This last line of Jesus’ prayer reminds us of our own frailty and the reality that evil is a force from which we need deliverance. We live in a broken world and have an enemy —the satan—which tempts us to fall. God does not tempt (James 1:12-13), but God does allow us to be tested and go through trials to refine our faith (James 1:1-3). When the satan or anyone else tempts us, they’re hoping we will fall and be more enslaved because of it. So we need to be lead in such a way that we do not fall into temptation. The heart of this petition is about God protecting and rescuing us from temptation and the work of the evil —and the evil one. To pray “deliver us from evil” is to acknowledge that we are on the front lines of a cosmic conflict (Eph 6:10-12) which we need to resist in prayer. As N.T. Wright suggests, “it is a prayer that the forces of destruction, of dehumanization, of anti-creation, of anti-redemption, may be bound and gagged, and that God’s good world may escape from being sucked down into their morass.” This petition also acknowledges that we need a Saviour to deliver us. We can’t defeat evil on our own. And so, the prayer to “deliver us” is a prayer that trusts in the work of Jesus to deliver us out of all captivity. 

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