Matthew 6:13, commentary and pictures

It asks God to keep from being drawn into wrong and to rescue from evil and the evil one, closing with praise that the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to God forever. Temptation is enticement to sin and never comes from God but from Satan and the evil in human hearts when a person is drawn away by own desire. The request itself carries the assurance that God will not allow temptation beyond what can be borne but will provide a way of escape and strength sufficient for the trial. It is a short model to be prayed with full understanding, sincerity, and faith every day, in secret, in the family, and continually amid need and suffering, and not merely repeated as a form. It must also be lived out by surrendering to God's leading, refusing to enter needless temptation or corrupting company, forgiving as forgiven, and seeking God's honor above place and recognition.

Setting, Words, and Form

The closing petition belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, spoken especially for the disciples while the listening multitude also heard, first delivered there and afterward repeated when the disciples asked to be taught to pray after finding Jesus absorbed in earnest aloud communion with God and being deeply moved by His habit of prayer. That later request was answered by repeating the same prayer and then illustrating its lesson by the parable of a man going at midnight to a friend to ask for three loaves for a traveler, who at first refuses but rises and gives as many as are needed because of importunity. It belongs to Christ's teaching on prayer that bids people address God as Father and reveals His paternal love, presented with divine authority in a form simple enough for a child to study without being misled. In that setting it stands as Christ's pattern for prayer.

It was given after cautioning against praying as hypocrites with vain repetitions and long tedious prayers offered to be seen and praised by men, to remedy that error and to show how to avoid imitating the prayers of the Pharisees. The same instruction contrasts God-centered prayer that exalts God and impresses human dependence and weakness, declaring God to be the all, the beginning and the end, with prayers that display good deeds to gain human praise. That rebuke of hypocritical self-exalting prayer offered for human approval does not forbid public prayer. It is to be prayed understandingly and not as the hypocrites pray to be seen, without vain repetitions that are words without meaning repeated without corresponding thought or proper understanding and without true earnest desire, but in secret to the Father who knows needs before asking, with short heartfelt earnestness right to the point, corresponding to soul-hunger for the Holy Spirit and for needed strength from the Source of all strength.

It is a short sample prayer given in kindness and mercy to help human infirmity by framing every human need into words, because men do not know what they should pray for as they ought. It is short and its embraced truth is simple, yet understood with the rest of the prayer it embraces all that is essential for salvation, and it is to be not only repeated and kept before the people but obeyed implicitly. It is a simple yet comprehensive and perfect petition whose principles should be taught to children and studied carefully, a comprehensive prayer embracing everything that, offered humbly and simply in genuine faith, is effective and brings peace and rest. Its words express requests for both temporal and spiritual blessings and gratitude, covering actual needs, and are to be brief and direct. Its petitions comprehend every human need, so that even if no more words are spoken, praying them in sincerity is heart-service to God and more acceptable than pharisaical repetition exalting supposed good works, while believers are not required to confine themselves to these special words alone and may state special necessities and individual thanksgiving.

The prayer Christ gave is valuable for His followers in every age, including the last days, and must be prayed with full understanding of its meaning and a sense of need, not as a mere form. All churches are to pray this prayer, study it, and live it, and those who do will win a crown of life everlasting. Its meaning has a depth and breadth that must be taken in and realized, and it contains lessons not yet learned. Truly understanding it makes the church what God desires it to be, the light of the world, taking away desire for form and ceremony and planting in the heart those principles that sanctify character, while its kingdom petition points to the coming kingdom of Christ for whose coming believers are to labor, and bringing its spirit and life into the church will give it an influence that moves the world. It calls for gratitude for God's goodness to fill the heart and surround the soul with a heavenly atmosphere, and for ordering life by the truth of God found in His Word through diligent study of the Scriptures as the truth of the living God, the foundation of faith and assurance of hope of eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

As part of the Sermon it sets forth with far-reaching scope the principles of God's law and the pure gospel explaining His holy law. It teaches that the state of the heart regulates the life and character, and that instruction in the claims of the law requires having the spirit of the law in the heart, so that unless new converts are impressed with these far-reaching principles, labor for them is lost. It sets the holy standard of character requiring love to God with the whole heart and love to neighbor as God requires, including right and holy methods in business transactions without mingling human wisdom with the divine and without unjustly acquiring means at another's expense, and those who do such things prove they have not yet learned that law and need a cleansing and purging of the soul temple. It belongs to the revelation that failure to walk in the light God had given was separating the Jewish people from God, with darkness coming upon them in the same proportion as light had been permitted to shine upon their pathway.

Temptation and Deliverance Meaning

The petition asks God to keep from temptation and to rescue from evil and from the evil one, expressing dependence and felt need for divine protection against hidden dangers, snares, and powers of darkness. It is to be prayed with full understanding of its meaning and a sense of need rather than as a mere form, with open heart to grace and power, by converted Christians, daily and in every age including the last days, with assurance that its Author hears those who feel their need. Temptation means enticement to sin, and temptation to do evil never comes from God but from Satan and the evil in human hearts. It comes when a person is drawn away by own lust and enticed, until lust conceives and brings forth sin, and finished sin brings forth death.

God may permit testing as a proving to show human weakness, to reveal what is in the heart, whether God is loved supremely and neighbor as self, and to expose the folly of exchanging divine rule for human philosophy that always brings a snare. He may allow Satan to test, and failure comes from relying on own strength, while recognizing helplessness and trusting wholly brings a way of escape. Such conflicts, when met in dependence with continual prayer for strength to resist and grace to overcome even amid danger and corrupting influences, strengthen the soul for greater trials and prepare for final victory, for temptation is a trial permitted not from delight in distress but to prepare for resisting evil. The prayer not to be brought into temptation is itself a promise that when committed to God He will not allow temptation beyond what can be borne but will provide a way to endure it. He gives strength sufficient for trial, so that through Christ's victory those who answer with It is written and trust humbly in prayer remain firm and stand.

Being tempted is different from entering into temptation, yet temptation can hold like a charm while suggestions stir every remaining depravity in the unrenewed nature where flesh lusts against the Spirit and Spirit against flesh, and failure in the test of probationary time is failure forever. The prayer therefore means asking God not to allow being overcome when temptation assails and not to be brought into circumstances where desires of evil hearts draw away from Him. Praying for deliverance means surrendering to God's guidance and asking to be led in safe paths and paths of righteousness, which cannot be done sincerely while choosing one's own way, but requires waiting for His hand, heeding His direction, and guarding by prayerful watchfulness, humility, earnest prayer, and diligent study and reception of the Word against yielding to powers of darkness. Even one sincere desire to resist, expressed in Deliver me from temptation, puts the will on the side of God's will against satanic agencies and secures strength for the day through desire, silent prayer, drawing nigh to God, resistance, and warfare against every weakness of character to stand as Christ's representative. Then heavenly angels come close to the tried, suffering, and tempted and labor long and untiringly to save souls for whom Christ died, the Holy Spirit works in their behalf, and angels bear tidings of success heavenward with rejoicing among the heavenly host.

Kingdom Power Glory Praise

The prayer closes with praise declaring that the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to God forever, sealed with Amen. It comes after the caution against vain repetitions in prayer, asking God to keep from temptation and to rescue from evil, and then ending in this ascription of praise. It contains no vain repetition or boastful words, for all glory belongs to God, and it expresses dependence on His power by faith. It is to be repeated every day with an open heart to grace and power, prayed and studied and lived by all churches, and those who feel their need and pray sincerely may be assured that the Author of the prayer will hear them and that they will win everlasting life. Its words carry deep meaning as the sincere prayer of the converted Christian to the Father for protection from temptation and deliverance from evil.

The kingdom so ascribed is one of divine grace, not an earthly kingdom restoring former national glory. The closing words direct beyond every earthly and evil power to the Father who is above all power and authority. They affirm that His kingdom rules over all and that His purposes move forward unhindered to their fulfillment. This sustains hope amid hatred, danger, fear, national strife, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the scattering of Israel, showing that hope is not lost and that God has not forsaken the earth.

Divine power gives success to those who serve Him, so that His work does not depend on finite people. He frustrates wicked plans, directs events among nations, guards His people through trials and gives them strength, for all greatness, power, glory, and victory belong to Him. The prayer directs disciples to honor the Father and to acknowledge that all glory is His. In this it follows Jesus, who turned attention away from Himself toward the Father as the source of His power.

The prayer for God's kingdom to come is to be joined with earnest work to enlarge that kingdom. Those who declare that the kingdom, power, and glory belong to God forever are to act in harmony with what they pray.

Praying With Understanding Faith

The prayer must be offered with full understanding of its meaning and a sense of need, in genuine faith and sincerity of heart and mind and soul, not as a mere form. It is to be prayed in secret to the Father who knows needs before asking, with short heartfelt earnestness right to the point, corresponding to soul-hunger for the Holy Spirit and for needed strength from the Source of all strength, without vain repetitions of words without meaning or proper understanding and without true and earnest desire. Offered humbly and simply in this way, the comprehensive prayer that embraces everything brings peace and rest in the Lord, with special evidence that Jesus is Helper and that rich grace is received, giving confidence to go forth to work in peace knowing nothing has been asked amiss.

It is to be repeated every day with an open heart to Christ's grace and power by those who feel their need, with assurance that the Author of the prayer will hear. It is to be offered after special private prayer to close morning petitions, comprehending in its few words all personal needs and every human need. Repeated every day in the family circle it becomes a blessing, and it gives a model for seeking God's help while going about daily work, even when one can do no more than pray. It is to be prayed continually alone, at the family altar, in the streets, and in suffering and sleepless pain, where it brings help, relief, mercy, rest, thankfulness, and growth in wisdom in Christ.

The words are a short sample given in kindness and mercy to remedy praying to be seen of men, framing every human need because men do not know what they should pray for as they ought, so that even these words alone prayed sincerely are heart-service more acceptable than pharisaical repetition exalting supposed good works. Believers are not required to confine themselves to these special words alone, for the prayer is a model rather than words to be repeated exactly or made the limit of petitions by simply repeating it. Every soul also has the privilege of stating to the Lord his own special necessities and offering individual thanksgiving for blessings daily received, while many long and spiritless, faithless prayers are a burden instead of a joy. In public and family worship prayer should follow this pattern by being simple, clear, earnest, comprehensive, and brief, going directly to present need and telling God in soul need what is wanted with childlike trust as a child tells an earthly parent. Long, tedious, spiritless, oratorical prayers that preach a sermon lay out the whole burden of the heart and go all over the world kill interest, make worship tedious, fail to bless or edify, and dishonor God, and such extended burdens belong in private prayer alone in the closet, not in the meeting.

It is to be prayed continually and daily and hourly in humble dependence and recognized helplessness and whole trust, for no one is safe from the tempter even an hour without prayer amid sin and pollution and hidden dangers and Satan's snares. When weakness is recognized this asking makes the enemy's temptation powerless, for God provides a way of escape and strength to resist and grace to overcome even amid danger and corrupting influences, and such conflicts strengthen the soul for greater trials. Lack of time and worldly business must not become excuses for neglecting this prayer for help against temptation. God's Word must be humbly studied for wisdom to understand it, for it reveals Satan's deceptive methods and deceptive twisting of Scripture and how to discern and resist them. Calling God Father makes the petitions include others as well as self, recognizing all His children as brothers and sisters, so asking for deliverance from evil rightly includes neighbors and not blessing alone.

Living Out the Prayer

The prayer is not to be merely repeated and kept before the people but to be obeyed implicitly and lived out daily, for though short and simple its truth embraces with the rest of the prayer all that is essential for salvation. Its principles lie at the foundation of the spring of all right action and are the whole duty of man, so that those who carry out every phase become sensible persons whose minds God Himself can control and guide. To live it brings close contact with Christ and heaven's agencies, renews mind and heart by the Holy Spirit, opens the soul heavenward, cleanses defilement, refreshes the memory with Bible principles, and gives discernment between good and evil. It requires ordering life by the truth of God as found in His word and diligent study of the Scriptures as the truth of the living God, the foundation of faith and assurance of hope of eternal life in the kingdom of heaven, with gratitude for His goodness filling the heart and bringing a heavenly atmosphere to surround the soul. Truly understood in its depth and breadth it takes away desire for form and ceremony, plants sanctifying principles in the heart, makes the church the light of the world, and wins a crown of life everlasting for all churches that pray, study, and live it.

Asking for deliverance must be joined with action to avoid failure, for the prayer is to be prayed with faith and then followed by work to advance God's kingdom, putting away selfishness, slothfulness, and indifference so Satan cannot defeat its fulfillment. Learning from past experience is required, guarding the feet from leading into temptation, keeping away from temptations by which one is easily overcome, working out success through the grace of Christ by personal choice, and rolling out of the way the stone of stumbling that has caused sadness to self and others. Resisting temptation wherever possible while leaving to Jesus what cannot be overcome by one's own effort is the cooperation demanded, with careful words and conduct so as not to invite the enemy to tempt. Careless disregard of warnings and reproofs opens the door wide for Satan to enter, but with God's word for a guide and Jesus as heavenly teacher there is no need to be ignorant of God's requirements or Satan's devices or to be overcome, and when fully yielded to be directed by His Spirit obedience to God's will is no unpleasant task.

Cooperation means refusing to enter into evil and not deliberately placing oneself in temptation, keeping away from it as much as possible, for the prayer is inconsistent with choosing it. Worldly associations, amusements, company, and customs that divert from serving God and expose to the enemy's snares must be shunned, separating from what draws away from God, since even those blessed with security, means, or influence are in danger of forgetting Him. Temptation is entered by such choices, and avoiding them guards the soul and preserves closeness to God. Watchfulness must resist the first inclination to do wrong, asking Jesus for help and acting as Christ would approve, arranging life and guarding the soul through secret communion so as not to create avoidable occasion, putting away evil thoughts, envy, strife, and ambition to keep unspotted in humility and unity.

Parents who pray to be kept from temptation must act as wide-awake guardians of the family against satanic influences, training and disciplining children in the fear of God at home during their early years. They must refuse to consent for children to be placed where they will meet unnecessary temptation, refuse to send them away to schools where associates and influences will sow evil like tares in their hearts and efface religious impressions and the love of God, and refuse to let inducement of high wages or apparently great educational advantages lead to placing them outside parental influence where they will be exposed to great temptations. Reducing exposure to temptation also applies to protecting young people from Satan's snares by locating schools away from large cities.

Those in danger from earthly, sensual, devilish associations and dissolute companionship must pray to be kept from entering unsafe, forbidden paths of pleasure-seeking, indulged appetite and passion, and transgression of God's law, and to be rescued from evil. Escape from the corruption in the world through lust comes by becoming partakers of the divine nature, making Christ's life and character the criterion, keeping the soul in the atmosphere of heaven, shunning as far as possible the company of the profligate, licentious, and ungodly, and refusing to place oneself where corruption will result. Temptation comes through Satan leading souls step by step as if blindfolded, deluding minds with ideas of pleasure, liberty, and profit and presenting worldly lusts in attractive garments until sin looks attractive and reason and conscience are overborne, stirring human passions to depravity and eternal ruin, which is the especial need of youth already developing strong inclination to what is evil and destructive and departing farther from the counsel of God and the authoritative voice of His Word. Being tempted is different from entering into temptation, yet temptation can hold like a charm while Satan's suggestions stir every remaining element of depravity in the unrenewed nature where flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and failure in the test and trial of probationary time is failure forever.

Knowingly continuing in a harmful sin while praying not to be led into temptation contradicts that prayer, and the prayer itself becomes sin. Praying alone to God for help to resist brings deliverance, for God gives strength to overcome strong appetite and habit such as craving tobacco by removing both the act and the desire, so the tempted person stops the habit at once and no longer wants it. Careful watchfulness over one's course is required because of the natural corruptions of the human heart and perilous tendencies of sin, since salvation of the soul is the first and highest consideration and happiness here and hereafter comes through obedience to all God's commandments, for to lose heaven is to lose everything. The prayer also includes being kept from becoming a tempter who entangles souls and imperils salvation, especially by the danger of leading minds to self and letting others become infatuated while forgetting corruption and peril.

The prayer stands joined to asking daily bread and to forgiving debts as debtors are forgiven, with the condition that the heavenly Father forgives only those who forgive others and does not forgive those who do not forgive. Those who seek God's mercy must forgive everyone who has wronged them, because an unforgiving spirit cuts off the channel through which mercy is received. Believers must never look indifferently on a soul who humbles himself and confesses sin but take the repenting one back with rejoicing, forgive when a brother says God has forgiven him, and never unite with the enemy who seeks to destroy by discouraging him or standing as his judge. Receiving God's pardon and mercy leads to showing compassion, patience, and forgiveness rather than resentment or retaliation, expressing dependence on His mercy.

Living the prayer corrects the spirit of strife for place and position and reaching out for honor and recognition, teaching those determined to be rich to be content and to yield the will to the control of the Holy Spirit. Honor is to be sought in the right way by obedience to the word of truth and by honoring Christ at every step, giving the greatest desire to work in just the place God has assigned where He can look with approval instead of elbowing a fellow worker aside to make room for personal plans. The prayer for God's kingdom to come is to be joined with earnest work to enlarge that kingdom, acting in harmony with what is prayed to fortify souls against temptation. Every true Christian living out that short prayer full of meaning works to preserve unity, repeating it every day in the family circle as a blessing, putting away evil thoughts, envy, strife, and ambition in humility, refusing subjection to evil's power, remaining loyal to God under every circumstance, and guarding speech lest bitter feelings lead others into injurious temptation.