september 06, 2026
“The debts and trespasses that get their start in our innate propensity to sin, the sins that we ask forgiveness for in the fifth petition, are much more easily discerned and dealt with than the temptations and evil that get their start in our desire and capacity for good, and for which we pray for deliverance in the sixth petition.”
– Eugene Peterson
“What is the sixth petition?”
“‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ That is: since we are so weak in ourselves that we cannot stand even for a moment. Besides, our sworn enemies – the devil, the world, and our own flesh – never stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong by the power of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory.”
– Heidelberg Catechism Q&A #127
“All during these sins, typhoons, illnesses, mishaps, snake bites, crib deaths, famines and gas-station robberies—God hasn’t taken his hand off the wheel for thirty seconds. His plans are being accomplished despite, yes even through, these tragedies. They are tragedies. He considers them so. He loathes the wickedness and misery and destruction itself—but he determined to steer what he hates, to accomplish what he loves.”
– Joni Eareckson Tada & Steve Estes
Now Lord don’t move my mountain
But give me the strength to climb
And Lord, don’t take away my stumbling blocks
But lead me all around
– Doris Akers & Mahalia Jackson
