Then comes the devil,inciting and provoking in all directions,but especially agitating matters that concern the conscience and spiritual affairs,namely,to induce us to despise and disregard both the Word and works of God to tear us away from faith,hope,and love and bring us into misbelief,false security,and obduracy,or,on the other hand,to despair,denial of God,blasphemy,and innumerable other shocking things.These are indeed snares and nets,yea,real fiery darts which are shot most venomously into the heart,not by flesh and blood,but by the devil.
Great and grievous,indeed,are these dangers and temptations which every Christian must bear,even though each one were alone by himself,so that every hour that we are in this vile life where we are attacked on all sides,chased and hunted down,we are moved to cry out and to pray that God would not suffer us to become weary and faint and to relapse into sin,shame,and unbelief.For otherwise it is impossible to overcome even the least temptation.
This,then,is leading us not into temptation,to wit,when He gives us power and strength to resist,the temptation,however,not being taken away or removed.For while we live in the flesh and have the devil about us,no one can escape temptation and allurements;and it cannot be otherwise than that we must endure trials,yea,be engulfed in them;but we pray for this,that we may not fall and be drowned in them.
To feel temptation is therefore a far different thing from consenting or yielding to it.We must all feel it,although not all in the same manner,but some in a greater degree and more severely than others;as,the young suffer especially from the flesh,afterwards,they that attain to middle life and old age,from the world,but others who are occupied with spiritual matters,that is,strong Christians,from the devil.But such feeling,as long as it is against our will and we would rather be rid of it,can harm no one.For if we did not feel it,it could not be called a temptation.But to consent thereto is when we give it the reins and do not resist or pray against it.
Therefore we Christians must be armed and daily expect to be incessantly attacked,in order that no one may go on in security and heedlessly,as though the devil were far from us,but at all times expect and parry his blows.For though I am now chaste,patient,kind,and in firm faith,the devil will this very hour send such an arrow into my heart that I can scarcely stand.For he is an enemy that never desists nor becomes tired,so that when one temptation ceases,there always arise others and fresh ones.
Accordingly,there is no help or comfort except to run hither and to take hold of the Lord's Prayer,and thus speak to God from the heart:
Dear Father,Thou hast bidden me pray;let me not relapse because of temptations.Then you will see that they must desist,and finally acknowledge themselves conquered.Else if you venture to help yourself by your own thoughts and counsel,you will only make the matter worse and give the devil more space.For he has a serpent's head,which if it gain an opening into which he can slip,the whole body will follow without check.But prayer can prevent him and drive him back.
The Seventh and Last Petition.
But deliver us from evil.Amen.In the Greek text this petition reads thus:Deliver or preserve us from the Evil One,or the Malicious One;and it looks as if He were speaking of the devil,as though He would comprehend everything in one so that the entire substance of all our prayer is directed against our chief enemy.For it is he who hinders among us everything that we pray for:the name or honor of God,God's kingdom and will,our daily bread,a cheerful good conscience,etc.
Therefore we finally sum it all up and say:Dear Father pray,help that we be rid of all these calamities.But there is nevertheless also included whatever evil may happen to us under the devil's kingdom --poverty,shame,death,and,in short,all the agonizing misery and heartache of which there is such an unnumbered multitude on the earth.
For since the devil is not only a liar,but also a murderer,he constantly seeks our life,and wreaks his anger whenever he can afflict our bodies with misfortune and harm.Hence it comes that he often breaks men's necks or drives them to insanity,drowns some,and incites many to commit suicide,and to many other terrible calamities.
Therefore there is nothing for us to do upon earth but to pray against this arch enemy without ceasing.For unless God preserved us,we would not be safe from him even for an hour.
Hence you see again how God wishes us to pray to Him also for all the things which affect our bodily interests,so that we seek and expect help nowhere else except in Him.But this matter He has put last;for if we are to be preserved and delivered from all evil,the name of God must first be hallowed in us,His kingdom must be with us,and His will be done.After that He will finally preserve us from sin and shame,and,besides,from everything that may hurt or injure us.
Thus God has briefly placed before us all the distress which may ever come upon us,so that we might have no excuse whatever for not praying.
But all depends upon this,that we learn also to say Amen,that is,that we do not doubt that our prayer is surely heard and [what we pray] shall be done.For this is nothing else than the word of undoubting faith,which does not pray at a venture,but knows that God does not lie to him,since He has promised to grant it.Therefore,where there is no such faith,there cannot be true prayer either.
It is,therefore,a pernicious delusion of those who pray in such a manner that they dare not from the heart say yea and positively conclude that God hears them,but remain in doubt and say,How should Ibe so bold as to boast that God hears my prayer?For I am but a poor sinner,etc.
The reason for this is,they regard not the promise of God,but their own work and worthiness,whereby they despise God and reproach Him with lying,and therefore they receive nothing.As St.James says [1,6]:
But let him ask in faith,nothing wavering;for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea,driven with the wind and tossed.For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.Behold,such importance God attaches to the fact that we are sure we do not pray in vain,and that we do not in any way despise our prayer.
