“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21)
Deliver us from evil in the bible
If you live on this earth you can be sure of one thing: you will witness evil. We should expect it and be prepared to react. How then, should we respond to evil?
Hate Evil. Romans 12:9 tells us “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”This may seem obvious, but our culture has turned evil into entertainment. We pay money to see evil unfold on the big screen. We etch out time to sit in our own homes and watch evil prevail on television. Because of this, we often find ourselves numb to the actual presence of evil when we see it on the news or right before our very eyes. We must learn to recognize evil and hate it.
Pray against Evil. Matthew 6:13 is a great example of praying for escape. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Our pride often tricks us into thinking we can deal with evil on our own. We can’t, and if we try we will fail. We must pray to our Heavenly Father and ask for deliverance.
Expose Evil. Ephesians 5:11 says “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Our current culture is one that teaches complete tolerance. We are expected to accept and tolerate any and all behavior, even if the behavior directly violates God’s Word. While we are expected, as Christians, to respond to sin with a certain level of grace and love, evil should in no way, under any circumstance be tolerated. It should be exposed and we should take no part in it.
Speak truth over Evil. Jesus should always be our ultimate example of how to live our lives. In Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-14 we are given a wonderful example of Jesus responding to evil. In these verses, we read about Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Imagine being face to face with Satan, the author of evil. How did Jesus respond? He quoted Scripture. Jesus is showing us the utmost importance of knowing God’s Word and being able to speak truth in the face of evil!
Let God handle what is Evil. Wars are waged to fight against leaders of evil nations, and there are punishments in place to deal with evil individuals. We should be thankful for the laws of our land and the protection provided by federal and local law enforcement, but we must also remember our responsibilities as individuals.
Let’s Pray:
Father God, we praise you for your love and faithfulness towards your children. We praise you for being a perfect, holy, trustworthy God that is bigger than all the evil we experience here on earth. We ask that you give us eyes to see when evil is before us, hearts to hate evil and the desire to flee from its presence. We ask that you would not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil and draw us closer to yourself. We ask for the long-expected Jesus to come quickly and make all things new. We ask these things His precious name. Amen.
Deliver us from evil or the evil one
In the prayer the Lord Jesus taught His followers, which is commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer,” one of the important prayer points we must pray constantly is today’s topic: “Deliver Us From Evil.” In the Lord’s Prayer, after we have prayed “Lead Us Not Into Temptation,” we must pray “Deliver Us From Evil.” We live in a world of evil. If something is not good, it must be bad. If it is bad, then it is evil. It is either you are under a good authority or you are under a bad one. Unfortunately today, in spite of laws and regulations, we are witnessing the epidemics of evil. There is evil at home, there is evil on the road. Jesus, therefore, says we must pray for deliverance. May God deliver us from evil.
(A) The Origin of Evil
According to Genesis 1: 31, all that God created originally was good. God did not create Satan. He was a good cherub, who later became evil, when he rebelled against God. His main sin was pride, which goes before destruction. (Prov. 16: 18, Ezek. 28: 11-17, Isa. 14: 12-14) He wanted to be God, if not more. One third of the angelic beings followed him and they are causing the evil we see in the world today. (Rev. 12: 3-4) The evil one/Satan is the origin of evil. The major works of the evil one and his agents are to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10: 10) The evil spirits in our world today can be divided into (1) Unclean Spirits (2) Lying Spirits (3) Seducing Spirits (4) Spirit of Divination (5) Spirits that cause maladies in health, brain, business and marriages, among others. In biblical terms, the evils in the world can be categorised into two major groups namely: Moral Evil and Natural Evil. Moral evil covers the wilful acts of human beings, such as murder, rape and kidnapping, among others, while Natural evil refers to natural disasters such as famines, floods and hurricane, among others. With what I have seen in the world today, I believe there can be a third type which I prefer to call “Mornatural Evil,” which simply means the combination of moral and natural evil. These evils either have physical or spiritual effect on us and sometimes both. May God deliver us from them all.
(B) Our Prayer Against Evil – Deliver us From Evil-The original language of this passage has the article “the”-i.e. “deliver us from the evil”-the Evil One or Satan. The meaning here is, “deliver us from his power, his snares, his arts, his temptations.” Satan is supposed to be the great parent of evil, and to be delivered from him is to be safe. Or it may mean, “deliver us from the various evils and trials which beset us, the heavy and oppressive calamities into which we are continually liable to fall.” May God deliver us from evil at home, in the office, on the road, in business, at school and in the environment.
In this petition, the evil is not specified, for the catalogue will be endless. Our world is full of evil. So, we can pray deliver us from evil whether moral or natural, spiritual or physical, penal or afflictive. According to some theologians, the prayer “Deliver us from Evil” is the 7th petition in the Lord’s Prayer. What a perfect petition we all need to make. No doubt, Coronavirus that is ravaging our world is evil. But we cannot run away from the world, so we can pray for power to triumph over evil. (John 17: 15-16) For every evil, the evil one and his agents will bring our way, may the finger of God deliver us by fire in Jesus name. May God deliver us from evil present and future. May God break our chains and loosen our bonds from known and unknown, seen and unseen, familiar and strange, big and small, direct and indirect evil. May God deliver our world from evil. Amen. Shalom.
