0:05

The very invitation to us to pray

0:07

implies that there are blessings waiting for us at

0:09

the mercy seat. Let us therefore come

0:12

boldly into the throne of grace. Charles

0:14

Spurgeon.

0:15

Hey, we're Erin and Jennifer Smith, your hosts

0:17

of the Marriage After God podcast, where we encourage

0:20

you not to just have a good marriage, but to have a powerful

0:22

one. That you would know God and be known

0:24

by Him. And that your marriage would

0:26

be the mighty tool God desires it to be.

0:30

We wanted to share with you guys a review left by

0:32

Tasha T1103. It

0:35

says, I bought 31 prayers for

0:37

husband and wife and husband and wife

0:39

after God. I basically bought the husband

0:42

bundle and wife bundle. My husband

0:44

is incarcerated and I often buy books

0:46

for us to read together in hopes to connect. These

0:49

books have been a blessing in our marriage. It did

0:51

more than connect us. It has made us

0:54

one. God has moved in our marriage

0:56

and we are so grateful. I've recommended these

0:58

books to my married friends, my husband,

1:00

and I now are reading Marriage After

1:03

God and I have started listening to your podcast. I'm

1:05

listening to all the episodes from the beginning. Thank

1:07

you very much for sharing your story and your ministry.

1:10

Tasha, thank you so much for leaving this review and

1:12

sharing your story with us. And I just hope we

1:15

just hope that

1:15

this encourages all those listening

1:18

just in how impactful

1:21

sharing our marriage stories can be. We've

1:24

really appreciated having the opportunity

1:27

to share our story and our

1:29

message and encouragement of

1:32

having a marriage after God here on the podcast. So

1:34

thank you so much for listening.

1:35

I've been encouraged by messages

1:37

like this. We've actually gotten them over the years. There's been quite

1:39

a few husbands and wives who unfortunately

1:42

have a spouse incarcerated, but they

1:44

use our books to stay connected

1:46

while they're apart from each other. We see the same

1:48

thing happen with people that travel or military.

1:52

The reason we wrote these books as separate devotionals

1:55

is so that they can be done in person together or

1:57

you could do them apart, which is really awesome.

1:59

haven't had a chance yet to leave a review

2:02

but you're an active listener on the podcast would

2:04

you take a minute to just leave a review

2:06

these are a huge blessing to us and

2:09

also it helps others find our

2:11

podcasts.

2:12

Awesome so we're this is the last

2:15

episode in our eight part series.

2:17

Yeah it feels good to kind of wrap it up.

2:19

Yeah and we're gonna be finishing

2:22

up this prayer this the Lord's Prayer

2:24

in Matthew chapter 6 so

2:26

I figured since the last one I'm gonna

2:29

read the whole thing that whole section and

2:31

then we can talk about the last verse. Cool. Okay

2:34

so starting in Matthew chapter 6

2:36

starting in verse 5 and when you pray

2:39

you must not be like the hypocrites for

2:41

they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and

2:43

at the street corners that they may be

2:45

seen by others truly I say to you

2:48

they have received the reward but

2:50

when you pray go into your room and shut

2:52

the door and pray to your father who is in secret and

2:54

your father who sees in secret will reward

2:57

you and when you pray do not heap

2:59

up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for

3:01

they think that they will

3:03

be heard for their many words and do

3:05

not be do not be like them for your father knows

3:07

what you need before you ask him pray

3:09

them like this our Father in heaven hallowed

3:12

be your name your kingdom come your will

3:14

be done on earth as it is in heaven give

3:16

us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts

3:19

as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead

3:21

us not into temptation but delivers from evil

3:24

for if you forgive others their trespasses your

3:26

heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you

3:28

do not forgive others their trespasses neither

3:31

will your father forgive your trespasses now

3:34

the the last verse that we're going to be doing in this

3:36

in this eighth part of our series

3:39

is not versus 14 and 15 we actually

3:41

combine those with verse 14

3:46

yeah I know you said that combine it

3:48

with God where is it

3:50

I'm sitting 12 forgive us our debt yeah

3:53

we combined 14 and 15 with verse 12 because it

3:56

talks about forget yeah and then so

3:59

this last verse we're going to do is, and lead us not

4:01

into temptation, but deliver us from evil, verse 13. Perfect.

4:04

And so that's what we're going to be discussing today is

4:07

what can we draw out of this portion

4:09

of the prayer that Jesus teaches his disciples and

4:12

teaches us and how it can apply to

4:14

our marriage and...

4:15

We're kind of answering the question too, what is

4:18

the power of prayer? Yeah. Because

4:20

there really is power in prayer and you experience

4:23

it when you practice prayer and

4:25

when you are obedient to the discipline

4:27

of prayer.

4:29

Amen. So verse 13,

4:31

it says, and lead us not into temptation,

4:33

but deliver us from evil. This

4:36

is something... There's something maybe some

4:38

of our listeners don't realize, but

4:40

I believe will be a powerful revelation to many. It

4:43

was something that was huge for me. And

4:45

it's actually two things. The first

4:47

is, the reason Jesus

4:49

is teaching us to pray this, you know,

4:53

lead us not into temptation, but deliver

4:55

us from evil is because he has

4:58

firsthand personal experience with temptation. We

5:01

all remember the story in the gospels

5:03

where Jesus is led when he begins... Right

5:06

before he begins his ministry, he's led into the wilderness for 40

5:08

days to be tempted. He understands perfectly

5:10

and exactly how it feels when

5:12

we as humans are tempted.

5:14

So he was perfect and he was tempted.

5:17

Hebrews 4.15 says, for we

5:19

do not have a high priest who is unable

5:21

to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one

5:23

who in every respect has been tempted

5:26

as we are yet without sin.

5:27

This should be one of the most comforting

5:29

verses in the Bible that he knows. Not

5:32

just knows, but he

5:35

can sympathize. He's aware.

5:38

And it says in every respect, he's

5:41

been tempted as we are. And yet

5:43

he didn't sin. Which leads me

5:46

to the second part of

5:48

this revelation that

5:50

I think will encourage our listeners about temptation.

5:53

So how many times have you, listener,

5:56

me, speaking, you, my

5:58

wife...

6:01

Do you desire to pray more for your spouse?

6:03

Do you desire to pray more with your spouse? We

6:05

understand that you may not know where to start, or maybe

6:07

you feel uncomfortable praying, or maybe you don't

6:09

know what to pray, or maybe you simply

6:12

want to add something more to your current prayer life. This

6:14

is why we wrote The Marriage Gift, 365 Prayers for Our Marriage. We

6:18

desire that it would be used as a daily reminder and

6:20

catalyst for you and your spouse to

6:23

grow a dynamic and consistent prayer life together.

6:26

This book is a compilation of 365 unique

6:28

and powerful prayers that cover a range

6:31

of diverse topics that every marriage deals with.

6:34

You can read it alone, or ideally, you

6:36

read it with your spouse. Also, we

6:38

hope that the topics that are brought up in these prayers

6:40

would become a starting point for deeper and

6:43

more intimate conversations with your spouse and

6:45

a desire to seek God on these matters together.

6:47

Visit TheMarriageGift.com today and order

6:50

your copy and give your marriage the greatest gift,

6:52

powerful and meaningful prayer. Visit

6:55

TheMarriageGift.com today. Felt

6:57

guilty or condemned for being tempted. That's

7:01

a real question. How often have you been like, I

7:03

hate that I feel tempted

7:04

by this thing? Even though you haven't given

7:07

into that temptation, just the fact that you thought

7:10

about it, or it's been something put

7:12

in front of you that you

7:13

aren't enticed by. There were years that I would just pray,

7:15

God, take away all these

7:18

temptations, make me a robot. I

7:20

don't want to be drawn by these things. I don't want to be tempted by these things

7:22

anymore. I believe

7:24

a lot of Christians feel this way. There's things that

7:26

we're tempted with, and not

7:29

everyone's tempted with the same things always.

7:32

But, you know, have you felt guilty? Have

7:34

you felt shameful? Have you felt condemned

7:38

just for the temptation, just for being tempted

7:41

with something? Whatever it

7:43

is, whatever sin you've struggled with, you've

7:46

fallen into often enough to have it

7:48

be part of your life, a pattern. Do

7:51

you feel guilty just for the temptation alone? And

7:53

here's the revelation. If the temptation itself were sin,

7:56

then Jesus was a sinner. But

7:59

it's not. And he wasn't

8:01

he's not a sinner he was tempted

8:03

and yet did not sin They're two

8:06

separate things. There's the temptation and

8:08

then there's the giving into the temptation There's the walking

8:10

in the sin in the flesh. So

8:12

your encouragement is for us to recognize

8:14

that and to be

8:17

able to separate those feelings

8:19

of shame and guilt Like

8:22

reserve those for the regret

8:24

that when we do sin not when we're

8:26

tempted Well, I know to wrap it all

8:28

up and we'll

8:29

say this that regret that guilt

8:31

that shame that condemnation When you're

8:33

tempted isn't coming from the Holy Spirit Now

8:37

there might be a we'll talk about this a little

8:39

bit a prompting the Holy Spirit of like saying hey,

8:41

don't Do this don't

8:43

walk on this but the shame the guilt

8:45

though This is one of the the tool that I believe the enemy

8:47

uses is we feel tempted

8:49

We're in that space of like oh,

8:52

I want to give in and the enemy's

8:54

like well, you already tempted You might as well like you already

8:56

feel the guilt. You already feel a shame Why don't you just

8:59

go for it and he kind of like pushes this over

9:01

the edge? He he tempts us and even

9:03

further and that and so

9:05

I just want to strengthen

9:08

us and remind us that Temptation

9:10

is not sin giving into temptation

9:13

is where the sin comes in it. The sin is

9:15

when we choose To indulge

9:17

when we choose to say yes to

9:20

that thing. We should be saying no to

9:22

So I had a verse that popped

9:24

into my mind and I had to find it But I

9:27

was reading first John yesterday first John 320 it

9:31

says for if our heart condemns us God

9:33

is greater than our heart and knows all things which

9:36

I love

9:37

Because because often our hearts condemn us

9:39

well and what you're talking about that Experience

9:42

that feeling of shame or guilt when you haven't

9:44

done anything wrong You were just tempted by

9:46

something and you kind of wrap it

9:48

up into the same feelings as if you had

9:50

sin, yeah, our hearts condemn

9:53

us and Remind

9:56

us of our weaknesses and all the other, you

9:58

know negative emotions that that we feel

10:00

in that moment. But I love that it said,

10:03

God is greater than our heart and knows all things. And

10:05

he knows

10:06

if we sinned

10:08

or not,

10:09

he knows that. I mean, he's the

10:11

one judging our hearts. He knows, knows it. And we also,

10:13

we know when we sin, when we choose

10:16

to do something that we absolutely know we shouldn't do. The

10:18

Bible tells us that if someone

10:20

knows the right thing to do and does not do it, that

10:22

is sin for that person. So we

10:24

know when we choose wrongly.

10:28

And this is why I think it's so powerful and

10:31

so important

10:33

that Jesus is teaching us right now about

10:36

asking God to lead us not into temptation, but

10:39

to deliver us from that temptation. Because

10:42

the powerful thing is that Jesus knows,

10:44

he understands it, which is so good. Second

10:46

thing is that temptation itself isn't sin, but

10:50

it's the thing that's trying to get us to sin. It's

10:53

the draw to that fleshly

10:55

desire. And

10:58

then another thing I want everyone to listen to here

11:00

is that God is not the one tempting

11:03

us. Right. He never is.

11:05

And I can say this for a fact because James 1,

11:08

verse 13, says this, let

11:10

no one say when he is tempted, I

11:13

am being tempted by God. For

11:15

God cannot be tempted with evil and he

11:17

himself tempts no one. So,

11:20

Jennifer, does God tempt you to sin? No. No,

11:23

did God tempt Eve? No. To

11:26

eat from the tree? No. Like

11:28

God doesn't tempt anyone to sin or to

11:30

do evil.

11:31

I mean, it makes sense because he's pure

11:33

and he's holy and he's perfect and

11:35

Jesus himself never sinned. So how

11:37

could you tempt someone to

11:39

do the thing that you never did?

11:41

Does that make sense? Yeah. Well,

11:44

I think there's a lot of believers that probably

11:47

have this misconception that it's God that brought

11:49

them to this trial, this test of temptation.

11:52

We tell ourselves or we roll through thoughts of or

11:55

at least, you know,

11:57

maybe it's not. that

12:00

God tempted me with this, but why did you allow?

12:03

What about that one?

12:04

Well, God does because it says that Jesus

12:07

was led to the

12:09

wilderness to be tempted. God

12:11

did not tempt Jesus, but he led

12:14

him to this scenario,

12:16

this season of his preparing.

12:18

So that testings and trials do come, and

12:21

God does test us, but he does not tempt us. God

12:24

himself is not the one tempting us to sin. So

12:26

we can trust that he won't tempt

12:29

us. We can trust him. He's like, oh, Lord, you're not the one tempting

12:32

us.

12:32

James 1 14 through 15 says,

12:35

but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed

12:37

by his own desire. Then

12:39

desire when it's conceived gives birth to sin

12:42

and sin when it's fully grown brings forth death.

12:45

So

12:45

God doesn't even need to tempt us. But

12:46

like it comes from within us, like

12:49

out of what we already want.

12:50

This is another huge revelation that I had

12:52

in my own life. In trying

12:54

to navigate this idea of how does temptation

12:57

work? How does my flesh work? How does, you know, what

12:59

points am I making the wrong choices

13:01

and leading to, you know,

13:04

these, you know, leading to sin? And

13:06

I read this in James and it's like each person

13:08

is tempted when he's lured and enticed by his

13:11

own desire. So let's

13:14

take an example here. Okay. Someone

13:17

who has no problem with or addiction

13:20

to smoking. So this is a pretty

13:22

easy one to like maybe someone listening right now

13:24

smokes. Maybe no one ever has. It's

13:27

a pretty strong thing. It's a very addictive. It's

13:29

very visual, very tactile.

13:32

It's got taste. It's got all the things to

13:35

your senses. Right. So let's say someone's

13:37

never had a problem or addiction to smoking doesn't

13:40

like to smell thinks it's disgusting. You're

13:42

saying this person doesn't smoke. Yeah, they don't

13:44

smoke. Got it. Because I thought you were saying, well,

13:46

we'll get to that next. Well, I know. But when

13:48

you first started out, it sounded like you're saying it

13:51

sounded to me. You're saying someone who

13:54

does smoke but doesn't have an addiction

13:55

to it. Oh, no, no, no, they have an addiction.

13:57

They have

13:59

This is, there's someone that doesn't. They're not addicted,

14:02

they don't smoke, they don't like the taste, they

14:04

don't like the smell, they don't like the way it looks.

14:06

They think it's an ugly thing, right? That person's

14:09

never gonna be tempted to smoke a cigarette. You

14:11

could put a pack of cigarettes in front of them. You can hand them

14:13

one, you can light one, put it in their mouth and

14:15

they'll spit it out in the, what are you doing?

14:18

Like there's no temptation there. Because

14:20

there's no desire. Yeah, there's

14:22

nothing inside them that wants that. But

14:24

someone who has tasted it, and has loved

14:27

it, has become addicted to it, and

14:29

maybe is trying to quit now, that person.

14:32

They will have the taste. They

14:33

smell it from 100 feet away and they're like, oh,

14:35

and they remember. Like triggers. Yeah,

14:38

they see it in someone's hands and mouth

14:40

and they can feel it in their own

14:42

fingers and in between their lips and they want it.

14:45

And this goes with almost anything.

14:48

So I have a question. Would you say

14:51

that the more experience

14:53

a person has in life, the more temptation

14:55

that they have in life?

14:56

Oh yeah, for sure. I've

14:58

never thought about that before. So that

15:00

we build these things in us, and

15:03

so these passions come with us. So I wanna

15:05

take this to another deeper level. This idea of how

15:07

temptations are already something within us. Because

15:10

you can't be tempted with something that you don't want.

15:14

You just cannot. If you hate

15:16

eggplant, you will never be, you

15:18

cannot tempt me with eggplant. Me

15:20

neither. You can't be

15:23

like, ooh, here's this tasty

15:25

eggplant casserole. Okay,

15:28

I don't want nothing to do with that. That looks

15:29

disgusting. So let's look at Jesus.

15:31

Sorry, all you eggplant lovers.

15:32

Okay, this is gonna blow some people's minds, I think. Let's

15:34

look at Jesus. He was tempted

15:36

in the wilderness for 40 days. So if temptation

15:39

comes from a desire that's within us, then what was

15:41

Jesus tempted with? He

15:44

was tempted with what's in his heart, what he

15:46

actually wants. Luke chapter

15:49

four, verse three. And the devil said to him, if

15:51

you are the son of God, command this

15:53

stone to become bread. What

15:56

was he tempted with?

15:58

Well,

16:00

Well, he was fasting at this point. Yeah.

16:03

So food. He was hungry.

16:05

But would you say that also? Just

16:08

that beginning portion of if you are the son of God,

16:10

he was being tempted with who he

16:12

is, like his identity.

16:14

Right. But the main temptation is make

16:16

this bread. Yeah. He was

16:19

challenging Jesus's Godhood,

16:22

but tempting him with the thing that he wanted.

16:24

The physical craving. Yeah.

16:26

Okay. He

16:28

wanted. He was hungry. Jesus

16:31

desired food. We can

16:33

clearly we know that for sure. He was like he

16:35

was a man. Okay. Let's start the

16:37

first thing he's tempted with food. Luke four

16:39

verse six. And the devil said to him,

16:42

all this authority I will give you and their

16:44

glory for this has been

16:46

delivered to me and I give it to whomever

16:48

I want. I wish. Therefore, if you will worship

16:50

before me, I will be yours.

16:53

All will be yours. Or all will be yours. So

16:55

the temptation isn't to worship him. It's

16:57

the authority. It's the authority. Guess

16:59

what Jesus wants?

17:00

To rule. To rule.

17:02

And he knows how to do it. When

17:05

he, before he ascends into heaven, he says all authority

17:07

has been given to me. Yeah.

17:11

He knew who was going to give it to him. So he does have

17:13

a desire for that authority, but only God's

17:15

way. And he was

17:17

not tempted with worshiping Satan. He was

17:19

tempted with the authority that Satan had,

17:22

with the power that Satan had, because

17:24

that's what Jesus desired. But he

17:27

knew how to get it the right way. He knew what his role

17:29

was and what his purpose was. Let's look at Luke 4

17:31

verse 9. Then

17:33

he brought him to Jerusalem, set him on

17:36

the pentacles of the temple and said to him,

17:38

again, if you're the son of God, throw

17:40

yourself down from here.

17:42

Okay.

17:44

He's on the pinnacle of Jerusalem

17:47

and he's looking at his city that

17:49

he loves. And he's being tempted

17:51

again with this

17:54

idea of, is God going

17:56

to save me? Is God going to fulfill?

18:00

going to take care of these things that he does trust

18:02

God in and he knew it wasn't his time. And

18:05

so he's being tempted with things that he already

18:07

has in his heart.

18:08

What I don't like about this last one is

18:11

you can imagine the seed that was planted

18:13

here with kind

18:17

of like this endangering yourself like

18:19

testing God. If you

18:21

do this, will he protect you and save

18:23

you is like the seed of

18:26

doubt and insecurity for what he's

18:28

going to be doing in just a short while?

18:31

You know, being in the

18:33

garden and like wanting, I'm just

18:36

wondering, I'm kind of into him being

18:38

in the garden. Do you think that he was tempted

18:40

again in that same situation with, okay,

18:44

if I'm going to do this and throw myself

18:46

down, not from the pinnacle of the temple, but so

18:48

to speak on the cross. Does anyone's

18:49

flesh want to suffer?

18:51

No. Oh, so the

18:54

desire to not suffer doesn't exist.

18:57

But he overcame the temptations in

19:00

his flesh by

19:04

walking in God's spirit, by listening

19:06

to God, by trusting God. So

19:09

when Jesus was tempted, he

19:12

was tempted by desires that he has inside of him. Otherwise,

19:15

he couldn't tempt Jesus. He was hungry.

19:18

He wanted

19:21

all the authority that God has promised

19:23

him. He wants those things. He desires

19:25

what God has for him. So it's

19:27

a pretty powerful thing to realize that Jesus

19:29

was tempted just like we are, and that temptations

19:32

come from within us. And

19:35

that should be something that as

19:37

believers, we should prayerfully

19:40

evaluate in our own hearts as I go, okay, Lord, here's

19:42

the things that I am tempted by. Why? What

19:44

is that in me that I'm looking for? What am I trying?

19:47

What do I, what does my flesh want? And why does it want

19:49

it?

19:49

So Jesus knew

19:51

temptation. He experienced that on

19:53

earth and he can understand what

19:56

our flesh encounters

19:58

with temptation. And he's a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,

20:00

So we were talking about how in this

20:02

example of prayer in Matthew From

20:05

him. It's a petition to not

20:07

even let us be in a position where we're vulnerable

20:09

to temptation It's a heart

20:11

cry for protection

20:13

Right. Well cuz he he's

20:17

like we said fully aware of what it what how

20:19

hard temptation can be Where

20:21

and everyone listening knows exactly the things

20:23

that they're tempted by and when they're in the midst

20:26

of the temptation how hard that is Yeah, and

20:29

so it reminds me of I was just reading

20:31

Proverbs 7 the other day And

20:33

it's a it's a it's a letter

20:35

to a son saying, you know It's my son

20:37

listen to my words because he's this father

20:40

is just like Jesus is praying for us Like, you

20:42

know pray that we don't get let in temptation He's

20:45

writing this proverb is being written to a son saying

20:47

listen to my words and don't fall into this trap. Don't

20:50

do this It says verse 6 through 8

20:53

for at the window of my house I have looked out

20:55

through my lattice and I have seen among

20:57

the simple I have perceived among

20:59

the youths a young man lacking

21:01

sense passing along the

21:03

street near her corner taking the road

21:06

to her house and he's talking about a prostitute

21:09

and he's saying He's saying he he

21:11

he's going on this road. He's he's on

21:14

a road So the road is not

21:16

sinful. The path is not sinful. The

21:18

walking a Direction is not sinful,

21:21

but he knows what is on it. He

21:24

knows who lives at the end of it. He knows

21:26

where he's gonna go and This

21:29

is the father's cry to his son in

21:31

Proverbs 7 is don't be like that

21:33

young man that simple-minded not Unwise

21:37

lacking sense don't go on that

21:39

road. Don't

21:40

put yourself in a situation where you know, you

21:42

will be tempted

21:43

It's it sounds easy, but

21:45

it's not There's times that we we

21:48

have this way in us. We're like, I'm

21:51

not gonna give in but I just want to go

21:53

walk down that street We

21:55

think that we're somehow Stronger

21:57

than a temptation, but at the same time we're desiring to be

21:59

tempted which is not

22:01

how we should be walking. We should avoid that

22:04

street altogether.

22:05

Isn't there a verse that says that sin is crouching

22:07

out the door?

22:08

Yeah, this is what God tells Cain.

22:11

That's right. Right before he goes to

22:13

kill Abel. But

22:15

if we

22:16

turn it around a little bit, like how often are we

22:19

ourselves crouching up to sin's door? We're like,

22:21

let's see how far we can get. Yeah,

22:22

let's get close to the line. And

22:25

this is what Eve did. Eve,

22:29

she's told by God, don't eat of the tree

22:31

of knowledge. The tree of knowledge of God and evil. Well,

22:34

Adam

22:35

was told.

22:36

Adam was told. Adam conveyed the message,

22:38

we think. Maybe God told him

22:39

that. What is she doing walking up to the tree?

22:42

Oh, this is the tree that God

22:44

doesn't mean to eat? Okay, but it looks so nice. She should

22:46

have been on the other side of the garden eating eggplant.

22:49

And then guess where the serpent did it. Sorry,

22:51

you didn't make it over. Yeah, eggplant is gross. Maybe

22:54

that was the fruit on the tree. Where

22:57

is Satan at? Right there at the tree,

22:59

right there ready to encourage that

23:01

temptation. She was already tempted. She was over by

23:03

the tree because she was curious,

23:06

she was interested. And then now

23:08

she's being tempted by the devil. The

23:10

serpent, that ancient serpent.

23:12

It's like she put herself

23:14

in its hands, like right there.

23:16

Yeah, she could have been. If she wasn't anywhere near

23:18

it,

23:19

that serpent wouldn't have been able to say, well,

23:21

look how good it's going to taste and look how good it's going to... She's

23:23

like, what are you talking about? It's way over there.

23:26

So don't lack sense. Don't

23:28

do that.

23:29

Yeah, I

23:31

think we tend to give too

23:33

much credit to the enemy. Like

23:35

it's all his fault for

23:36

tempting us or making us sin. That's

23:40

like saying that the serpent led by the hand

23:42

Eve over to the tree. But he doesn't do that. He's very

23:44

cunning, the Bible says. He's

23:47

been around a lot longer than we have. But

23:49

we play a role. But we play

23:51

a role because there's desires that are inside of us.

23:54

And he's just really good at knowing how to trigger

23:57

those and to get

23:59

those. And so it's

24:01

why the Bible over and over and over again encourages

24:04

us on how we should be walking and how we should be avoiding

24:06

certain things and not like it's for

24:08

protection for us and Jesus even praying this like Lord

24:11

lead us not into temptation but deliver us. So

24:14

don't even like lead me to

24:16

a place that I might be tempted and also like deliver

24:19

me from evil and from

24:21

temptation and strengthen me to

24:23

be able to rise above that which scriptures clearly

24:26

tell us he does.

24:27

So I think it's really good to that

24:30

I mean obviously he put the most important things

24:32

in this example of prayer in Matthew for

24:35

our sake so that we

24:36

would put our minds to it. He

24:38

didn't just say pray for daily

24:41

bread and that you know you're you

24:44

have providence and you're being taken care of. He

24:46

says very specifically that like

24:49

he wants us to be paying attention that

24:51

there are temptations out there that there is an evil

24:54

one and I think that it is

24:57

crucial that we as believers are paying

24:59

attention that we're praying

25:01

for these things.

25:01

Yeah I want to read some

25:03

scriptures that encourage

25:06

us in this whole idea of temptation and how we how

25:09

we should and can be walking. So

25:12

first Peter 5 8 it says

25:14

be sober minded be watchful like you were

25:16

just saying your adversary

25:18

the devil prowls around like a lot a roaring

25:20

line seeking someone to devour.

25:24

You know when you put yourself in

25:26

the wrong place at the right

25:29

time when you when you allow yourself

25:31

to walk down the street that you know leads to the prostitute

25:33

when you when you put yourself right in front of the

25:35

thing that you have vowed

25:39

not to touch you've that you know is bad

25:41

for you and you just you're like well I'm just

25:43

gonna get close. This

25:46

is where he the devil is seeking

25:48

to devour someone he's he's ready

25:51

to pounce. We're not what we're

25:53

not walking it sober mindedly we're not being

25:55

watchful we're acting

25:57

as if we don't have an adversary. And

26:00

we're pretending like we're strong in our flesh. We're

26:03

like, let's go in our flesh close to that thing that

26:05

our flesh desires, and then

26:07

tell ourselves that we're going to be strong in our flesh to

26:09

not give into that thing that our flesh wants. So.

26:12

Well,

26:12

but the cool thing is, is even, even

26:15

in the midst of lacking sense and

26:18

being lured into temptation, we

26:20

have to remember that we're not abandoned, that

26:23

the Lord still provides for us. Even in

26:25

those moments. Because he knows that we're weak and that we

26:27

need help. In 1 Corinthians 10, 13, it

26:29

says, no temptation is overtaking you. That

26:31

is not common to man. God is faithful

26:34

and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.

26:36

But with every temptation, he will also provide the

26:38

way of escape that you may be able to endure

26:41

it.

26:41

So think about the meaning

26:44

of this. Cause this is, this was a huge revelation

26:47

for me and my walk with purity and in

26:50

certain things that I struggled with is

26:52

recognizing that this isn't true for some

26:54

people. This isn't just true for the universe.

26:56

Super Christians that, you know, they never

26:59

say, and you just think that that's

27:01

true. This is true for every believer.

27:03

It says no temptation is overtaking you that is not

27:05

coming to man, which means the temptations

27:07

you're experiencing that you think are so

27:09

strong, so powerful, impossible to

27:12

escape. That's common

27:14

to man. It's

27:15

not uncommon. You don't have some sort

27:17

of special temptation, which

27:19

means that it was also common to Jesus because it says

27:21

that he can sympathize with our weaknesses and

27:24

that he was also tempted. And

27:26

so, and then

27:27

it says God is faithful and

27:30

he will not let you be tempted

27:32

beyond your ability. What

27:34

that means is you can

27:35

say no, you can overcome it.

27:37

You can escape. But

27:40

God provides a way of escape

27:43

with every temptation. We

27:46

may not like the way of escape. We may

27:48

not want to escape, but he does. He

27:51

provides

27:51

it. Would you say that like for some people

27:54

seeing that way of escape, understanding that way

27:56

of escape is easier or like

27:59

you have spiritual.

27:59

for it the more you do something?

28:02

I think from my experience,

28:05

it's something that you become more sensitive to. Cause

28:08

when we walk in

28:10

certain sins, certain unrepentant sins, we just,

28:13

you know, we have this thing over here that we haven't dealt

28:15

with. We can become

28:17

numb to hearing the voice of God in

28:19

that situation with those things. We

28:22

can, because we've said no to his

28:24

prompting over and over and over again in that situation.

28:27

It's not that he's never said it, because we know right here, he makes

28:29

a way of escape every time. His

28:31

Holy Spirit speaks to us. He convicts

28:34

us. He reminds us

28:36

of the truth. And he does that every time cause he's faithful.

28:39

So I think we get

28:42

numb to listening. We don't

28:44

hear it as well. But I think as we practice

28:46

listening, that voice gets more

28:49

prominent in our life. We,

28:52

it becomes harder to not

28:54

hear it, if that makes sense.

28:56

Yeah. Okay.

28:58

So I also wanted to look

29:00

at some scriptures that talk about deliverance, because

29:03

part of this verse in Matthew also talks

29:06

about delivering us from the evil ones. So Isaiah 43,

29:08

two says, when you pass through the

29:10

waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers,

29:12

they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk

29:15

through fire, you shall not be burned and the flame

29:17

shall not consume you.

29:18

Reminds me of the Shadrach,

29:22

Meshach, and Abednego. Yeah, for sure.

29:23

I thought the same thing. But I also thought

29:26

like, when it

29:28

says, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm

29:30

you. Even that reminds me of the first Corinthians

29:32

verse we just read, where when you're going

29:34

through hard things or there is temptation to sin,

29:37

we can be at a point

29:39

where we're not overwhelmed

29:41

by those things,

29:42

whether it's a challenge or. One,

29:45

it's as we abide in Christ, the

29:47

closer in proximity we are to Him relationally,

29:51

and trusting Him and understanding Him and knowing

29:53

Him. I think makes

29:55

it easier to rise

29:59

up underneath. along those temptations,

30:01

but also makes it easier

30:03

to avoid them, to

30:05

make choices sooner. Be like, you know, I'm not even going to go down

30:07

that road. I'm going to go. I'm going to take this, this

30:10

longer route to get to where I'm going.

30:13

Another one is 2 Timothy 4 18. It says, The

30:16

Lord will rescue me from every evil

30:18

deed and bring me safely into his heavenly

30:20

kingdom to him be the glory forever and

30:22

ever. Amen.

30:23

Yeah, this,

30:25

it's hard to hear these things because there's a lot

30:28

of people that lots of evil things happen to

30:30

them. But his

30:33

rescue is sometimes

30:35

immediate in the midst of these things. There's

30:39

in the midst of temptations, in the midst of, no,

30:41

I want to say in the midst of temptation, he's always provided

30:44

the way of escape because that's what we just talked about. But sometimes

30:46

things are being gapped. Things happening to us, like sometimes

30:49

he immediately stops and protects

30:51

and sometimes they don't, he doesn't. But

30:54

in the big picture, in

30:57

eternity, he does. And

30:59

this is how many people,

31:02

so martyrs,

31:05

often are martyred and

31:08

they would be saved if they would only deny Christ,

31:11

if they would only change their position on

31:13

what they believe, if they would only say

31:15

with their mouth that they renounce their

31:18

faith, they'd be saved. But

31:21

being delivered in that scenario is not

31:23

necessarily being delivered from the physical. It's

31:26

being that Jesus is with them in that

31:29

moment and that the reason they can stay strong

31:31

in their faith is because of who he is and not because

31:33

of who they are.

31:33

Yeah, yeah, that's really good. And if

31:35

you look at the wording, the word choice here,

31:38

it's referring to the future. It's

31:41

something that will happen. And so

31:43

this is something that we can rest in

31:45

hope, hopefulness. So whether

31:48

or not he rescues

31:51

you in the very moment of something evil

31:53

being done to you or what you're experiencing,

31:55

it says that the Lord will rescue

31:58

and bring. Safely

32:00

into his heavenly kingdom. That's a that's

32:02

a future tense So it's

32:04

something that we can look forward to no matter what our

32:06

circumstances are what we're looking forward to

32:09

Or what we're going through we can look forward to

32:11

him

32:12

fulfilling this promise Yeah,

32:14

and I think this is this is a huge

32:17

thing for a lot of believers because

32:20

So we're talking about being you know, not you know temptation,

32:22

which is like the it's the steps leading up to sin And

32:25

then there's the sin and then there's afterwards

32:27

like after you sin First

32:29

and foremost if you've been listening to

32:31

any of our episodes and if you've listened to our podcast

32:34

at all You would know that we

32:36

believe the gospel and the gospel the good

32:38

news is that though

32:40

you are a sinner You

32:43

are saved in Christ Jesus though.

32:45

You have sinned you are forgiven in Christ Jesus

32:48

and that all sins past present

32:50

and future have been paid for and

32:52

forgiven on the cross so

32:56

Not only has God dealt with

32:59

your sin completely

33:01

in Jesus Christ, but

33:04

he's also now provided a way of

33:07

Being of not walking into sin

33:09

and not continuing in sin So

33:12

he's dealt with the leading up to he's

33:15

dealt with the doing and he's dealt with the aftermath

33:17

the shame and the guilt and the condemnation He's

33:20

dealt with every aspect of

33:22

sin in our life and then I've

33:25

been teaching through Revelation for the last three years and in

33:27

church and We're

33:30

coming up to the chapters in Revelation

33:32

where God is gonna not just he hasn't just dealt

33:34

with it in us He's gonna actually

33:36

dealt deal with sin itself Like

33:39

you mentioned in the beat in Genesis when sin

33:41

is crouching. Yeah and wanting

33:43

to you know get Cain Sin

33:47

itself whatever however

33:49

that is. I don't know. I don't know what this is, but there's

33:51

sin is a thing God is gonna

33:54

throw into the lake of fire with death So

33:56

sin and the consequences of sin which is death

33:59

both of them be cast in the lake of fire forever.

34:02

So currently sin's in the world, but

34:05

God's dealt with it in every aspect.

34:07

And then finally at the end, he's going to deal

34:10

with it wholly, and it's going to be gone, destroyed.

34:12

It will no longer have

34:15

any effect on

34:17

man, which is something we can look

34:20

forward to. So this prayer, it's

34:22

not just, you know, you know, lead us not into temptation,

34:25

like, Lord, protect me from the road of temptation.

34:28

Keep me from it. Open my eyes to it. Help

34:30

me walk around it. Help me see it when

34:32

it's coming. Help me understand how I'm

34:34

tempted and how these desires are in me. That's

34:36

the prayer is like, is make me aware,

34:39

make me sober minded, help me see, but

34:41

it's also and deliver me from evil. It's

34:44

also deliver me from the consequences

34:47

of the sin, deliver me from the ones who

34:49

would want to sin against me, deliver me from

34:52

the shame and the guilt and the condemnation.

34:55

Save me from that, Lord.

34:57

And I just, I love that about God,

35:00

that he didn't just forgive us and be like, oh, now,

35:02

like, good luck. Yeah, because that's not good news.

35:04

Yeah. If you live a life and you're like, yeah, I'm saved

35:06

in one day, it'll be great. And right now,

35:09

everything's the same. Nothing's changed. And I feel

35:11

trapped and I feel burdened and I feel

35:13

shameful and I feel guilty and I feel condemned and

35:15

I can't change. And I keep doing the thing I don't want to do.

35:18

That's not the gospel. That's not good

35:20

news. The good news is the gospel

35:22

not only dealt with the consequences of sin,

35:25

but it also dealt with the

35:28

reason why we sin. And it's

35:30

also dealing with what leads us to sin.

35:33

Again, not that we're going to be perfect here in the Bible, it makes

35:35

that very clear, but God's given

35:37

us a way to walk with him

35:39

and to receive from him and to

35:41

be helped by him and to be guided

35:46

by him.

35:48

Amen.

35:48

Amen. Yeah. And I think that the way that

35:50

we do this is through

35:55

praying and praying about our sin

35:57

and praying about our temptations and praying about our

35:59

desire for deliverance.

36:00

Like this is which grows our sensitivity

36:03

to hear the Spirit and yeah

36:05

prayer.

36:06

Yeah. Which speaking of we wanted to answer

36:08

the question, what is the power of prayer? The

36:11

power of prayer is that we rely on God

36:13

every single day to help us. Like

36:16

Aaron said, navigate life and that

36:18

heat and to know that he is our sustenance

36:21

and protection. He is the one and we're

36:23

reliant upon that we cannot provide that

36:25

for ourselves.

36:26

We had a quote in the beginning

36:28

of our book saying that prayer is more

36:30

than just words, it's that it's our breath.

36:34

It's our heartbeat. It's our heartbeat. It's

36:37

that prayer is how we communicate

36:40

with God. We connect with him.

36:43

Yeah. Speaking of connecting with him, the

36:46

power of prayer is also that

36:49

we get to enter the throne room of grace,

36:52

acknowledging the access that we have to our Creator

36:54

despite our sin because Christ

36:57

paid that ransom for us so that we can stand

36:59

before him. And like you said, communicate with

37:01

him. That kind of power transforms a person when

37:04

we recognize how big he is,

37:06

how small we are, how much he can give,

37:09

how lacking we

37:10

are. Right.

37:13

You know? And the importance of the Lord's Prayer in general

37:15

is this big idea which we've been getting

37:17

to over the last eight episodes as

37:20

he teaches his disciples and teaches us that

37:23

prayer is essential for a believer, that

37:25

we can trust God and help

37:28

focus on the things that we should be praying

37:31

for. Like he's just

37:33

kind of, he's exploding the picture of

37:36

like you once thought prayer was this, but now see

37:38

what it is.

37:39

And as we practice prayer, as

37:41

we practice humbling ourselves

37:44

before the Lord, he transforms

37:46

us and it's a beautiful thing. When

37:49

we submit to him our

37:51

decision making and the way

37:53

that we walk, because we're in close relationship

37:55

with him, it

37:57

pleases him and our relationship with

37:59

him.

37:59

relationship with him grows deeper,

38:02

wider, bolder.

38:04

Totally. And

38:06

that's our hope for everyone listening,

38:08

is that this would be a true

38:11

mark of our marriages,

38:13

that we'd be

38:14

praying with each other and for each other, that

38:17

we're prayer warriors, that we

38:19

use prayer as our first line of defense, that

38:21

it's our offense, that it's our defense, that it's everything,

38:23

that we would know God and

38:25

that we would pursue Him in our prayer

38:27

life together and see Him do amazing

38:30

things in us in our

38:32

marriages.

38:33

Amen. Speaking of marriages, we just want

38:35

to encourage you guys to be praying in your marriages.

38:37

We live in a time where marriage is

38:40

under attack and we

38:42

all go through hard things and we,

38:44

like we mentioned, that reliance upon the Lord

38:47

for every single part of

38:49

our life and especially our marriage relationship.

38:52

We have got to be lifting these things up

38:54

to the Lord. And so we, that's one of

38:56

the reasons we wrote The Marriage Gift. It's

38:58

a daily devotional journey to inspire, encourage, and

39:00

transform you guys in your

39:02

prayer life.

39:03

It's 365 prayers written

39:05

out for you to be

39:08

inspired,

39:09

to be praying. I dare

39:11

your marriage to do this for one year

39:13

straight and see what happens.

39:16

See what happens. So at the end of this

39:19

series that we've been doing, we've been sharing prayers

39:22

from The Marriage Gift

39:24

instead of the ways that we've

39:27

been praying.

39:27

Yeah, we usually write unique ones, but we're

39:29

doing ones straight from our book.

39:31

So today's is the very

39:33

last one, 365, and it's titled The Marriage Gift. Dear

39:39

Lord, thank you for our love story and for the

39:41

days ahead that you are writing for us. Thank

39:44

you for the times we have struggled in our relationship as

39:46

well as for the victories we have celebrated. We

39:48

are deeply grateful for the gift of prayer and

39:50

the ability you have given to us to pray continually

39:53

for our marriage. Thank you for teaching us

39:55

how to humbly bring our thanksgiving and

39:57

requests to you. As we submit to you

39:59

and

39:59

prayer, please help us hear your voice

40:02

clearly when you respond

40:04

and when you lead us through every circumstance. May

40:07

we continually believe our marriage is extraordinary,

40:10

that the purpose you have for our relationship is

40:12

extraordinary, and that the gift of praying together

40:14

is extraordinary. Give us eyes to see

40:16

how each of us affects the oneness

40:18

we experience. Please help our hearts understand

40:21

the influence we have in each other's lives.

40:24

Make us confident in knowing that you purposed

40:26

our marriage to have a positive impact in this world,

40:29

in Jesus name.

40:29

Mature our marriage by stimulating

40:32

growth in areas of our lives that you are refining.

40:35

Urge us to cling to one another every day and

40:37

embrace closeness. We yearn for

40:39

you to use us as vessels of your glory

40:42

and grace, sharing your love and testimony

40:44

wherever we go and in all that we do. In

40:46

Jesus name, Amen.

41:26

Amen.