Deliver Us From Evil
Passage: Matthew 6:13; Matthew 10:28; Ephesians 6:12; Hebrews 3:12
I have been on several battle fields where there are generals and infantry men, soldiers, heavy artillery. There was a clear enemy and there were allied forces in an all-out attack.
The place is the oncology unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital where they do battle against cancer. Doctors and nurses and specialist have been rallied, family and friends and churches are praying. Powerful weapons have been brought in, powerful machines to look inside and identify the enemy, power medicines to kill the enemy. There’s hope of victory. In the battle against cancer you don’t want an oncologist who’s a pacifist and you don’t want parents or patients who are in total denial.
And yet on another battle front that is exactly what we find, pacifists and people in total denial. A battle is raging all around us and yet we are oblivious to the danger. When the battle is for our bodies and our health we are proactive and aggressive, yet when the battle is for our souls we are lulled to sleep by the enemy, we are complacent and nonchalant. Why do we listen to the wake up call from the oncologist’s biopsy report but we don’t wake up to the call of the Holy Spirit?
Ephesians 6:10-13 Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.
To the average America Christian this comes off as a bit over the top maybe, certainly not a petition to take too seriously or to take too far.
Most of us go through our daily routines blissfully unaware of the danger that surrounds us. We are so comfortable in our free, comfortable, peaceful country we don’t sense the danger around us. And we are naïve about the danger that is within us.
Jesus teaches us we are in danger, our daily lives are in danger and we need daily prayer for protection from evil and the evil one. We are liable at all times to fall, to be led astray, to be deceived.
When we pray “deliver us from evil” we are asking a lot. There are three sources of evil, the evil within our hearts, the evil around us in the world, and the Evil One. When I pray this prayer for myself and my family and this flock, I pray against all three, the world, the flesh, the devil.