“Lead … Deliver”, Guide & Guard: Practicing Prayer (4)

. 3 min read

2014/09/28
Christ Church, Mountain Top
Prayer,
Psalm 23
Children,
Matthew 4.1-11
Message, James
1.1-27
Lord’s
Prayer – Our Father
      Practice: how we are transformed
Practices:
      Lord’s Prayer posted, prayed daily
      Praying with our body, hands raised
      Blessing prayers for work, for success
      Meditative prayer: the Jesus Prayer
“Lead us not into temptation”
            James 1 –
      Temptation’s source is our own desire –
liking and loving
      Temptation’s source is the human drive for
wealth, sex, power
            Wealth – the rich “will wither away”
                  “every generous act … from
above”
            Sex – “when desire has conceived, it
gives birth to sin”
            Power – “your anger does not produce
God’s righteousness”
      Jesus was tempted – has human desires –
“yet without sin”
                  (Hebrews 4.15)
      Led into temptation through our desire
      How does God “lead us not”?
            Support our efforts at prevention
                  An alcoholic – stay out of
bars, not enter new relationships
                  Create boundaries around our
impulses – spending, etc.
            Keep us from surprise opportunity at
a point of weakness
            Strengthen us to say “no”
      Will Willimon, resisting temptation (story
from The Last Word)

“But deliver us from evil”
      Evil in general, bad things, painful things
            “keep me from harm so that I will be
free from pain” (1 Chron 4.10)
            So often unanswered?
            How often is it answered, but we are
clueless?
      “used pre-eminently of the devil, the evil one” (Thayer)
Like
a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to
devour (1 Peter 5:8).
      Do
not exaggerate
(dog ate) or
underestimate.
      Jo Slapinski, overturned boat on Wolf Lake
      St Patrick’s breastplate (guide and guard)
St.
Patrick’s Breastplate
I
gird myself today with the might of heaven:
The
rays of the sun,
The
beams of the moon,
The
glory of fire,
The
speed of wind,
The
depth of sea,
The
stability of earth,
The
hardness of rock.
I
gird myself today with the power of God:
God’s
strength to comfort me,
God’s
might to uphold me,
God’s
wisdom to guide me,
God’s
eye to look before me,
God’s
ear to hear me,
God’s
word to speak for me,
God’s
hand to lead me,
God’s
way to lie before me,
God’s
shield to protect me,
God’s
angels to save me
From
the snares of the Devil,
From
temptations to sin,
From
all who wish me ill,
Both
far and near,
Alone
and with others.  
May
Christ guard me today
From
poison and fire,
From
drowning and wounding,
So
my mission may bear
Fruit
in abundance.
Christ
behind and before me,
Christ
beneath and above me,
Christ
with me and in me,
Christ
around and about me,
Christ
on my left and my right,
Christ
when I rise in the morning,
Christ
when I lie down at night,
Christ
in each heart that thinks of me,
Christ
in each mouth that speaks of me,
Christ
in each eye that sees me,
Christ
in each ear that hears me.
I
arise today through the power of the Trinity,
Through
faith in the threeness,
Through
trust in the oneness,
Of
the Maker of earth,

And
the Maker of heaven.