Hardship In Prayer

I'm glad to hear that Swedish hymnody is getting back where it ought to be. It's great. How many Swedes and Norwegians and Dansk in the congregation? Well, we don't have a majority, but that's all right.

Did you know that when you give your offering you aren't supposed to blow a trumpet? I appreciated that. I don't know how you got to that high note. Wow.

Music's been a blessing, just a great joy. Thank you. You folks have been a blessing.

Appreciate your coming day by day. There are many things you could be doing. You could be playing Wheel of Fortune, or you could be watching as the stomach turns, or... but we're glad you're here.

We really are. Well, we've discovered, if nothing else this week, that there's more involved in prayer than most of us realize. Prayer is at the same time the greatest privilege, a great privilege of worshiping God, talking to God.

It's also a solemn responsibility. He commands us to pray. He says, when you pray.

Prayer involves relationship, our Father in heaven. Prayer involves worship, hallowed be your name. It involves kingship, because we come to the throne of grace, your kingdom come.

It involves partnership, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are partners with him. Remember, when we pray, we must be willing to be a part of the answer.

He may not ask us to be, but we have to be willing. Prayer involves stewardship, give us this day our daily bread. Whatever God gives, we're stewards.

We don't own it, we simply manage it, and we have to manage it to please him. Prayer involves fellowship, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. But prayer also involves hardship.

Verse 13 of Matthew 6, And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. I don't know who it was who first invented the lie that the longer you walk with the Lord, the easier it gets. It must have been Satan, because he is the father of lies.

Now, the longer we walk with the Lord, the easier some things do become, but the harder other things become. Our standards become better, our ideals are higher, our desire for Christlikeness is deeper, and so we aren't satisfied, unless we're becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus. That's what prayer is all about.

Now, when our Lord gave this prayer, the Jewish people recognized the sequence in verses 11 and 12 and 13. Give us this day our daily bread, reminded them of the manna that fell in the wilderness. Oh yes, daily bread, we understand that.

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, reminded them of the sabbatical year. Every seven years the Jews had to forgive the debts and remit them, and then every 50th year, the year of Jubilee, everything economically went back to where it was. This was God's way of taking care of the land, and so they understood that.

Yeah, we know about that. And then when our Lord said, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil, when they said, we know about that too. We've read Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, and we've seen how our ancestors acted when they tempted God.

So this was not new to them, but the expression of it reminded them of their own history. But it also reminds us of something. Now notice the sequence in verses 11 through 13.

These are the petitions that we give. You'll recall the first part of the prayer, our petitions concern the Father, His name, His kingdom, His will. And after we have settled that, then we can come with our petitions, because as I've said so many times, the purpose of prayer is not to get our will done in heaven, but to get God's will done on earth.

It's not to glorify our names, but to glorify His name. It's not to extend our influence and our kingdom, but His kingdom. But notice the sequence.

Give us this day our daily bread. That deals with things. Bread here is a symbol of everything I need.

Your Father in heaven knows that you have need of these things. God knows we need things. God made things.

And God wants us to put Him first, that all these things may be added to us. The things that the world is coveting and chasing and paying so dearly for, are for the Christian fringe benefits. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

That's why we first pray our Father, Your name, Your kingdom, Your will. So verse 11, things. Now verse 12, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, deals with people.

And verse 13 deals with circumstances. Do not lead us into temptation, deliver us from the evil one. Here, my dear friends, are the sources of blessing and burdens in life.

People, circumstances, things. I don't know what you're worrying about and fretting about today, but my guess is that whatever it is can be classified in one of these three categories. Some of you are being beset by people.

There are people in your life that are bothering you. It may be a family member, it may be a neighbor, I don't know, maybe a fellow winter worker, I don't know. Circumstances, if only we could change circumstances.

I heard about a man who talked only about his farm in Michigan. Now, he didn't live in Michigan, lived in a big city somewhere. And at lunch he'd say, oh boy, I remember that farm I grew up on in Michigan, and the stream, and the barn, and the fields, and the trees.

Oh, I remember that. That's all he talked about. Finally, retirement came around and someone said, well, why don't you just go back there? He said, I think I will.

So he did. But before long he was back in the city again. Somebody said, well, did you go to Michigan? Yeah.

Was a farm there? Yeah. Was a barn there? Sure. The stream, it was there.

The fields? Yeah. The tree? Yeah. Well, if they were all there, why didn't you stay? He said, the boy wasn't there.

Circumstances change, don't they? And we're always dreaming of those ideal circumstances. I have news for you. You're not have them here on earth.

So people, and circumstances, and things make us worry. Somebody's worrying about things that they don't have. We, in the older generation in the United States, are concerned about things medical.

How are we going to take care of ourselves and others? Is the next generation going to be saddled with our debts? And so these three requests, which go together, you notice the and. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts.

And do not lead us into temptation. These three requests deal with the three sources of both blessing and burden in my life. Circumstances, people, and things.

By the way, that's what worry is. According to Philippians chapter 4, worry is wrong thinking and wrong feeling about circumstances, people, and things. And so when I pray this prayer daily, I am saying, Father, you take care of circumstances and guide me.

And you take care of people and help me to forgive. And you take care of things, make me a good steward. And you know what he does? He does.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now this particular request deals with the circumstances of life, and how Satan can use the circumstances of life, or people, or things, to create problems for us. Please keep in mind, God is in control.

Satan is not running this world. This is my father's world. Now he's not to blame for what we do.

He's not to blame for what nations do. He's not to blame for what leaders do, or even what churches do. But he's in control.

And why he allows certain things to happen, I don't know. And it's not important that I know. Let's talk about circumstances.

Lead us, and do not lead us into temptation. Now we all know that God does not tempt anybody. You know that because you've read James chapter 1. In James chapter 1, he says this, let no one say when he is tempted, that I am tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted by evil. Now that means his nature is perfect. Nor does he himself tempt anyone.

A perfect God cannot tempt anybody. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. That's an interesting word, enticed.

It's a picture of a fisherman baiting a hook to catch a fish. It's a picture of a hunter baiting a trap to catch an animal. Temptation is the devil's bait.

He's offering us something that he says is better than what God gives us. Temptation is the opportunity to achieve a good thing in a bad way. There's certainly nothing wrong with passing and examination, that's good.

To cheat to pass is wrong. There's nothing wrong with paying our income tax, that's good. To lie to do it is wrong.

So Satan always gives us the opportunity of something good. He says to Eve, here's the fruit, it's good. And she took it.

But you see, Satan's temptation is an opportunity to achieve a good thing in a bad way, the wrong way. Now in verse 15 he changes the image. He's not talking about bait anymore, he's talking about birth.

Then when desire has conceived, each one of us has within him or her a womb called the imagination. The imagination is a marvelous thing. It's a gift of God.

Our God is a great God with a great imagination. Every snowflake is different, every flower is different, every person is different. We live in dull routines, not so with God.

Now God gave you an imagination, you're made in the image of God. Some people have turned their imagination into a sewer, and their thoughts are dirty, corrupt, rotten. If they were projected on a screen, those people would sneak out of the room before the lights came on.

Some people have turned their imagination into a glacier. It's just rigid and cold, it doesn't produce anything. The imagination is supposed to be a beautiful stream that brings life.

And it's in the imagination that we conceive this building. It's in the imagination that we conceive the new dormitory. And it's in the imagination that you women plan a meal.

And it's in the imagination that a preacher prepares a sermon. The Holy Spirit uses the womb of the imagination to produce marvelous things. But James says, if you aren't careful, your lustful desires will impregnate that imagination, and it's going to give birth to sin.

Because sin begins in the imagination. Eve looked at the tree and said, my, that'll make me wise. She imagined herself like God.

It gives birth to sin, but the sin grows up. Ogden Nash has a cute little poem of two lines. He liked to write two-line poems.

One of them said, when called by a panther, don't anther. But the one I like is, the trouble with a kitten is that it will grow up and be a cat. Fine, you conceive in your imagination that you're going to be helped or satisfied by some sin.

So you give birth to that sin, but that sin is going to grow up, he says. And when it's full grown, it's going to bring death. So God doesn't tempt anybody.

God is not in the temptation business. Well, then why do we pray, lead us not into temptation? Because the word temptation here carries two meanings to it. Number one, I contempt myself.

Number two, I contempt God. Those are the two aspects of temptation that he's talking about. You see, when I face a circumstance, a difficult circumstance, a painful circumstance, my response to that circumstance will determine whether it will be a trial that will bring out the best in me or a temptation that will bring out the worst in me.

I make the choice. Now, we couldn't grow without trials. If all of our circumstances were easy, we'd never mature.

People are looking for the easy life. I've met some people who have easy lives. I want to tell you a secret about them.

They're bored stiff. You see, I got some things in my life I could afford to do without, so do I. But God knows I need them. God holds the key of all unknowns, says an old hymn that we don't sing anymore, and I'm glad.

For if another held the key or if he trusted it to me, I might be sad. If I planned my life perfectly and God let it happen, I'd be miserable. He wouldn't be glorified.

I'd never grow. Like anything else in life, the Christian life requires the flexing of muscles. You don't become a great swimmer by watching movies on the Olympics.

You don't become a good cook merely by watching Julia Child on television or the Galloping Gourmet. You don't become a soul winner by reading books on soul winning. You have to do something.

And so God creates circumstances that will cause me to trust Him. Let's take this first aspect of it. In the circumstances of life, we contempt ourselves with overconfidence, like Peter.

Our Lord warned Peter several times, Peter, you're going to fall. He said to all the disciples, it says back in Zechariah, they're going to smite the shepherd and the sheep should be scattered. Now get out of here.

I've heard eloquent sermons and I've read eloquent sermons on that text, and Peter followed afar off. And they criticized Peter for following afar off. Dear friends, Peter wasn't supposed to follow at all, afar off, near or otherwise.

He was supposed to get out of there. Our Lord warned Peter, get out, get out. He didn't do it.

He's confident. Though everybody else may forsake you, not Peter. I'll go to death.

Overconfidence. That's what we're praying. Lead us not into temptation.

Oh Lord, today, whatever circumstances come to my life, don't let me get so overconfident that that trial turns into a temptation because I'm trusting myself and not trusting you. It is a plea to walk softly before God. Keep your place in Matthew chapter 6 and find Psalm 130.

There's a man crying out from the depths. Verse 3, If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Well, the answer is nobody. But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.

Now, notice the sequence. Forgive us our debts and do not lead us into temptation. God forgives me not to make me careless.

Following forgiveness, there ought to be fear. There is forgiveness with you. You may be feared.

Now, this particular prayer is expressing a fear of God and a fear of myself. Overconfidence. I can tempt myself.

But now there's another aspect to this. We can tempt God. Lead us not into temptation also means, Father, when circumstances come that are difficult, don't let me tempt you.

Now, I can tempt myself with overconfidence and fall flat on my face and bring disgrace to God. Oh, I can handle this. We get like Samson.

When he woke up, said, I will use my muscles like I used to use my muscles. And that little parenthesis says he didn't know his power was gone from him. But we can also tempt God.

How do we do that? Resisting, complaining, and daring him to do something. Now, that takes us to Israel. Israel is delivered from Egypt in Exodus 12, 13, and 14.

Marvelous thing. In the full sight of everybody, while they're digging the graves, while the Egyptians are digging the graves, they see the Jews marching out. And when the Jews turn around and look, the Egyptian army's been drowned.

Pharaoh had drowned the Jewish boys, and so now God drowns the Egyptian men. We always reap what we sow. And then they sing the first hymn of praise of God's people, Exodus chapter 15.

Oh, it's a great hymn of praise. The Lord is our strength and our song. He's become our salvation.

The Lord is a man of war. The Egyptians sank into the water like lead. That's chapter 15.

You know what they're doing in Exodus chapter 16? Griping. You know, it's easy to join the choir and sing a song of praise, and then walk out and complain. And they started tempting God by their unbelief.

We don't have any food to eat. So he sent them manna. We don't have any water.

So he gave them water. Can the Lord prepare a table in the wilderness? When I start doubting God, questioning God, and rebelling against God, and complaining to God, I am tempting God to do what? Zap me. Now, he knows our frame.

He remembers that we're dust, and he knows we're a bunch of complainers. Complaining is the chief indoor sport of most saints. People who would not commit adultery, who would not cheat on their income tax, who would not park in a no-parking place, will complain.

That's dangerous. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud.

That means when they marched from place to place. All passed the sea on the exodus. All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

They were identified with him. All ate the same spiritual food, the manna. All drank the same spiritual drink, the water.

For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ, a picture of Jesus. But, notice the all, all, all, all, but with most of them God was not well pleased. For their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

A whole generation died as they marched through the wilderness. Now, these things became our examples. That's why we read the Old Testament, folks.

When I was on the radio regularly, I'd get mail from people saying, why are you teaching the Old Testament? The Old Testament is shadows. Why don't you just teach the New Testament? And I read back and say, did you ever stop to think that the only Bible the church had at the beginning was the Old Testament? The only Bible Jesus had was the Old Testament. And if you don't know the Old Testament, you don't know the New Testament.

It's for our good. These things happened to them as examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things. Oh, we want meat to eat.

Oh, give us some meat. They remembered the diet in Egypt, but they forgot the bondage in Egypt. And do not become idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written.

The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. That means immorality. Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did.

And in one day, 23,000 fell. Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. How'd they tempt? By complaining.

Nor complain, as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, all these things happened to them as examples for us. And they were written for our admonition, our warning.

Now, look at verse 12. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. David was not a little college boy when he committed adultery.

Jonah was not an unseasoned prophet when he rebelled against God, almost lost his life. Peter was not an untrained apostle when he denied the Lord three times. And about the time I face some circumstances and say, well, you know, I can handle this, down I go.

Or I look at these circumstances, and instead of tempting myself, I tempt God. I complain. Why should this happen to me? And I don't believe that God can do anything about it.

I can just see those Jews in the wilderness when they were hungry for meat. Well, God can't prepare a table in the wilderness, you know. God can't set up a butcher shop here.

God says, you think I can? I'll show you. He sent them enough meat, and while they were eating it, what happened? Down they went. Down they went.

He gave them their request, and he sent leanness to their soul. So that when we pray, Father, I don't know what this day holds. Here are the circumstances.

Now, I pray, lead me not into temptation, which means don't let me get overconfident and tempt myself, like Peter. And don't let me get complaining and rebelling and unbelieving and tempt you. We tempt God when we put ourselves in a circumstance where he has to rescue us or discipline us.

That's tempting God. And so here are trials that come, and they keep coming. You think you've come to the point where you won't have any more trials? I got news for you to have trials.

I've read all the books on the Victorians, not all of them, but many of the books on the victorious Christian life. I've spoken in victorious Christian life conferences. I praise God for the truth of Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8, but nowhere does it say you're not going to have trials.

Alexander White said it's a battle to the gates of glory, and it is. But thank God it's a winning battle. I can start the day saying, now, Father, I've got to talk to you about things.

Give me my daily bread. I've got to talk to you about people. Forgive me, forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

I got to talk to you about circumstances. As circumstances come to me today, don't let me, by my overconfidence, turn a trial into a temptation. Don't let me, by my overconfidence, turn a trial into tempting you.

We have to make the choice. By the way, the first half of the book of Hebrews deals with that. If you were to ask me what I think is the most important verse in the Old Testament, you know what I think it is? The just shall live by faith.

That verse is so important, the Holy Spirit wrote three books to explain it. Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. It's quoted in each of those books.

Romans talks about the just, Galatians tells how they shall live, and the theme of Hebrews is by faith. It's rather interesting that the verse is quoted at the beginning of Romans, in the middle of Galatians, and at the end of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews says we live by faith, looking unto Jesus.

And the illustration it uses is Israel in the wilderness. It says, today, when you hear his voice, that's where faith comes from. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Today, when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts, as did the Jews in the wilderness. And in their unbelief, they did not enter in, they tempted God. Now, the last part of this request, Matthew 6, 13, is, deliver us from the evil one.

Lead us not into temptation, that's direction. Deliver us from the evil one, that's deliverance. Because Satan can use people, circumstances, and things, to defeat us.

He can't do it unless we let him. Deliver us from the evil one. This evil one is Satan.

Satan means adversary. We have an enemy, be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary, the devil, goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Satan sometimes comes as a serpent to deceive. He sometimes comes as a lion to devour. Our world is being taken over by the occult.

One of the little things I do from time to time is check secular bookstores. Not Christian bookstores, secular bookstores, to see what is selling. And I recall years ago in the 60s, I'd walk into secular bookstores and notice that month by month, the section on the occult was increasing.

And sure enough, now we have a regular flood of the occult in America today. It would frighten us if we knew what was going on in secret. Then I began to notice that the secular bookstores were increasing in their titles dealing with addiction.

I said, aha, that's the next trend. And sure enough, today we have over a half a million support groups, people meeting week by week. Somewhere between 10 and 15 million people meeting in these support groups to get help with addiction.

And not just narcotics addiction, substance addiction, alcohol, or gambling, but lots of other things. Deliverance from the evil one. Well, what does the evil one want to do to me that I need deliverance? When I was saved, Jesus Christ translated me out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son.

God the Father translated me. The word translate, transfer, means to pick up prisoners of war and take them to a new land. Babylonians took the Jews out of Judah and took them off to Babylon.

That's the word. I used to be a citizen of the kingdom of darkness. But when I was saved, the Father translated me, picked me up.

I was a prisoner of war. Thank God I was God's prisoner. And he put me into the kingdom of his dear son.

But the devil didn't like that. The God of this age did not like that. He wanted to keep control of me.

I don't want to get into any technical arguments with anybody because I don't like to argue. I do not personally believe that a truly born-again believer can be inhabited by demons. I believe they can be obsessed, oppressed, and greatly influenced.

And I do believe that there are subtle demonic forces at work in the lives of Christians. If it happened to Peter, it could happen to me. Our Lord heard from Peter, you are the Christ of God.

Then Jesus said, I'm gonna go to the cross and die. And Peter said, far be that from you, Lord. And Jesus said, get behind me, Satan.

One minute Peter is speaking for God, the next minute he's speaking for the devil. So I've got to be very careful. But I also believe that if my body and my mind and my will and my heart are committed to Christ every day, that's the first thing I do in the morning, practice Romans 12, 1 and 2. Lord, here's my body, and here's my mind, and I reach for the Bible, and I let the Word of God renew my mind, and here's my will, I pray, your will be done.

Here's my heart, I worship Him, and then I put on the armor. I want to recommend to you, you put on the whole armor of God every day. Just do it by faith.

That's what we sing in one of our songs. Put on the gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer. And so I start from head to foot.

I just say, now, Father, by faith I'm putting on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the girdle of truth, integrity, the shoes of peace, always prepared to share the Word, taking the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith. And I ask the Father to equip me for the battle. I can't pray the armor on you.

You can't pray it on me, but I have to do it for myself. Now, it's rather interesting that in the Old Testament, you find Satan at work only four times. You find four people in the Old Testament who had a direct confrontation with the devil.

We can't go into detail, but I'd like to look at them quickly, if you'd let me, to find out from what we need to be delivered. Deliver us from the evil one. What does the devil want to do to me? Well, let's go back to the beginning, Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. And then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. I'm not quite sure how to read that statement.

I don't know if it should be, You shall not surely die, meaning, while you're the first woman and your husband's the first man, God wouldn't kill the first people he made, or you will not surely die, or you will not surely die, maybe all three. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. You know the rest of the story.

Now you'll notice that what Satan did was attack her mind. Did you know that? In fact, the Old, the New Testament backs that up in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 3. Let me find the verse. 2nd Corinthians.

Don't lose, don't lose Genesis. 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 3. But I fear, lest somehow as the serpent deceived by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is the simplehearted devotion that is in Christ. So he attacked her mind.

Now Satan wants to attack my mind. What weapon does he use? Lies. If the devil can get you to believe a lie, he gets a beachhead in your life.

And that beachhead could turn into bondage and battle and trouble. Satan wants to attack my mind with lies. Notice how he does it.

First he questions God's Word, as God said. Then he denies God's Word, you will not surely die. Then he substitutes his own promise, you will be like God.

Every cult operates that way. And some of the heresies in the church. By the way, Eve didn't do too well with her Bible memory work.

In verse 3 she adds to God's Word. We don't find any place where he said you shouldn't touch it. He may have said that.

He may have said that. Then she says, lest you die. He didn't say, lest you die.

He said, you're gonna die. And so she changed God's Word and she added to God's Word and before long she quit believing God's Word. Now this is why every day God's people read the Word of God.

We read the Word of God because the Word of God is the only weapon that helps us protect our minds. Satan attacks the mind with lies. And our defense is the inspired Word of God.

Therefore, when I pray, deliver me from the evil one. I'm also going to reach for my Bible because it implies, Father, teach me the Word of God so the serpent won't deceive me. I've been studying God's Word since confirmation class when I was 15 years old.

It's a long time. And the more I read it, the dumber I feel. But I learned this, that sword of the Spirit conquers the lies of the devil.

Now the second person who had a confrontation with Satan was Job. Now you know the story, Job 1 and 2. And there Satan didn't come as a serpent, he came as a lion to devour. He used suffering trying to destroy Job.

Now God permitted it. God permitted it. By the way, the theme of the book of Job is not, why do the righteous suffer? Nowhere in the book of Job are we told why the righteous suffer.

The theme of the book of Job is, how do the righteous suffer? James chapter 5 verse 11 says, you've heard of the patience of Job. Boy, if the devil can get me impatient with circumstances and physical affliction, he's got me. Impatience is one of my cardinal sins.

I get impatient with traffic, I get impatient with airplanes, I sometimes get impatient with people and with myself. And so when I pray, deliver me from the evil, what I'm saying, Father, the circumstances of life that you permit are good for me. But I get impatient.

Now what's the answer to that? The grace of God. The grace of God. You remember, Paul went through a similar experience to Job.

He had the messenger of Satan buffeting him. And that messenger was not one of Paul's critics. It wasn't the problems in a church.

It was a physical affliction that Satan was permitted to give to Paul. He buffeted him. And Paul did what I would have done.

He said, take it away, take it away, take it away. Like Jesus in the garden, three times, take away. God didn't.

Now sometimes God does. Sometimes God takes it away. But sometimes he adds something.

God said, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. What took Job through his testings? Grace. At the end of the book of Job, God does not blame Job.

He blames his friends. He says, hey, you better get right. You ask Job to pray for you, and I'll forgive you.

Don't be too hard on Job. If I had lost all of my children, all of my belongings, my health, and my wife's love, and I was sitting there listening to my friends, such friends, criticizing me and condemning me, I think I'd say a few things that maybe later on I'd be ashamed of. You know what? Job never said that he was going to deny God.

Never. He says, though he slay me, I'll trust him. So sometimes Satan uses lies in my mind, and sometimes he uses circumstances and suffering in my body.

When he comes with lies, I need the inspired Word of God. When he comes with suffering, I need the imparted grace of God. My grace is sufficient.

My grace is sufficient. He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.

To add an affliction, he addeth his mercy to multiplied trials, his multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed, ere the day is half done, when we have used up all our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving has only begun, his love knows no limit, his grace knows no measure, his power knows no boundary known unto men, for out of his infinite riches in Jesus he giveth and giveth and giveth again, he giveth more grace. You say, I can't go through one more operation.

Yes, you can. He'll give you grace. All my friends are dying.

I can't go to one more funeral. Yes, you can. He'll give you grace.

And so when I pray, deliver me from the evil one, I'm saying, Father, give me grace. The third person is David. Now, don't turn to Bathsheba.

If I were to ask you what David's great sin was, most people would say Bathsheba. Four people died because of Bathsheba. Seventy thousand people died because David numbered the people.

1 Chronicles 21, God moves Satan to say to David, David, you're a great king. You ought to show up on the lives of the rich and famous. I mean, your press secretary hasn't been doing a good job of bragging about you.

David, you're a great king. You've got a great king. Why don't you count how many people you got? That was wrong.

Moses had decreed that whenever a king had a census, everybody ponied out a shekel or a half-shekel as redemption money. But David got proud. You see, Satan is not only a liar, Eve, and a destroyer, Job.

He's a boaster. He's proud. And so Satan said, David, why don't you have a census and issue a press release and tell everybody how big your kingdom is? He did it.

He did it. Now, here's a third way the devil attacks me. He attacks my will.

Pride is a sin of the will. And he says, you know, you've got a great church. You've got a great ministry.

You've got beautiful grandchildren. You've got a lovely house. You ought to be proud.

Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before fall. Pride is a sin in good standing in the church. And oh, what a tragedy.

A plague came, 70,000 people died. David is broken. He's standing there, and the prophet says, you go down to the threshing floor of Arunah, and you buy the threshing floor, and you erect an altar and offer a sacrifice, and the plague will stop.

And so he went down and bought the whole area, the whole thing. The fellow said, look, I'll give it to you. Oh, no, I'm not going to give the Lord that which costs me nothing.

That's good principle. Don't give the Lord that which doesn't cost you something. That verse alone rebukes us preachers from stealing other people's sermons.

I read a lot of sermons. I milk a lot of cows, but I make my own butter. And if I do use anybody else's stuff, I give him credit for it.

So he bought the whole thing and put up an altar and prayed, and the plague stopped, and an amazing thing happened. One day Solomon built a temple on that property. Isn't that great? On the property where David offered the sacrifice, Solomon built a temple.

Now Solomon's mother was Bathsheba. Is it not interesting that God took David's two greatest sins, Bathsheba and numbering the people, and built a temple out of it? We wouldn't do that. We'd kick him.

We're the only army in the world that shoots its wounded, because we're sin abounds, grace much more abounds. So I've got to pray, oh God, deliver me from the evil, and he's going to want me to get proud today. And if I get proud, I'm going to say things I shouldn't say and do things I shouldn't do.

And so deliver me from pride. Now the fourth person who had a meeting with the devil is found in Zechariah chapter 3. You don't have to turn there. Joshua the high priest, not Joshua of the book of Joshua, but Joshua the high priest.

The Jews had gone from Babylon back to the land. They'd built their temple, and they were in bad shape. And my Bible says that Zechariah the prophet had a vision of Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.

Now you know why he was opposing him? Verse 3, Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. Oh, the high priest was never supposed to wear dirty clothes, not even sweaty clothes. And so here's Joshua standing before God in dirty garments, and the prosecuting attorney is standing there saying, God look at him, look at him.

He's dirty. The Jews have sinned. You're a holy God.

Wipe them out. You see, Satan is not only a liar and a destroyer and a boaster, he's an accuser. When the devil talks to God, talks to me about God, he lies.

But when he talks to God about me, he tells the truth. You ever felt Satan's accusations, the fiery darts of the wicked one? Have you ever been alone and reading your Bible, and suddenly, as Ezekiel says, you just lulled yourself? How could I have done that? That happened a long time ago. But the devil remembers, and he has saints who help him remember.

He's got a lot of help when it comes to accusation. And the Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you.

Is not this a brand plucked from the fire? And then he answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, take away the filthy garments from him. This is the Old Testament version of the prodigal son. And he said to him, see, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.

And then the prophet spoke up. He got so interested, he spoke up and said, let them put a clean turban on his head, because the high priest wore a turban, and on the front of that turban was a gold plate that said, holiness unto the Lord. And he had to wear that, and they put a clean turban on him.

You see, the Jews had sinned, and Satan was saying to God, they're dirty, you've got to kill them. And God said, no, I'm going to cleanse them. Well, then you better put them on probation for 20 years.

No, no. Notice what he says in verse 7. God says to Joshua, if you will walk in my ways, and if you will keep my command, then you shall also judge my house, and likewise have charge of my courts. I will give you places to walk among those who stand here.

You see, Joshua went back to work. God forgave. Joshua went back to walk in the light and serve the Lord.

This is the Old Testament version of 1 John 1.9. And so when I pray, deliver me from the evil, when I'm saying, Father, in the circumstances of life today, he's going to throw his fiery darts at me. He's going to accuse me. And I'm going to listen, perhaps.

Please, deliver me from his accusation. Now, when he attacks my mind, my deliverance is the inspired Word of God. When he attacks my body, it's the imparted grace of God.

When he attacks my will with pride, it's the indwelling Spirit of God who works in me to humble me and to help me. But when he attacks my heart, my conscience with these accusations, you know what my resource is? The interceding Son of God. Here's Joshua standing before the throne of God, guilty.

Here's the prosecuting attorney saying, kill him. Then Jesus steps up. The Lord Jesus steps up, and all he has to do is hold up his hands.

He says, get out of here, Satan. I died for him. Why is the Lord Jesus interceding in heaven for us? Not because the Father hates us, and the Son has to calm him down.

No way. Why does Jesus intercede for me in heaven? Because constantly, as he watches me, I get into circumstances. And sometimes those circumstances, the devil uses to accuse me.

These things we write to you, said John, that you sin not. But if anyone sins, we have an advocate, lawyer. We have an advocate in heaven, Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And so when I pray, deliver me from the evil one, I'm saying, oh Father, I need the interceding Son of God. I need the imparted grace of God.

I need the indwelling Spirit of God to help me. I need the inspired Word of God. Now, deliver me from the evil one.

No matter where he attacks, my mind, my body, my will, my heart, deliver me. No wonder this prayer ends. For, that's an argument.

That's an argument. You say, hey, you do this because, for yours is the kingdom. Hey, you're the king.

Satan has to do what you tell him. You're the king. Yours is the power.

You have the power. Yours is the glory. The only reason I want this, Father, is that you might be glorified.

And so the prayer ends where it starts. Hallowed be your name. That's why I recommend that you start your day with the Lord's Prayer.

It just covers everything. Every one of these requests is a category into which we can drop our burdens and our needs and our concerns. And the best thing about this prayer is that Jesus taught it to us, therefore we know God has to answer it.

He doesn't have to answer all my prayers, but he has to answer his son's prayers. Father, I know that you hear me, but you always hear me, he said in John 11. Well, if he always hears his son, let's take his son's prayer that he taught us.

Heavenly Father, how wonderful it is that you care for us, every aspect of our lives. Help us to be people of discernment, discretion. May we not attempt to fight public battles unless we've had private power.

May we take time to be holy. And may we become living epistles that people can read and glorify God. confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

Amen, and God bless you.