SEVENTH PRINCIPLE OF PRAYER
No Evil from God
(Matthew
6: 13; Luke 11:4; James 1:13)
Our Lord’s seventh principle in prayer is this: God does not lead us into trial, but deliver us from evil. This important truth is expanded in James 1, which emphatically states that God does not send trials or trouble to any man, but that we bring trouble upon ourselves by our own inclinations or desires.
Dear Friends,
In prayer we are approaching One who is
altogether and absolutely good. And
understand this, God is never the
author of evil and it is never the will of God that we should submit to
evil and merely endure it. On the
contrary, it is always God’s WILL to
deliver us from it.
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he believer is indeed called upon to endure the vicarious and
redemptive suffering in which he follows his Lord and which God uses to
overcome evil. To live as Jesus’
disciple in this world is to encounter hostility.
Biblical truth does not deny that life is full of trouble. Such a denial would be blind to reality. On the contrary, God’s Word asserts that
disobedience to God’s will inevitably results in troubles of all kinds and that
a world that neglects or ignores the laws of God is sure to be world of
suffering and sorrow. Two attitudes of suffering may
be distinguished.
- We may submit to it, however
reluctantly, adjusting ourselves to the limitations it imposes.
- We may, in the name of Christ,
who gave His disciples authority to cast out evil, rebel against it and
resist it and eventually overcome it.
These two attitudes may seem the same, but they are very
different. Two such persons may seem to
be suffering alike; but one, through prayer, is en route out of his
afflictions, while the prayerless one is sinking into them.
When we turn to God in prayer; we open the door by which His
absolute goodness comes in, chasing out the dark shadows of evil and filling us
with joy and peace-no matter what our circumstances.
God is the Creator and Giver of all good and of good only.
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/Chairman/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts
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