Lead Me Not Into Temptation

Dear Pastors

Lead Me Not Into Temptation

Here’s a good question I read earlier this week and got me thinking. “If I were Satan and desired to destroy my soul, how would I do it?”

More than ever I am convinced that the state of the pastors soul (and all leaders in a local church for that matter) is absolutely crucial not only to the health of the church but also the long term effectiveness of the pastor. We can (and should) develop good leadership practises. We need to be skilful etc. We may have the privilege of leading a growing church. We can preach like there is no tomorrow but if we do not attend to the health and healing of our soul we will be heading for trouble. It is only a matter of time.

It seems Jesus knew this. The Lord’s Prayer contains just 70 words. Matthew 6:9-13 (NKJV). Jesus ‘models’ in this prayer how we should pray and in doing so mentions the subject of ‘sin’ – broadly speaking - 20% of the time or 14 out of the 70 words.

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”.

If we do not attend to the health and healing of our soul we will be heading for trouble.

So back to our question. “If I were Satan and desired to destroy my soul, how would I do it?”

We know that we are in a spiritual battle. The devil’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. As pastors we have a target on our backs. It’s pretty obvious isn’t it….when we fall we end up doing a lot of damage. So we must pray as Jesus outlined and we must also take sensible precautions so that we do not give the evil one an opportunity to have a field day messing with our soul.

Here, then, are some questions we might ask ourselves.

1. How well do you know your vulnerabilities, your weaknesses and your proclivities?
2. Do you carry with you hurts and damage from your past (a hole in your soul) that still have an impact on your life?
3. Are you easily angered?
4. What ‘channel’ does temptation typically come to you? What you watch, what you listen to, what you read and what you talk about. What is it?
5. We live in a sex soaked culture and let’s be honest it can be hard to stay sexually ‘pure’. So, how often and how intense are the sexual temptations that come your way? Have you got a well worked out strategy to resist and find a way of escape (1 Cor.10:13).

Pastor - I worry about how easily we can gloss over our own internal struggles and issues. I worry about the ‘temptation’ to trivialise and even rationalise away the sin that so easily besets us. Have you done the hard work of ‘soul care’ of your own soul before you try and fix other people’s?

In closing, let’s personalise the Lord’s prayer.

“My Father in Heaven, Holy be your name………Lead me not into temptation and please deliver me from evil and the evil one. Amen!

Blessings
Alan