Matthew 6:13

Many people do not easily grasp the meaning of our Lord’s wording of the prayer as he taught here.
So let us delve into why he would teach us to pray in a manner that would at first seem to make him a near tyrant in his leadership?

To do so, it would be good to recall that mankind was living under non-Edenic conditions.  That is to say,  mankind was no longer blessed as when living in the garden of Eden.

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:  For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the        glory, forever. Amen.    (KJV)
Mat 6:13  And let us not be put to the test, but keep us safe from the Evil One. (BBE)

G1533    εἰ?φέ?ω    eisphero   ice-fer'-o
From G1519 and G5342; to carry inward (literally or figuratively):  bring (in), lead into.

Now we must consider that God can directly (or by allowance) have things happen in our lives for reasons we can’t fully understand at a given time.  Also, we must remind ourselves that God, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, will always give us the opportunity to grow in spiritual strength and grace.

Next we must view some passages that can shed additional light into his issue.

Mat 7:13  Enter ye in at the  strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

What have we read and learned here?  

1. Human beings are very frail in spirit and body.
2. We need God’s care and admonishments to grow into salvation.
3. We need God’s guidance to learn and grow as Christians, so that we can hold fast to that salvation.
4. As humans alone, we would fail to seek God in the first place due to the fleshy weakness we all endure.
6. We are a society of “I want it now, the easy way” and avoid major effort at every turn.
7. We do have a twinge of conscience that reminds us of our inadequacies.

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil:  For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

Please look very carefully at how I have edited the first part of the petition!!     Read and read that part, as though there is but a single, uninterrupted phrase.   Did you see it?
I simply removed a comma.   Now, in one breath, a short but plaintive plea is made.  Is this perhaps the way Jesus first spoke the petition, knowing how weak and frightened we can be?

Either way dear hearts, with or without the comma, we may define the teaching as perfect in every way.  Jesus knew, and always knows each of us as individuals. He loves us as we can never love either another individual or Jesus himself.  That may be hard to admit, but seek the truth of this in prayer, and you’ll find it.

Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him  the iniquity of us all.

In this petition then, Jesus has taught us to admit our weakness, and then to humbly ask for the help we need, to live our daily lives in submission to our Good Shepherd.