The Lord's Prayer - Ep 18

2026.08.13 Lord's Prayer Thursday

Today, and every Thursday during the summer series, we practiced a modified form of Lectio Divina, which means sacred reading. Lectio Divina is an ancient practice that helps us slow down, listen to God's voice, and allow scripture to shape our hearts. This week we reflect on the line, Deliver us from evil.

We will read through the Lord's Prayer twice and will provide an insight into the meaning of the text before each reading. We will give silence after each reading for you to consider what God might be saying to you through His word. Let's take a moment to quiet ourselves before we begin.

Jesus ends His instruction on prayer by teaching us to ask for deliverance from evil. The Greek word for deliver evokes images of rescue, a soldier pulling a wounded comrade off the battlefield, someone rescued from drowning. This is the picture that Jesus had in mind.

Jesus wants us to ask the Father daily to rescue us from evil. To be aware that a real battle is going on and we don't simply need help or guidance, we need rescue. In the silence today, ask yourself, where in your life do you need to be rescued right now? Where have you been minimizing a hard season or a bad week that Jesus may want you to see the deeper spiritual dimension and the place that you need rescue? Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. One of the most practical ways that evil operates in our lives is through lies. Jesus is clear that the devil is the father of lies.

These lies are rarely dramatic. They're sometimes quiet and even reasonable. They can sound like justification, excuses, like a voice that says you're not enough, not attractive, not worthy, and we agree with them without even realizing we're in a battle.

But notice, Jesus did not teach us to pray this prayer alone. He said, deliver us, not me, us. This prayer was always meant to be prayed as a community on behalf of one another.

When you pray it today, you're not just bringing your own needs to God. You're standing in for the person in your life who is in the middle of something really dark and may not even have words yet. As you listen to the Lord's prayer again, and as we pray it together, ask the Lord to highlight and pay attention to the lies that you or your loved one may be agreeing with.

Ask the Father to rescue and them from evil. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Father, thank you that you are not a God who stands at a distance.

You are the one who charges in, you rescue, you deliver us. You pull us out of things that we cannot free ourselves from. Forgive us for the times that we have reduced our struggles to simple circumstances, and we don't even bring them to you.

Open our eyes to the unseen reality of the real enemy around us, and give us the humility to admit how much we need you. Teach us to pay attention to the lies that we're believing, and give us the courage to replace them with your truth. And remind us that this prayer was never meant to be prayed alone.

Help us carry one another, stand in for one another, and believe for one another that you are the one who rescues. Deliver us. We cannot rescue ourselves.

In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.