Powerful Prayer: Victory Over Temptation

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. This is week number five in our

series entitled Powerful. Everybody say powerful.

You can be better now. Say powerful. Powerful

prayer. Powerful prayer. What we're talking about

here is there's a difference between prayer that

is powerful, prayer that has impact, Prayer that

sees results. And a prayer that is powerless.

Unanswered prayer. No results, right? There's

a difference. And as believers, we should seek

to understand what powerful prayer is all about.

And that's what we've been talking about. How

do we see results when we pray? And we looked

at prayer is not talking at God. Even though

a lot of Christians misunderstand and that's

kind of how we treat it. Like, you know, we're

talking at him like I'm talking at you this morning.

It's fellowship with him. It's a conversation,

two -way conversation with a holy God. Amen.

It's not just talking at him. He wants to talk

with you. He wants to spend time with you. To

all those who would turn to him to give him attention,

right? He turns to us. He comes, draws near to

us, right? If we draw near to him. And if we're

communicating with God, I know it's hot in here,

so you got to stay with me. If we're communicating

with God, what should be happening? With a real,

living, holy God? If we're talking with him?

We should expect to hear him. It's as simple.

But for some reason, we just act like prayer

is just, I spout off my grocery list of needs

and I ask you to bless my day and say, all right,

God, bless it. That's good. Amen. And we leave.

When prayer is supposed to be continual communication,

right? But yet we treat it as some kind of limited

time of dedication. That we give him. So we should

expect to hear him. We should expect to be empowered

by him. We should expect that when we are in

prayer, when we're in conversation with him,

we should expect to be challenged a little bit.

Right? Not condemned, right? But be challenged

a little bit. because in those times it helps

us to come up higher when we're challenged. He

calls us to a higher place, right? Also, when

we come to him just as we would a friend, an

earthly friend, when we're with Jesus, we should

expect to be encouraged. When we're talking with

the Father, we should expect encouragement when

we come to him. That's why we cast our cares

onto him, right? And why? Because I'm substituting

my care. I'm substituting those things for the

fulfilling of himself, of the peace of God, of

the joy of God. I cast those things away so he

fills me with his presence. And in his presence,

what? There is freedom. There is victory. There

is liberty. Amen? And when I'm communicating

with him, I should expect to get answers. I should

expect to get direction. And every time we pray

with God, we should leave changed. Every time,

not just sometimes. Because if you're talking

with a holy God who knows everything about anything,

you should leave changed from that experience.

Amen? This is not hard. This is not hard. So

if our prayers are not being answered, we've

looked at different things, what prayer is and

what prayer is not. But if our prayers are not

being answered, it's not God's fault. It's not

God's fault. As we looked at last week, and Dad

shared the verse, the effectual fervent prayer

of a righteous man, what? Avails much. It accomplishes

much. So if our prayers are not being answered,

it's not God's fault. It's either our hearts.

Everybody say hearts. Say methods. Our content

of our prayers, get this, are originating in

us instead of in him. And church, therein lies

the reality. Therein lies the truth of all this

and the key to unlocking powerful prayer. is

in him. Every prayer that originates in him,

by him, through him, will be empowered by him.

Every prayer that starts with him will be finished

by him. Get a hold of that. Every prayer that

he leads you to pray, guess what? That's his

plan. That's his will to be accomplished in the

earth. So when we put our words in agreement

with it, right? That's our act of faith moving

towards it. God empowers that. And it brings

heavenly things to pass in the earth. Come on,

we've been here for four weeks. Don't just take

this the first time. We've been hashing this

out. A lot of you are looking at me like a cow

looking at a new fence. It's like, I understand,

but we're on a journey here. I would love for

you to go back and listen. I mean, today's message

does stand alone in a sense, but it's available

to everybody. You can just go on to podcasts,

YouTube, watch those past messages, because we

are building a foundation. That's why we do these

series is for you to hear, to hear, to hear,

and it builds up inside of you, right, so that

you can take a hold of it. Because how many of

you know you can watch a movie one time and then

you watch it the second time and you're like,

oh, I didn't see that. I didn't fully understand.

And then you watch it a third time. It has to

be a really good movie to watch it a third time.

But all of a sudden you're like, oh, yeah, that's

pretty good. I missed that part. Same way. with

God's word and with what happens on Sunday morning

and teaching. And we've been looking at specifically

over the past four weeks, the Lord's prayer as

our model, as our guide, our pattern for powerful

prayer, right? The disciples came to Jesus and

they said, teach us how to pray. Just like John

the Baptist taught us, teach us how to pray,

Jesus. Because they recognized something different

in him and how he was praying. When he would

go away, the Bible says often he would go away

in the early hours of the day. And he would climb

on top of mountaintops sometimes and go be alone

from his disciples and the crowd. And he would

fellowship with the Father. And each time that

happened, he would come back and something would

be different. You could say he had like a twinkle

in his eye. right? There was something on him

that wasn't there before. He was walking in direction.

He was walking in empowerment. He was walking

in spiritual things in the earth and he would

have direction. He'd be like, I know what we're

going to do today, guys. He's like, I know what

we're going to do. This is what's happening.

Where did he get that? Because he was fully man.

He's fully man. And he was showing us as an example

of how we rely on the spirit. and on God the

Father, right? As an example for us. And so I

don't have time to recap every message for the

past four weeks, so we'll quickly touch on that

at the end. But we're going to start in, because

we're at the last verse, verse 13 of the Lord's

Prayer, but I want us to read it, okay? So...

As we're reading scriptures today, everything's

out of the New Living Translation on the screen,

unless otherwise noted. But we're starting Matthew

6, 9 through 13 says, Pray like this. Our Father

in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your

kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth

as it is in heaven. the food we need and forgive

us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin

against us. And don't let us yield. This is where

we're at today. And don't let us yield to temptation,

but rescue us from the evil one. Now, maybe you've

memorized this in a different translation. but

sometimes it's good to hear all the different

ones. But don't let us yield to temptation, but

rescue us from the evil one. Now, you know that

the Bible, especially the New Testament, is written

in Greek, right? It's not written in English,

despite common belief, right? It's not written

in English. It was originally written in Greek.

And so if we look at those direct Greek to English

words, the equivalents of those, it reads this.

and not lead us into temptation, but deliver

us from evil. If it has an and at the beginning,

we're literally reading a progression of events,

right? It's like, give us today the food we need,

right? Forgive us as we forgive those around,

you know, and not lead us into temptation, but

deliver us from evil. But I'm going to say something,

but don't get mad at me. This is not, listen,

this is not Jesus teaching us that we have to

ask God to not be led into temptation. It's not

what's happening here. Contrary to popular belief,

contrary to how you've prayed this prayer before,

we're not asking God, we're not, you know, he's

not teaching us that, oh, don't, God, you know,

You know, that tempts me, and so lead me, you

know, around that. Don't even let me experience

that temptation. And then if we're tempted, it's

not meaning that we need to beg for deliverance.

You know, beg for deliverance from evil when

we face those situations. Because what is temptation?

The Bible is very clear on this in James. It

gives us a really good definition. Let's read

James 1, 13 through 15. It says this, And remember,

when you are being tempted, do not say, God is

tempting me. Don't say. Do not say. This is a

command. Do not say, God is tempting me. God

is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts

anyone else. temptation, verse 14, get this,

where does temptation come from? Temptation comes

from our own desires, which entice us, drag us

away. These desires give birth to sinful actions.

And when sin is allowed to grow, everybody say

when, it is allowed. When it's allowed to grow,

it gives birth to death. Amen. So temptation

comes from our own desires. But this lets us

know, this passage, is that God's not the one

who tempts us. He does not tempt us. No matter

what someone has said, no matter what you've

ever heard, I'm going to burst your bubble, God

is not tempting you to make you better. He's

not tempting you. Because temptation, guess what?

It originates in us, in our desires. And our

desires. Hebrews 4 .15, New King James Version

says this, For we do not have a high priest who

cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. Aren't

you glad Jesus is able to know what you're going

through? For we do not have a high priest who

cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. This is

talking about Jesus, right? Specifically referring

to him when he was fully man, that's right. He

can sympathize with our weakness, but was in

all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Wow, that's encouraging, right? He was in every

point tempted as we are, yet without sin. And

who is Jesus? He's our living example of how

he wanted his followers in him to experience

day -to -day life. Since Jesus was tempted in

all, as we are, without sin, you know what this

means? And it proves this, contrary to popular

belief, that it is not a sin to be tempted. Let

me say that again for the people in the back.

It's not a sin to be tempted. Now the devil loves

to make you think otherwise. When that image,

when that thought comes to your head, Especially

for a believer, it's like that thought comes

to your mind and you're like, man, I can't believe

I thought that. Can't believe that's even in

my mind. Maybe something happened. Maybe you

gave in to that temptation and then the devil's

right there to be like, well, remember, you're

no good, rotten, dirty worm, you know. Self,

lowly self, going to eat a can of dirt, right?

He's there to tell you. He's like, you know,

you're nothing. You're no good because you're

even having this thought. Well, guess what? Jesus

was tempted in all points, in all ways as we

were, yet he did not sin. Amen. You think if

Jesus experienced those things and those, do

you think, you know, we're not supposed to somehow?

As a man on earth, do you not think that he was

tempted? The Bible says he was. But yet he was

without sin. 1 Corinthians 10, 13 says this,

the temptations in your life are no different

from what others experience. And God, is faithful.

Amen? God is faithful. He will not allow the

temptation to be more than you can stand. I've

heard this verse misquoted out of context so

much. Like, God gives his strongest battles,

you know, his toughest battles to his strongest

soldiers. That's not true. Does temptation come

from God? Why are we quiet? We just read it.

Come on now. Somebody's got to be with me. Where

does temptation come from? Point to yourself.

Our desires, our flesh, our mind, will, emotions,

desires. He will not allow the temptation, listen,

to be more than you can stand. Because when you

are tempted, he will show you a way out. Why?

So you can endure. It's not some temptations

that he shows you a way out of. It's all temptations.

There's a way of escape. And you've been given

through his word, even here, if you just take

a hold of it, through his word, this word, in

fact, gives us the authority and power to stand

over our temptation, the thing that trips you

up the most. His word gives us the power and

the authority to take hold of his promise, that

there is a way out. No matter how often the enemy

tries to convince you that you are alone, that

your circumstance is special, There is a way

out for every believer in Christ. Amen? There

is a path He will empower you to endure. It's

a promise in His Word. Whether you feel it or

not, you will feel it if you stand in faith on

His Word. You'll see a way out when you are tempted.

Why? Because He'll show you something. Not with

your eyes, but with the eyes of your spirit,

he will show you a way out. He will tell you

with the still small witness on the inside. All

of a sudden you'll know, you'll see the goodness

and faithfulness of God. You'll see the weight.

Of what he went through on the cross for us.

And believe it in such a way that you'll walk

in it. He will show you a way out so that you

can endure. Your temptation is not too big. Everybody

say it's not too big. And it's not special. What

you face and what you have faced in this life

is like, and what struggles you deal with is

not something special to you that no one's had

to deal with. There's no special instance that

God did not see, that God did not know, that

he's not already provided a way of escape from

and a path to endure, ability to endure out of.

Amen. It's not special. God has given you power

over temptation. Listen, greater than its power

over you. You need to write that one down. God

has given me power over temptation greater than

its power over me. If you've been coming to our

life groups, we've been in Romans. And I believe

this kind of sums it up. I want to skip ahead.

When means that everyone is tempted. There's

always a way out. God reveals it to you. But

in Romans 6, listen, get this. We know. Look

to your neighbor and say, I know. I know. This

is so important. Don't miss it. You got to know

this. We can't afford to be ignorant Christians

anymore. We got to know this. This has to be

settled in you today. If it wasn't settled before

you came in here, it needs to be settled in you

today. For we know that our old sinful selves.

were crucified with Christ so that sin might

lose its power in our lives. For we are no longer

slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ,

when we died with him, we were set free from

the power of sin. Hallelujah. Glory. Set free

from its grip, from its sting, from its impact.

Do you know it? Come on, it can't just be head

knowledge. Can't be head knowledge. This is what

God reveals to you at salvation. It's the ability

to know him, to know what he did on the cross,

and to know what that accomplished for you and

all those who would be in him. Amen. We're free

from the power of sin. That means when temptation

comes, you quote this verse, you say, guess what?

I am set free from the power of sin. You no longer

control me. You no longer have your grip on me.

Come on. Woo. Set free. I'm set free. Jesus never

gave in to sin. Proving that in him, we don't

got to give in to it. We don't have to give in

to sin. We don't have to. Come on now. Y 'all

be getting quiet. Jesus never gave in. I don't

have to give in to sin. Back to our verse. This

word deliver here and not lead us in temptation,

but deliver us from evil. Get this. Deliver us

from evil. That word deliver means, I'm not even

going to try to pronounce it. That's just not

right. It means to rescue, deliver, save. It's

from the word to draw to oneself. It's amazing

these words, you know, in our English language,

they don't carry the same picture, right? Kind

of dulls it down a little bit. But the Greek

here is giving us a picture of to draw to oneself

properly, to pull to oneself, to rescue, to snatch

up. How many of you were ever snatched up as

a child? You know what I'm saying? You were like

running out in the street, right? All of a sudden,

it was just like, boom. You're like, I can fly.

No, no, daddy's got me, you know? Oh, golly.

I'm not going to share that story. No, I'm not

doing that. Yeah, we're thinking it. It's okay.

To snatch up. He saw you running towards danger,

right? And God delivers you out. He snatches

you up. Rescues you to and for the deliverer.

Amen? It's not just deliverance in general. It's

deliverance for us. It's deliverance for me from

evil. Amen? So powerful prayer, get this, powerful

prayer then confidently recognizes, it knows,

remember, that God is not our tempter. Say, God

is not my tempter. But it declares, listen, it

declares that he is our deliverer. Amen? It's

not just words that Jesus didn't say, pray like

this to just give us some, you know, repetitive

thing that we should be praying, you know, or

to accomplish. No, it's recognizing that he didn't

tempt you. And you're saying, you're my deliverer.

In any type of trouble, you're my way out. You're

my escape. You're the one who pulls me out and

sets my feet upon the rock. Amen. Powerful prayer

then, listen, it proclaims our victory over temptation

and deliverance from evil in Christ. Amen. As

we wrap up this series, I want us to realize

a few things. When you look at the Lord's Prayer

as a whole, we've been talking about each individual,

you know, line or phrase, and we'll recap that

some. But think about this. The Lord's Prayer

takes place before the cross. He's praying this

before that event. Okay? He's praying this before

the event, yet, He says these phrases like, us,

give us our daily bread, right? And we, it's

in nine times, if we look. And those words, when

you look at the original Greek language, those

words are there. They're not just added for readability.

They're actually words, like in this phrase,

and not lead us into temptation, but deliver

us from evil. This word here, I looked at the

topical lexicon, it says this, it binds the speaker

and the hearer. And then when it's talking about

the Lord's prayer specifically, it's saying it

binds them into a shared identity before God.

That's good right there. You have a shared identity

with him. And he's praying now, not from just

his head about what, you know. No, he's praying

something that will be. He's praying something

that's coming. He's praying by the power of the

Holy Spirit indwelling him, saying, Look, pray

us, pray we, pray our. He's interceding before

the Father on our behalf. Should have had that

verse there. My apologies. Look it up when you

get home. Homework. Interceding on our behalf

before the Father. Seeing in his mind. An identity

of himself that includes you and all those who

would say yes to what's about to happen. Amen.

It's spirit led. It's initiated prayer about

the deliverance that is coming. Come on. He knew

what his mission was on earth. He knew what was

going to be accomplished. Yeah. He did, and now

he's praying from it, praying from this place

of his position, right, with us, his shared identity

with us to the Father. He's making statements

about himself and all those who would be united

with him. It's a key element to prayer. It doesn't

just originate in you. and the external. Powerful

prayer originates and begins in the spirit, in

the heart, in the inward witness. It's God speaking

to you. You knowing his voice and praying those

things out. That's what gives you confidence.

That's faith. It's a hope, a confident expectation.

Grounded in his word. Unshakable. So when I say

it, I know it's going to happen. That's the difference.

If you're praying because of your circumstance,

because you're scared of what's going on, does

God hear you? Yes. Is there power in fear? No.

As we've seen, prayer is not mindless, meaningless

repetition. You can teach birds to repeat words

after somebody, but it has no impact. One person

can pray the Lord's Prayer and it means something.

Another person can pray it and it has zero impact.

You might as well just be saying, watermelon,

watermelon, watermelon, watermelon, watermelon,

because it will have and accomplish the same

effect. One person can stand up and say, oh,

daddy God. That one's funny. It's like, oh, daddy

God, oh, you know, and it means nothing to them

or it could mean everything to them. Could be

something that God's revealed to them that he

is their father. And that goes beyond just our

hearing it. We're like, what? But it's like,

if you don't have a father growing up and all

of a sudden you get a hold of God being your

father, come on. It should impact your life.

It should change you. Because powerful prayer

is not mindless, meaningless repetition. It's

not super spiritual things. God is telling us

to pray like this, as a model, as a guide, as

a pattern for our prayer, right? And we're supposed

to pray things like, Our Father in heaven, may

your name be kept holy. As we saw in week one,

Powerful prayer, it doesn't begin with us. It

begins with God's name being special to you.

Because within a name carries the identity. It

carries relationship that he wants to have with

you and the activity that he does in the earth

and the activity that he does in your life. So

we pray to him. acknowledging who he is and what

he does, right? And then in week two, we talked

about, or actually that was, excuse me, that

was week two. This is week three. May your kingdom

come soon. May your will be done on earth as

it is in heaven. And we learned that powerful

prayer is declaring heavenly realities into our

temporal physical realm. Because it's as it is

in heaven, let it be in the earth. So what is

true of heaven can be true in my life. And the

gateway, the channel, is your voice to bring

a pass, his kingdom, saying, be done, come your

kingdom, come your will, because we acknowledge

that his will and his kingdom is not evident

in the earth. Right? His will's not always being

done. It requires his believers, right, to speak

the things of God, to bring them into the earth.

I can't re -preach that whole sermon. Verse 11,

give us today the food we need. We talked about

that. Powerful prayer we saw was appropriating

who we are. I like this. Appropriating who we

are and what we have in him. He is our provider,

right? Meaning that our daily spiritual and physical

needs, He's our bread, He's our sustenance. He's

not just an idea. He's not just a fulfilling

of all these. No, He's physical substance to

those who need Him. And man does not live by

bread alone, but by every word from the mouth

of God. Amen? Right? We need Him. And he promises

not only to, you know, his mercies are new every

morning and his grace. Look, he promises the

bread and he cares about the little things, amen?

The physical things of this earth. Verse 12,

and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those

who sin against us. As we saw last week, powerful

prayer declares that God is the forgiver. He's

the forgiver. And powerful prayer releases all

offense, unforgiveness, and bitterness that could

keep our prayers from being answered, right?

Because faith works in love, right? And if we

fully recognize who he is and how much he's forgiven

us, How can we grab the person who's offended

us by the throat, as we saw, right, and hold

them accountable for their little offense when

we've offended a holy God and he's forgiven us

a hundred times more? He was tempted in every

way, right? I'm sure there was some people who

offended. I'm sure he faced some trials and some

tribulations, but yeah, he turned around and

said, I forgive them for they don't know what

they're doing. If he can do that for me, if I

can get a hold of the full revelation of his

forgiveness for me, how can I turn around and

not forgive? It means that I don't know that

I've truly been forgiven. Because if I fully

knew it, I would be able to walk in it. Amen?

And today, and don't let us yield into temptation,

verse 13, but rescue us from the evil one. And

we looked at that spirit -led, powerful prayer

is spirit -led and initiated. by grace, through

faith, in God's name, declaring the provision,

the forgiveness, and the victory over temptation

and evil in Christ. That's what praying, that's

how Jesus prayed, and that's how he's encouraging

us to pray. Based upon who he is, based upon

our position, right? And speaking about what

we know, what he's revealed to us, right? So

let's pray like this. Remember, it's just like,

it's as in, so don't get mad at me, but I kind

of condense some of these things and I want to

read it to you. It's praying like this. So we

come to God and we say, come your kingdom. Be

done your will. As in heaven, let it be in the

earth. In my life, my family, my job, this church,

my business, my school. Let it be so in my health,

in my mind, in my body, in my mouth. Your grace,

oh Lord, is sufficient for me. You supply all

my spiritual and physical needs each day. You

forgive me and I freely forgive others. You are

not my tempter. You are my deliverer. In you,

with you, through you, I have victory. Over all

evil. Amen. Let's stand to our feet. You've been

sitting long enough. I want us to say this together.

Just repeat after me. Come. Be louder. Say come.

Your kingdom. Be done. Your will. As in heaven.

Let it be. In the earth. In my life. in my family,

in my job, in my church, in my business, in my

school, in my health, in my mind, in my body,

and my mouth. Your grace is sufficient for me.

You supply all my spiritual and physical needs

every day. You forgive me and I freely forgive

others. You are not my tempter. You are my deliverer.

In you, with you, through you, I have victory

over all evil. Amen. This online worship experience

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