The Sixth Petition

We've now covered at length the effort required to receive and hold on to everything we pray for, along with the weaknesses and struggles that come with that effort. And even after we've received forgiveness, gained a clear conscience, and been fully absolved, life remains such that a person can stand firm today and fall tomorrow. So even when we are living faithfully and have a good conscience before God, we must constantly pray that He does not allow us to slide back into sin or be overcome by trials and temptations. Temptation, or as the old Saxons called it, Bekörung (allurement), comes in three forms: from the flesh, from the world, and from the devil. We live in the flesh, and the old Adam is always stirring within us. He pushes and prods us daily toward sexual immorality, laziness, gluttony and drunkenness, greed and dishonesty, fraud and deception against our neighbors, and really every kind of evil desire that is woven into our nature and further inflamed by the company we keep, the examples we follow, and the things we hear and see. All of these things wound and corrupt an innocent heart.

Then comes the world, with its words and actions, provoking us to anger and impatience. At its core, the world is filled with nothing but hatred and jealousy, hostility, violence and injustice, betrayal, vengeance, cursing, abuse, slander, pride and arrogance, and an insatiable appetite for luxury, honor, fame and power. No one wants to be last; everyone wants to sit at the head of the table and be seen above all others. And on top of all this comes the devil, who harasses us on every side, but focuses his energy especially on matters of conscience and spiritual life. His primary goal is to make us ignore and completely abandon both God's Word and His works, to strip away our faith, hope and love, and to drag us into unbelief, false confidence and stubbornness. Failing that, he tries to push us into despair, atheism, blasphemy and countless other terrible sins. These are the snares and traps, the very fiery darts that not flesh and blood, but the devil himself, shoots in their most poisonous form straight into our hearts.

The dangers and temptations every Christian must face are severe and overwhelming, even when they come one at a time. Throughout this troubled life, we are harassed, hunted and pressed from every direction, and we are forced every hour to plead and cry out that God would not allow us to grow lazy and weary, or to slide back into sin, disgrace and unbelief. Without that, it's impossible to overcome even the smallest trial.

When God gives us the power and strength to resist temptation, even when that temptation isn't removed, that is what it means for Him to "lead us not into temptation." Because we live in the flesh and have the devil prowling around us, no one can avoid temptations and allurements entirely. It's simply unavoidable that we will face temptations, and yes, even get caught up in them. But what we're praying for here is that we won't fall into them and be overwhelmed. There is a significant difference, then, between experiencing temptation and yielding to it, between feeling its pull and saying yes. We all must experience it, though not to the same degree; some face more frequent and more intense temptations than others. The young, for instance, are tempted primarily by the flesh, while older people tend to be tempted by the world. Others who are occupied with spiritual matters, that is, mature Christians, are tempted directly by the devil. But no one can be harmed by merely feeling a temptation, as long as it goes against their will and they would rather be free of it. If we felt nothing, it couldn't even be called a temptation. To consent to it, however, is to give it free rein: neither resisting it nor praying for help against it.

This means that we Christians must be armed against temptation and ready for constant attack. No one should walk through life feeling secure and careless, as if the devil were nowhere near, but should instead expect his assaults at any moment and be prepared to resist them. Even if I am currently living with chastity, patience, and gentleness, standing firm in faith, the devil can still, within the very next hour, shoot an arrow into my heart so sharp that I can barely hold my ground. He is an enemy who never quits and never tires; when one temptation fades, others always rise to take its place. In those moments, our only real help and comfort is to take refuge in the Lord's Prayer and cry out to God from the depths of our hearts: "Dear Father, You have commanded me to pray; do not let me fall through temptation." When you do this, you will find the temptation losing its grip and finally being defeated. But if you try to handle it on your own, relying on your own thoughts and reasoning, you will only make things worse and give the devil more room to work. He is like a serpent: wherever his head finds an opening to push through, his entire body follows without resistance. Prayer, however, can stop him cold and drive him back.