Prayer 101: Relying

We'll take your Bibles this morning one more time.

We'll be finished with this particular passage, Luke chapter 11, verses 1 through 4.! Luke 11, 1 through 4. We've been working our way through the Gospel of Luke for a number of Sundays.

I'm not sure how long we've been in this. And we've got a long way to go, the Gospel of Luke, so we better get past these four verses. I've taken my time to look at each phrase, each sentence, each part of this very famous prayer.

And this is the final part of it, as recorded in Luke. Matthew adds another line after this, but we're not going to deal with that here in this series.

So this is the final part of the prayer, this famous prayer guide, and hence the final message, my final message from this particular passage.

So what I want to do is just review as I read the text. So if you have your Bibles open there, and again, just remind you, some of you have a translation other than the King James, the New King James.

And so some of what I'm going to read, you don't have in your particular copy of Scripture. And I've kind of sought to explain that a number of times along the way. It is in Matthew 6, in Matthew's account.

And so, just trust me, Jesus did say these words. Luke didn't make a mistake. Didn't leave something out, necessarily. But so let me read the text, and we'll review along the way.

Now, it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, as Jesus was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John, of course, that would be John the Baptist, as John also taught his disciples.

And so he said to them, when you pray, say, Our Father in Heaven. And so prayer is about resting. Remember, way back when, when we started this series, prayer is about resting.

Resting in God, our Heavenly Father. Hallowed be your name. Prayer is about reverencing. Reverencing. Reverencing God.

Your kingdom come. Prayer is about reigning. Reigning in the kingdom of God. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Prayer is about resigning.

Resigning to the will of God. Give us day by day our daily bread. Of course, that doesn't appear in some of the versions. And the lesson is, prayer is about requesting.

Requesting. Requesting what we need from God. And forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Prayer is about releasing.

Releasing the sin debt we owe. God releasing us from our sin debt, our sins against Him. Others are us releasing others.

Their sins against us. And now finally, one last lesson on prayer. Prayer is about relying. Relying.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now, that last part of that does not appear. Only appears, rather, in the King James, the New King James.

But again, you can look at Matthew's account of the prayer and it is there. So it belongs there. All right. Now, for purposes of clarity.

I think even before we get into this particular part of the prayer. This final part of the prayer. We need to clear up some things here, possibly. Let me first deal with a few important issues.

Number one. And let's make sure we establish this right here at the beginning. God does not, indeed cannot, tempt us with evil.

Or tempt us to do evil. So just put that out. That's not what he's talking about here when he says, And do not lead us into temptation. God does not tempt us. God does not lead us or tempt us to do evil.

God's word is very clear on this in a number of places. And the best way, really, to interpret this particular passage is to allow Scripture to interpret itself. That's always a good rule of thumb.

And so, for instance, in James chapter 1 and verse 13, the Bible says, Let no one say when he is tempted or she is tempted, I am tempted by God.

Don't let anybody say that. For God cannot be tempted by evil. We know that, don't we? Nor does he himself tempt anyone.

So it's very clear from Scripture. All right, so if that be the case, then how does it happen? How does it happen? Well, James 1.14. Listen to this. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away, lured away by his own desires.

Lured away by his own desires. His own lusts. And enticed. By the way, that word borrows from the world of fishing.

And it just literally means to be caught by the bait. To be caught by the bait. That's how it happens, you see. All right, so that leads us to a valid question at this point.

What is the need of praying that God will not do what he has promised in Scripture he would never do?

What's the point of doing that? To pray that God would not do a certain thing that he has already promised in Scripture he would never do to lead us into temptation. God will never do that.

Ever. God cannot do that. I assure you. Because he's holy. He could not do that. He could not tempt us with evil or lead us to do evil.

Not and remain true to his character. True to his nature. And God will always stay true to his nature. Just like we stay true to our nature. But God even more so. And so this is why we need some clarity, I think, when dealing with this particular passage.

Even before we actually deal with what the passage is saying. What Jesus is guiding us to do in our prayers. And so first, God does not, cannot tempt us with evil.

Second, and just to be clear. God does promise. And this is not a contradiction. But God does promise that we shall experience times of testing.

Even including temptation to sin. God promises that we will have that. That we will experience that. The temptations to sin. God promises that.

And let me refer again to James chapter 1. This time to verse 12. Blessed is the man who endures temptation. So it's guaranteed, isn't it?

Temptation is going to come. But blessed is the man who endures it. For when he has been approved, he will receive a crown of life. Which the Lord has promised to those who love him. That's a marvelous promise from the pages of scripture.

And it is a very important assurance, guarantee. That temptation will come. And you're blessed when you endure it. And you will receive a crown of life and so forth.

And so that truth leads to another question. First, we said, God does not tempt us to sin. So why ask him not to do what he has promised he would never do?

And then this truth. God says that we are to rejoice when temptation comes. It's guaranteed. We're to rejoice at it. So then the question is, why ask God to do or to keep us.

To keep us from something that he has promised we will all experience. And actually has said we must rejoice over. All right, so is there some contradiction here in this particular part of the prayer?

What is the answer? What is Jesus teaching us in this last petition, last part of this very famous guide for prayer?

And the answer is, we must interpret the first part of this petition by keeping it connected to, attached to the second part.

That is, we understand the phrase, do not lead us into temptation. We understand that. And we understand the meaning of that, the truth of that, by keeping it connected to the phrase, deliver us from evil.

Well, Matthew 6.13, if you don't have that in your version of the Bible. We keep those two connected, very important. And so you see, evil is the subject here.

Sin is the subject here. And hence, the reality of that calls for this particular praying, this type of praying.

And so here's the idea. Our prayer is that God would not allow us to be so enticed, so drawn into temptation that it literally overcomes us, overwhelms us.

That's what this prayer is all about. And so, listen, this prayer is an open, honest admission to self and to God that Satan is too strong for us.

Do you know that? Left to ourselves, Satan is too strong for us. And not only that, but it is an open, honest admission that temptation to sin, the temptation to sin, is too alluring for us.

That left to ourselves. We could not stand up to it and resist it. And it's also an admission that our flesh is too weak.

Too weak. But it is also an honest, open admission to our praying that God will rescue us if we call upon him daily.

So the prayer really implies a very important promise, a key promise for us.

Jesus is teaching us to rely upon him in our prayers. Prayer, then, is about relying upon God. And so this verse is all about trusting God in the greatest challenges that we face in life.

Not the challenge to put food on our tables. We don't really have that challenge, most of us. Probably all of us in this God-blessed country of ours. And it's also not the challenge to put clothes on our backs.

Most of us have closet fulls. Full of clothes. And it's also not the challenge to seek forgiveness for sin. These are some of the preceding petitions as a part of this prayer.

The greatest challenge we face is not to seek and have and to enjoy God's forgiveness for our sin. It's also not even the challenge to forgive those who have sinned against us.

Now, these are challenges. Surely they are. But these do not represent the greatest challenge that we face in life. The greatest challenge we face in life.

The greatest battles that you and I will ever find ourselves engaged in every single day are the battles against the temptations of the flesh.

And added to that and part of that, the attacks of the devil. That's our greatest challenge. And so, prayer is about relying upon God for victory.

Since these things are given, that these things are going to happen, that every day we are engaged in these kinds of battles and challenges, since that is the reality of our lives in this flesh and on this planet for now until Jesus comes, since that's the reality, then prayer is about relying upon God for victory every single day.

Now, having said that, that's all kind of preparatory. Let's consider three aspects of this petition. And do not lead us into temptation.

Here's the petition. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. First thing we need to see here is the reality of evil.

Do we have any question about that in this world in which we live? The reality of evil? And though sometimes I think we don't really fully embrace the reality of evil, all around us in our world.

Looking at this second phrase, the second part of this last petition, the word, a word-for-word translation right out of the Greek text would be, but deliver us from the evil.

That's how it would be translated, literally. King James comes pretty close to that. Deliver us from evil. But a literal translation would be, deliver us from the evil.

That's how it would be translated. There's a definite article, the, just before the word evil. The evil. The evil. Now, evil is an adjective.

And so the noun is missing. And that happens quite a lot in the Greek text. That's how the Greeks spoke and wrote. And so you, you then add the noun.

All right. So how would it go here? We could translate it the evil thing if we just want to be very vague and general. And that would be a perfectly good translation.

Deliver us from the evil thing. And that is, of course, a reference to sin. Wickedness. Any sin, any wickedness, deliver us from the evil thing.

Or, as is the case with the New King James Version and some other translations, we could translate it the evil one. Deliver us from the evil one.

And that being a clear reference to Satan. To Satan. All right. Now, I personally think that both are valid. Both are true here. And that's why Jesus, I believe, is, in a sense, leaving this kind of open-ended.

And so we're to pray, deliver us from evil. From every and all kinds of evil. From sin.

From Satan. Kind of two broad categories. Deliver us from evil. From sin. Sin, rather. And from Satan. All right. So you see, evil is such a huge reality in our world.

And if we can fully embrace that and understand that, it explains a whole lot about what's going on in our world. Not only here in our own world and in our own country, but what's going on in Ukraine and other places in the world explains a whole lot.

There is this huge reality in our world that's called evil. And so we're taught to pray for the deliverance from all kinds and every kind of evil.

All right. Now, it's critical that we pray with our spiritual eyes open. See? I wonder if we do that. Or do we have a tendency to want to keep a blind eye to some of the kind of overtly, blatantly evil things around us?

We just don't want to face that. We want to admit that. We want to recognize that. We want to see good in things and so forth. But it's important in prayer that we keep our spiritual eyes open. See?

Because the powers of darkness are all around us every single day. There is evil all around us in this world with its allurements and with its snares that we must be careful about.

With its subtle temptations that we deal with every single day. With its diabolical deceptions. And so forth. And there is evil in our own hearts as well.

The heart is desperately wicked. So, in our flesh, in our hearts, there's evil.

The reality of evil. Surely, surely you know that. Surely you see that every single day. And so we're to pray with our spiritual eyes open. It's kind of like driving a car.

You don't drive a car with your eyes closed. At least I hope you don't. I'm convinced that some do. And likewise, you don't drive your car with your eyes fixed on any one object.

Like your cell phone reading a text. Or, God forbid, sending a text. No, you would never do that. I'm convinced a lot of people do that. Or any other being fixed on any one object, no matter what it might be.

You don't drive that way because there are potential hazards all around us. And there are dangers all around us. And we need to keep our eyes alert in the front and in behind us and on each side of us.

And that's how you drive a car. And to drive it safely and effectively. And even more so is that true for our lives spiritually. We need to keep our spiritual eyes open so there is the reality of evil.

Don't minimize that. Don't soften that. Don't disregard that. And this prayer then presupposes that we understand that. That there is the reality of evil.

Second, we need to consider the reach of evil. The reach of evil. And, you know, the Bible is very clear on this when it speaks about evil, right?

Satan is evil. Clearly taught in Scripture. Sin as a general principle, a general reality, that's evil. Certainly sin is evil. The world is evil.

I'm not saying everything in the world is evil. But the world system, the world thought, the world philosophy is evil. The flesh, of course, we get close to home.

Very close to us. Our own flesh. Our corrupt nature is evil. And guess what? Satan uses every one of these to try and to lead us off track.

Try to ultimately to destroy us. Let me give you a quick heads up on Satan's methods to disrupt your life. And not only that, but to destroy your life.

Just kind of list several things here. And I think this really belongs in first place, number one. Because perhaps Satan's favorite approach is to deceive you and to allure you into some long-term struggle with one particular category of sin or type of sin.

That's one of his favorite methods. And again, it's usually one certain sin that your flesh is particularly inclined toward.

You have a propensity toward this particular kind of sin. Like fear. Fear. I tell you, fear. The sin of fear. It's gripped a lot of people.

A lot of God's people. Or how about pride? Of course, we all deal with pride. All of us have a problem with pride. Not a day goes by you don't sin the sin of pride.

I'm talking specifically about a kind of an area of self-reliance. That's very strong in your life. And it's an ongoing pattern of sin. Of self-reliance.

Not just self-reliance in the sense that you are just, you know, an American. You know, and I pull myself up by my own bootstraps. And that kind of thing. Independent.

Free thinker. I'm talking about in your relationship to life, to God, and to life. That you are self-reliant. That is a pattern, an ongoing pattern of sin that Satan would love to allure you into.

And has been very effective to allure a lot of God's people into. How about sexual immorality? You thought I was going to mention that one first. Maybe it does leave the list.

I don't know. In terms of the number of God's people who struggle with that area in their life. Or how about sins of the tongue? Maybe that ought to be number one on the list.

You don't need to categorize these. You need to put them in order of their prominence. But all of these exist. These are things that Satan would like to lure you into some kind of long-term addiction to.

Or problem and struggle with. The sins of the tongue. Lying. Gossip. Evil speaking. And so forth. Or how about substance abuse? Believers can struggle with that.

Whether it be alcohol. Alcohol. Drugs. Tobacco. Other things. Or how about materialism? That's a really broad category.

And I'm convinced that most Christian Americans. Or American Christians. Whichever order you want to put that in.

Struggle with materialism. We're brought up with it. We're immersed in it. We can't hardly help ourselves. I'm talking about the love of money. And the love of worldly possessions. And so forth.

That could go on and on with the list. But just understand that Satan would like nothing better. Than to keep you kind of captive as it were. To some sinful behavior.

Some kind of ongoing struggle. To keep you defeated. That's what he would like. He can't possess you. And can't have you damned. But he can keep you in a place of defeat.

By some ongoing moral failure. Second. Satan will work to get you to commit some public sin.

And that's kind of his ultimate goal. Because then he can damage a lot more than just you. So he wants to lead you to commit some sin that will become public.

And that will dishonor the name of God. And bring, of course, shame upon you. Your family. Your church. Third.

Third. And this is another favorite method of Satan. I'm talking about the reach of wickedness. Of evil. Satan will work to make you feel comfortable with your sin.

You know what I'm talking about? Kind of almost accepted. You know, to get you to rationalize that your sin is really not all that bad, relatively speaking.

Understand what I'm talking about? I mean, when you compare your sin with the sins of others. I mean, man, God couldn't be angry with me. Just look what everybody else is doing.

And so we just kind of get comfortable with it. Or to get you to thinking that is almost justifiable. In a sense that it's explainable.

I mean, seeing that we're all just simply sinful people. You know, we can't help ourselves. And so we just kind of settle into an acceptance of the fact that we're going to sin and be sinners and so forth.

Almost justifying ourselves. That's one of Satan's ploys in our life. That's the reach of evil into the life of the believer. Number four.

When God the Father chastens you for your sin. And he will if you belong to him. If he doesn't and never has, then you don't belong to him.

That's scriptural. And so when he chastens you, Satan attempts to plant in your heart a seed of resentment. Even anger toward God.

You know, to complain against God. To be angry with him. To become almost bitter toward God. This is one of Satan's...

See, we need to keep our spiritual eyes open. This is one of Satan's ploys. One of his methods. The reach of evil into your life. And a fifth method. Satan will try and lead you into despair.

And discouragement over your sin. Maybe there's some ongoing struggle you have with sin. And you keep failing and failing. And you become more and more discouraged.

And despairing. And because of overt guilt upon your life, your mind, your heart. Which doesn't come from God, by the way.

It comes from Satan. He's the accuser of the brethren. And so you're despairing. Discouraging. And it's a kind of remorse, so to speak.

And yet it's not one that drives you to God. Rather, it's one that drives you to further, deeper levels of despair.

And, strangely enough, higher levels of sin. Disobedience. Disobedience. Keeps you captive to your struggle with sin.

So the reach of evil, you see. In your life. Hence the... How important this part of our prayer life is. Because if it is allowed, it will reach deep into your heart and devastate your life.

And not only your life, but ultimately those all around you. But now, for a born-again believer, it does not have to be this way. And we have that assurance from this particular petition in prayer.

See, don't forget that according to Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13, we have been delivered from the power of darkness. Every believer has. Delivered from the power of darkness.

Satan no longer has any lawful authority over your life. Or my life, if you're a born-again believer, belonged to God. He didn't have any authority over you.

And though he wields a pretty impressive and awesome and oppressive power, he certainly does against us, he has no effective power or authority to rule over our lives.

Don't ever forget that. And so if he does for you, then, and you are a born-again believer, it is because you granted him that power. You granted him that power when you did not and do not daily rely upon God in prayer.

Now, I should quickly add at this point that it is certainly true that God permits Satan to work in this world to harass us.

God allows Satan, not absolute autonomy, certainly, or freedom, but he allows him to tempt us.

It is true that God allows Satan to operate in this world to stir up our enemies to persecute us. God allows all of these things.

But, and here's the lesson, Satan's success depends upon your failure. Your failure to rely upon God every day.

The reality of evil. The reach of evil. One other important truth. The rescue from evil.

The rescue from evil. This prayer, this petition, is all about rescue. To be rescued. The petition, but deliver us from evil or the evil one.

And again, is a plea that God would rescue us from the evil in this world. The evil things. Sin. The evil one. Satan.

There's more to it than just a simple rescue from sin. This prayer, first of all, is for divine sight.

Divine illumination. Because you and I need to be enabled to detect Satan's methods. I've listed several of those.

Satan's approaches. Satan's tools. There are many, many others. And we need to be enabled by God's power. His divine power in us as we rely upon it.

Enabled to see it. To detect it. We must be alert to Satan's devices. And his desires. 2 Corinthians 11, 2.

Excuse me. 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 11. Reminds us. And this is what Paul said. He says, we are not ignorant of his devices. Satan's devices.

You say, well, that's easy for Paul to say. And Paul certainly was referring primarily to himself. He was not ignorant of Satan's devices. But he did say we.

And so if we are going to be like Paul, then we must pray for divine illumination. Divine sight. When it comes to Satan's devices. Because Satan is far too crafty.

Too subtle for human wisdom. Don't think you can recognize Satan on your own. He will trick you every single time. So this prayer is about getting divine illumination.

So that we can detect Satan's ways and his desires. And sin's allurements and traps. And Satan's ambushing us.

Flanking us as it were. We need divine sight. That's what this prayer is about. Second, this prayer is for divine determination.

Not enough just to be able to see him. And see wickedness. And see temptation. We need to be determined against it. That is to resist Satan's attacks.

Satan is far too strong for human resistance. You can't go it alone. That's what a lot of God's people do. We're so self-reliant.

In fact, we're kind of taught that way. And our culture fosters that kind of thinking. That we've just got to get in there and, you know, and just muscle this thing out.

That we're supposed to be spiritual enough. Strong enough to stand against Satan. To stand against temptation. But you can't do that. You need divine enablement.

And you need divine determination to resist his attacks. Third, we need to pray. This prayer is about praying for divine grace.

Grace. Grace to mortify the flesh. What's that mean? Well, dear people, your flesh is corrupt. Sorry if that offends you.

But that's what the Bible says. That unredeemed part of us. That fallen part of us. The flesh. Is evil. It's polluted hopelessly with sin.

That'll never be remedied fully until the resurrection. But for now, it's corrupt. And we face it every day. It raises its ugly head.

Day by day and throughout the day. We know this is true. It's polluted by wickedness. And so, then, it's in almost seemingly insatiable hunger for sin.

It must be denied. It must be denied. It must be mortified. John Owen wrote a great deal about this.

Puritan John Owen. And he said this. Salvation from the love of sin must always be preceded by the destruction of its dominion in our heart.

All right. So, how do we do that? Well, mortify your lusts. That's how. You say, Pastor, I'm not just real clear on that.

What's this mortify? Well, it means to put it to death. That's what we must do. We must mortify the lusts. Whatever it may be for you.

Because it's not the same for all of us. We have a certain propensity toward some areas. A certain kind of craving that is towards sin and the gratification of that lustful desire.

Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5. Mortify. And this is by way of command, by the way. Paul says, mortify, therefore, what is earthly in you. That is, put to death what is in you that belongs to your fallen nature.

You're going to put it to death. And then he names some of them. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. And we could name many, many others.

So, mortify the flesh. That's what you need to do. What we all need to do every day. Mortify the flesh. That is your fleshly, sinful cravings. And how do we do that?

Well, it's really pretty simple. Don't feed it. Don't feed it.

Just don't feed it. Don't feed your flesh. Don't give it what it wants. Don't place yourself in an environment or in a situation where elements from outside will feed the cravings of your flesh.

Sinful cravings of your flesh. Whether it's the internet or TV or Hollywood movies or, you know, or certain people that always leads to certain kind of conversations.

Or whatever it may be. Depending on whatever your craving, the craving of your flesh is. Just don't feed it. Don't put yourself in that environment. You see, here's the principle.

A starved lust will die. A starved lust will die.

Paul said in Romans 13 and verse 14, Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Its desires, its cravings.

So whatever it is. Just remove that from the equation. Or remove you from it. Let me tell you something else you can do to mortify the flesh. Steadfastly resist the devil.

That's taught in Scripture. 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 8 and 9. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him.

That's what Peter said. Resist him. Stand against him. Steadfast in the faith. Not steadfast in your own understanding and own strength. But steadfast in the faith.

Knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. So we're all part of one big problem. We understand that. And don't forget the promise from James.

James chapter 4 verse 7. Therefore submit to God. Submit to him. Resist the devil. Resist him. Stiff arm him. And he will flee from you.

That's an incredible promise. You ought to try it. It will work. Let me give you another word of advice concerning the mortification of the flesh. Stop loving the world and the things of this world.

This is perhaps the hardest thing for us. Listen to 1 John chapter 2 verses 15 to 17. Do not love the world. It's just very clear. Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, all that's in the world, is not of the Father but is of the world.

And the world is passing away. And the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. Incredible passage of Scripture. Stop loving the world and the things of this world.

And, you know, we're talking about this prayer then being a prayer of rescue from evil. First, we pray, we must pray for divine illumination.

Second, we must pray for divine determination. Then we must pray for divine grace to mortify the lusts of our flesh. And then fourth, we must pray for repentance.

Repentance. Repentance. Repentance when we do sin. And we will. We must pray for repentance. It's so important.

Because, listen, sin that's not dealt with in this way. And allowed to go unrepentant of. Unconfessed, unrepentant of.

And just continues to fester. Unrepentant of sin has a tendency to deaden our spiritual senses when it comes to what we think about sin.

How we think about it. How we feel about sin. We become kind of desensitized to it. Unrepentant of sin will do that.

Unrepentant of sin eventually begins to harden the heart. Deaden the heart toward God. Toward his word.

Toward spiritual things. Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 12. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin will harden your heart.

Let me just name a few others. Fifth, this prayer. This is a prayer for the removal of guilt from our conscience. We've failed. And we have sinned. And maybe it's the same sin we've been struggling with.

And we keep failing. And we begin to be overcome with guilt. And this kind of prayer will remove the guilt from our conscience. Six, this is a prayer that we would be so rescued from this evil that our souls then would be refreshed and restored again to sweet communion with God.

We've been away from him so long. He's not gone anywhere, but we have. And there's nothing like the sweet restoration of communion with God.

And then finally, this is a prayer that God would be glorified even in our failures. That's not an excuse to fail. See, I can just bring greater glory to God.

No. But this prayer does recognize that God would be glorified even in our failures. That he would work them out for his glory.

And maybe more of a more personal nature that he would work them out for our ongoing good. Very important.

See, victory can be yours when it comes to the battle with temptation. God intends for that to be your experience. Not that we ever reach a place where we no longer have to deal with this.

That victory is just now established and it's ongoing and perpetual peace from that time on. That will never happen in this life, in these bodies. But victory after victory, battles that are victorious.

That's what God intends for his people. So in closing, let me ask you something. Do you need help with this? Do you need help with the battle against temptation?

If you're alive here this morning, you do. Every single one of us do. And the help that you need is right here in this simple prayer.

And so we could pray it this way. Heavenly Father, Do not allow my path this day to lead me to a place where sin ambushes me, overwhelms me, overcomes me, defeats me.

This is our prayer. God, don't allow this to happen to me this day. Rescue me, dear Father, from the evil one and the evil things that would seek to destroy my life and lives of those around me.