“…and that You would keep me from evil,…”
Like Bruce Wilkinson, author of the book The Prayer of Jabez, stated that sometimes we find ourselves asking God to help us to endure as we face trials in our lives. I find myself doing this often. I suppose I just assume that I’m going to have temptation and want God’s help in bringing truth and clarity to me during those times. Personally, I don’t always think about just asking God to keep me from it.
I’m sure we all have times in our lives where we are at a breaking point and the last thing we need is for another bad thing to happen. During those times, why not pray that the Lord would keep you from evil? When we look in Matthew 6: 13 we see the example that Jesus gave in what to pray; that even He suggests asking to be kept from evil.
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
As you go into the world touching the lives of others for Christ, you are stepping into enemy territory. Asking God to guide your footsteps and keep evil from you will help clear a path for you to be more effective in your outreach. The enemy would like nothing more than to discourage you, cause you pain or shame, making you less effective for Christ or causing you to backslide in your Spiritual walk.
Satan is crafty and evil is all around us. I now find it much wiser asking God to keep us from evil and temptation than just helping us to endure. Without God’s help during these times, we are really no match for evil. As Bruce shares in his book, “Without temptation, we would not sin.” Certainly times of temptation act as a test of our faith. It is my belief that though God has allows this because we live in a fallen world, He does not desire for us to walk into it.
Please check out the other blogs in this series as they become available.
The Prayer of Jabez:
Scripture reference is quoted from the NKJV. The Jabez prayer can be found in 1 Chronicles 4:10.