HoHum:
Story from Bob Hostetler in Red Letter Prayer Life: Two of my dearest friends in the world, Dave and Becky, told me the amazing story of their mission trip some years ago to the mountain town of San Luis, Honduras. They traveled as part of a combined medical and evangelistic team that served the people’s medical and spiritual needs with clinics and evangelistic services. One night after their arrival, Dave and Becky lay down to sleep on a couple of air mattresses in the back of a pickup truck covered with an old camper shell top. Suddenly, Becky heard a sound, like a snap or a click. She elbowed her husband, “What’s that?” “It’s just an animal,” Dave answered. He flipped on the flashlight and sat up. He pointed the light out the tiny camper window and looked out but saw nothing. He told Becky that everything looked quiet. He shut off the light and lay back down. A few seconds passed, and they heard the sound again. “There it is again,” Becky said. “There are animals out there, Becky,” he said, letting the irritation he felt creep into his voice. IT had been a long, tiring day, and they just needed sleep. Becky accepted his assurances, and they both eventually fell asleep. They finished the mission trip and returned home. Three months later, the missionary who had hosted them was back in the US on furlough and had come to a nearby church to speak. Dave and Becky went to see him. After the service, when the missionary saw them and greeted them, he said he wanted to talk to them. He led them to a private room and told them to sit down. “I have a story to tell you,” he said. He said that a few months after the mission team left San Luis, he returned to hold more evangelistic services there. One night, as he finished preaching and gave the invitation, 3 men walked forward together and and surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ. Afterward, one of the men stood in front of the congregation and told his story. He said that a few months earlier when a group of gringos had come to San Luis from America, he and his 2 friends had been drinking. The more they drank, the angrier they became at the outsiders who had invaded their town. “I got my gun,” the man said. “I went to where the gringos were staying. I saw a truck camper and was going to shoot whoever was sleeping in that camper. I snuck up to it and looked in the window. I saw a couple lying inside. I pointed my gun through the window at the man’s head and pulled the trigger. But the gun misfired.” He continued, “I heard them talking inside the truck and then a light came on. I ducked under the window and skirted against the side of the truck until the light went off. Then I stood and looked in the window again. I aimed at the man’s head and pulled the trigger. It misfired a second time! When that happened, suddenly a rush of fear came over me, and I ran away.” As the missionary told the story, Dave and Becky both remembered the night they hear the strange sounds outside their camper. Dave looked at Becky, then turned back to the missionary. “That’s exactly how it happened!” The man’s story fit exactly with their experience on the other side of that truck camper window, except that neither of them suspected that the sound they heard came from a gun that had twice been pointed at Dave’s head, only to misfire each time.
WBTU:
When Jesus taught His followers to pray, He told them to pray, “Deliver us from evil.” Recite the Model Prayer. This phrase is a 3 fold acknowledgment.
1. “Deliver us from evil” acknowledges the existence of evil. Jesus doesn’t pretend that evil is a state of mind or something we must rise above. On the contrary, Jesus tells us that we live in a fallen world- a world in which people try to kill one another. A world where a woman’s womb is a dangerous place to be. A world where people use planes as missiles to blow up buildings. A world where terrorists behead Christians and even people trying to help the Christians, where young girls are kidnapped from school and given as wives to terrorists. A world where militants use civilians as shields to protect them from gunfire. A world in which people steal from others, lie to others, hurt others.
2. “Deliver us from evil” acknowledges that we need deliverance. We don’t need to deny the evil that surrounds and threatens us. We don’t need to detach ourselves from the real world where evil seems all too prevalent. We need deliverance from it. We need to avoid and escape it. We need to be shielded from it or through it. We need something like David’s stones to defeat evil or the presence that protected the 3 Hebrews and enabled them to emerge unharmed from the fiery furnace.
3. “Deliver us from evil” acknowledges that we can be delivered. Jesus clearly wanted His followers to understand that deliverance is possible. Jesus did not instruct us to say this as something nice but has little ability to do anything. Deliverance is available.
Thesis: 3 more ways to view “Deliver us from evil”
For instances:
1. Pray, “Deliver us from doing evil”
Yes, we can look at the evil surrounding us but evil often lives much closer to home (in our sinful natures, in ourselves). The most destructive and debilitating evil is not what is out there but what is in here, in our hearts. Notice what Paul says in Romans 7:15-25. In what area of life do we struggle: Diet? Exercise? Work habits? Addictions? Spiritual disciplines? Our speech? Our lust? Our hatred? Our greed? Our selfishness? Pray for deliverance from the evil that “lies close at hand.” Pray for the righteousness of Christ to triumph over the wretchedness of our all too human heart. Pray for “Thanks be to God” to resound “through Jesus Christ our Lord” in our thoughts, words, and deeds.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:13: No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. Have people who say, “God is not going to put on us more than we can bear” and they get it from here. Really, it is saying that God is not going to allow temptations to be beyond what we can bear. God is going to give us a way out. Much like Joseph who was tempted to sleep with Potiphar’s wife, Joseph took the way out literally. Pray that we take the way out that God provides.
2. Pray, “Deliver us from evil done to us”
From Bob Hostetler: My wife and I had been married less than a year. I had been attending college in Findlay, Ohio, and working the eleven to seven shift at the 7-11 in nearby Fostoria, Ohio. Yes, that right. I was working 11 to 7 at a 7-11. It would have been poetic if I had still been working there on 7/11 meaning July 11. It was not to be (thankfully). In early June that year, I gave my notice to my boss at 7-11, and several weeks later, my wife and I packed our few possessions and headed off to a summer job preparing us for ministry training in the Fall. The night after my final shift, the Fostoria 7-11 was robbed. For the first time. AT gunpoint. During the 11-7 shift. No one was hurt. I was relieved and grateful when I heard the news. I felt like a “brand plucked from the fire” (Zechariah 3:2). I had been delivered from evil. Reminds me of an associate named Twilla who was working at a hotel and a man beat her and robbed the cash register. Twilla prayed that she would not be killed and she was not killed. The man who robbed her was killed a few nights later. My uncle Wendell often prays, “Deliver us from evil and unreasonable people” (2 Thessalonians 3:2). Pray to be delivered from armed robbery. From debt and bankruptcy through no fault of our own. From drivers who text while driving. From liars, gossips, and thieves. From evil affections, evil companions, and evil neighbors. From medical malpractice. From unscrupulous lawyers and corrupt judges. From bad bosses and bad employees. From addictions and obsessions. From every trick and Technique of our enemy, the devil (this phrase can be translated, “Deliver us from the evil one), who “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
3. Pray, “Deliver us from the evil surrounding us”
Every day we face numerous dangers, toils and snares but we are not alone. Important to remember that plural pronoun “us,” “Deliver us from evil.” Just as we pray to “Our Father” to “give us” and “forgive us” and “lead us,” so we pray, “Deliver us.” This is a corporate petition. It is a prayer I must pray not only for myself but also for others. We are surrounded by evil, and we are surrounded by people who need deliverance from those evils. Looking at my prayer list on 7/24 and find this: Shared personal prayers requests- you can do the same but not publishing mine here- Just a sampling from that day’s prayer list.
Bob Hostetler story: Yesterday, while others in my family enjoyed a Sunday afternoon nap, I sat in a chair on our back deck, reading a book by one of my favorite authors. My 4 year old granddaughter tiptoed through the back door and asked me what I was doing. “I’m just reading and enjoying this beautiful day.” “Me too.” She carried a backpack with crayons and paper in it and parked herself at the table nearby. Soon we heard sirens. We live in a quiet neighborhood, so we don’t hear as many sirens as some people. “What’s that?” She asked. I explained that it was a siren, probably on a police car or an ambulance. Her expression turned somber. “Someone’s in trouble.” I nodded. “Maybe we should pray.” “You pray.” So I did. I started my prayer, “Deliver us from evil,” and went on briefly to ask God to help whoever was in trouble. It’s a long shot but I hope she remembers that. I hope sirens become an occasion for prayer to her. I hope the same for you.
Ephesians 6:18-20 says, “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
