The prayer of Jesus has been prayed in every generation from its first utterance. We have all felt the longing and necessity within the tightly packed yet simple words. Perhaps none more deeply felt than Jesus’ final words to repeat:
but deliver us from evil and the evil one (Matthew 6:13)
While it is true that experience of the blessedness of life with God in life with others is not something we have to wait for, it is, as we’ve attested, also an experience of opposition. Not just the “troubles” of daily living, but a life that is opposed by a force/forces that often feel too much for us to overcome. This need of deliverance is “a cry from the heart in every age,” says Bailey. A prayer which our Father has answered over and over and over again, most finally through the Son.
So, we end our prayers from “the prayer” joining the saints in every generation that has been and will be until there is no longer need for such longing.
Deliver us from evil and the evil one.
In Jesus name we pray and live.
Amen.