Jesus taught this prayer to his followers, those seeking to learn from and follow him. After Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist he was full of the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:11-12 states, “Jesus… was led by the Spirit into the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” Perhaps Jesus was thinking of this when he taught his disciples to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Some old manuscripts do not have the last half of that verse.) The period of temptation was hard.
God does not tempt (James 1:13). The devil and those who follow him are the tempters (Matthew 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5). Temptation’s power over me is only when I have an evil desire. If I had no evil desire, then I could easily resist temptation. Temptation would have no power over me. If an evil desire remains in my soul, then I can fall when tempted (James 1:14).
Maturity in the Lord contains the moral strength to resist sin. Defeating the tempter is resisting sin which is hard. Adam and Eve did not resist temptation’s allure. Their desire led to sin, and their sin led to death (James 1:15). Growth to maturity continues when I am tempted and resist its allure. I fight off the evil desire in my soul. When I pass the test, the evil desire is reduced in power over me. Do not entertain the evil desire in my mind. If I do, then the power of evil increases. Then, when tempted I am less likely to resist that which destroys soul, body, mind, family, and society.
