June 4
THE LORD’S PRAYER PART 9
( Matthew 6:9-13 )
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
According to J. Preston Eby:
-"As Jesus was in the world, so are we in the world, and it is an evil world facing us on every side. Therefore
we need a power beyond our natural selves to help us through the temptation that it may not overpower us. DELIVER US FROM
EVIL! We know what was in the mind of the Son of God. To Him evil meant one thing. Not the evil of sorrows, calamities, sickness,
accidents, crime, drugs, hatred, persecution, war and tragic events which the world calls evil. The problem is not Russia,
Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, the humanists, gangs, abortionists and politicians. The evil which we are to fear is
the corruption of our own hearts." ( To Be The Lord’s Prayer, J. Preston Eby )
-Jeremiah 17:9 states, … The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know
it? … Matthew 15:19,20 states, … For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: …
-Well … There you have it! Evil is in the heart of man. We must be awakened to this sobering fact. People
are always looking outside of themselves, pointing the finger at certain groups of people such as: homosexuals, certain religions
and denominations, certain political groups, the masons, terrorists, atheists, scientists, and even those who strive to advance
technology. When will we WAKE UP and realize that none of these people, groups, or things are the evil that we are longing
to be delivered from? These things are but symptoms of the root of our problem! The evil that we are to be delivered from
is the nature that is within us. Ephesians 2:2,3 states, … Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: Among
whom we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;
AND WERE BY NATURE the children of wrath, even as others …
-The reason that we see evil in this world is because it is in the heart of man. Once we are delivered from
the evil that is within, we will cease to see it without. The apostle Paul came to this grand revelation when he said, …
For I know that in me ( that is, in my flesh, ) dwells no good thing: … O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? ( Romans 7:18,24 ) …
-We must also realize that we have within us the spirit of antichrist, which is the man of sin who sits in the
temple of God, whose temple WE ARE. This must be revealed to you! ( 2nd Thessalonians 2:3,4 )
According to J. Preston Eby:
-"The devil will never come as a hideous spirit creature in a funny red suit to seduce or rape your wife, but
the devil in some man may surely attempt it. I must tell you frankly that I have not had any problem with that devil
out there someplace, but I have had a great deal of difficulty with that devil whose countenance I behold when I look in the
mirror!" ( To Be The Lord’s Prayer, J. Preston Eby )
-Evil, and deliverance from evil, both take place in the heart of man. For we all, with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, ARE CHANGED into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord
( 2nd Corinthians 3:18 ) …
-THAT IS DELIVERANCE! God has promised to change us into His image from glory to glory! As well, He has promised
to give us all things that pertain to life and godliness … that by these things we might be partakers of His divine
nature ( 2nd Peter 1:3,4 ) … Not only will He give us deliverance, but it shall be DIVINE DELIVERANCE. OUR
DELIVERANCE IS THE VERY DIVINE NATURE OF GOD HIMSELF!!! O Father …
-DELIVER US FROM EVIL!-
