May 1
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)
In early January I offered some opinions about how crucial prayer is to our daily victory in Christ, so I will try to not repeat myself, but please review those daily thoughts on the importance and role of prayer in our daily victory. I described three different types of prayer: crying out, such as Jesus mentions at the end of the parable of the widow and unjust judge in Luke 18 and He Himself exemplified in Gethsemane, incessant prayer, which Paul exhorts us to practice in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, and regular, diligent, daily prayer which was exemplified by Daniel in Daniel 6:10.
Lest I come across as an expert, let me assure you I am not. I have spent many hours in prayer, but I don’t believe I have been nearly as diligent in prayer as I ought. I usually pray in the morning (my goal is to spend an hour a day in prayer), and I am working on being more conscious of cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit and praying throughout the day. I also, when feeling discouraged or heavy hearted or tempted in a particularly strong way, am learning to cry out more for God’s relief from the oppression and His peace and joy and not just try to slug through it in my own strength.
I believe that those facing depression, great grief or pain, loneliness, anxiety attacks, discouragement, and perhaps even mental illnesses can gain relief from God by intensely praying, that is, crying out to God urgently for relief from debilitating emotions. Charles Spurgeon, that great 19th century preacher in London, often referred to as the Prince of Preachers, suffered for most of his adult life from great depression, so much so that he had to take long vacations every year to recover. He found temporary relief from his depression when he prayed intensely with great fervency, when he cried out to God for relief.
This is my experience also. When I am feeling particularly heavy and weighed down with the cares of life, with my own sin, and the sins of others, I cry out to God for His grace and His peace. I sometimes also ask for wisdom and some type of breakthrough if the situation calls for it. This type of prayer is becoming more and more a necessary part of my life (although I wish it wouldn’t be needed so often!).
This kind of praying, this crying out to God with urgency, is extremely helpful in overcoming temptation if we are in the middle of being tempted. These are the types of temptations that may hit us suddenly like a ton of bricks-things that we just were not expecting at all and take us by surprise. But we have to think quickly in these situations and have already in our hearts and minds a predisposition toward obedience. If we allow a desire for sin or an interest in sin to linger in our minds, then when temptation comes, which it inevitably will, we will be predisposed to say yes to it. In these situations we are walking in the flesh, and the fleshly mind has control of our thinking, whether we realize it or not. Our job as Christians is to maintain a clear conscience, always wanting and seeking victory, so that if temptation does take us by surprise, we will want to be able to react quickly and cry out to God for deliverance.