good news, most would say they want the bad news first. So, here it is. The Word plainly states in Romans 3:23:

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (NKJV)

I know you’ve all heard that the word “all” in the Greek means “all”. It’s all encompassing, no pun intended. We all sin. There’s no getting around it. It’s not a matter of ‘if’, rather a matter of ‘when’. Luke 17:3-4 says:

^“So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” (NIV)

Essentially, Jesus is making the case that we sin everyday. And, most of the time, we sin seven times a day—if not more. We are sinful by nature. And again, satan is very well aware of the fact that we have a battle raging between the flesh and the spirit, and he’ll exploit that to the fullest! Look at what Jesus tells the 3 disciples after coming back from praying and finds them sleeping:

^“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” —Matthew 26:41 (NKJV)

If Jesus said it, we better take notice and watch! “What are you trying to say Pablo?” Nothing other than you and I will continue to sin as long as we are in these fallible bodies of flesh and blood. We might have all the best intentions not to, but, intentions don’t mean anything if they’re not followed by action. Margret Thatcher once said:

“No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well.”

Good intentions + actions = accomplishment! Which leads to the good news!

GOOD NEWS!

The question still remains “why did Jesus put that phrase in His model prayer?” Why did He include “but deliver us from evil”? Simple, because as I said before, we cannot resist on our own strength. Even though Christ came to set each of us free from the curse of sin and death through the sacrifice on the cross, the fact remains that each and everyone of us are in a constant battle against sin and “the evil one”.

So, what’s the good news then? Let me answer that question via scripture. 1 John 1:9 says that:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (NKJV)

Isn’t that encouraging? We have an advocate that goes before the Father for each and everyone of us that are in Christ Jesus! He pleads our case before God Almighty! What we must do is to confess and acknowledge our sins and shortcommings before the Father. According to the verse above, not only do we receive forgiveness, but we are cleasnesed as well. Do you want more good news? I sure do! Then take a look at what Hebrews 10:17 says:

^“then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (NKJV)

How awesome is that?!? Remember that our Lord is preparing each and everyone of us to live in view of eternity. Jesus always had an eternal dynamic in mind. Why? Becasue everyone is guranteed eternity—everyone. The difference is the ‘final address’. Smoking or non-smoking.

Friend, are you feeling battered and downtrodden becasue the accuser of the bretheren is reminding you of your faults, failures and even your past? Are you feeling discouraged by the constant assault of the enemies lies? Though the battle between the flesh and the spirit will not cease until we are in His presence, rest assured that when God Almighty looks at you, He doesn’t see filthy rags or defeat. No, He sees you justified—just as if you’d never sinned! We serve a God of hope, love, forgiveness, mercy, compassion and grace. Let me remind you of what Psalm 103:12 says:

“as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (NKJV)

Did you catch that? When the devil comes before the throne of God (and his time to do so is quickly running out I might add) to accuse you and I, God’s response is as follows:

“What sin? I don’t know what you’re talking about! Get lost.”

So, how do we ‘resist temptation’ and be delivered from the evil one? The answer comes in the form of an old and popular acronym…F.R.O.G, which meant to fully rely on God. God has great plans for you and I. Jeremiah 33:3 says that the plans He has for us are to prosper us and not harm us! Though that was written to Israel thousands of years ago, the principle still proves true for you and me.

“Deliver us from the evil one (or evil)” is a petition and a request to the Lord in recognition that we cannot do it on our own strength and that we need His help, guidance and intervention in our lives.

😁Have A Nice Day!👍🏻

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