Why are our prayers not answered? How often our prayers are reduced to a simple ‘God help me’? How often do we recognize the answers to this simple prayer? I suspect that if that simple prayer was not answered life for most of us would be very different. Sometimes we feel that because we don’t see obvious miracles in our lives then God is not listening and that He is not answering. A sentence from the best known prayer in the Bible is: ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’, Mt.6 :13. What is the connection between temptation and evil? It is all the same sentence so there must be one. We probably think of temptation as being tempted to have another chocolate biscuit and that the evil is something others face on the far side of the globe. Bear in mind that Satan, the author of temptation and the instigator of all evil ‘prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour’, 1Pet. 5:8. He doesn’t care how much chaos and destruction, death and suffering, misery and starvation he causes. His objective is to get people to turn away from God, deny Him, and return to a life of selfishness and rejection. In the Old Testament Job is a very good example. The death, destruction and misery caused by Satan is outlined in Job 1:1-2:8. Then in 2:9 Jobs wife says to him ‘Curse God and die’! This is the temptation that Job is faced with in the midst of his suffering. The temptation is to deny his God, reject Him and give in to Satan. None of us wants to find ourselves in this situation where we are faced with such suffering that we are tempted to deny God and give in to the evil of Satan. So we pray ‘Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. In the New Testament the Hebrews found themselves in a similar situation of suffering to such an extent that they were yielding to the temptation and turning their backs on their new found salvation and going back to the old ways of doing things. It wasn’t a case of loosing their salvation but that they were actively throwing it away, Heb. 10:29. By yielding to the temptation to go back to the old ways they ‘spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant {the blood of the Lord Jesus} and outraged the Spirit of grace’. All three members of the Godhead were totally rejected. This is Satans’ objective in the life of the believer and if we yield to him on this one there is no way back. Satan has won! We must not let him win. In James letter, James 1:2-12 trials and temptation are again linked, a bit like the joy and sorrow of Jn. 16. It is a case of ‘when’ the trials come, not ‘if’. What is our reaction when we meet trials? It should be one of joy! {Joy is delight, relief and gladness} See the study ‘Our relationship with God’. When we recognize a ‘trial’ we know that our salvation is real and that Satan is having a go at us. What do we do? We pray ‘lead me not into temptation, the temptation to question and deny God and then we look to God to deliver us from the evil that is causing us to doubt Him. Always remember that all of the trials and temptations originate from Satan and from the fact that we live in a world that is in terminal decline as a result of sin. God does not tempt us, Jas. 1: 13-15. Two things to remember about temptation: 1Cor. 10:13. God will not allow us to be tempted more than we are able to bear. God will always provide a way out! The reason He does this is so that we will be able to endure the suffering, evil and temptation and not give in to Satan. Instead He wants us to endure and eventually be delivered from the evil just as Job was. In another context we read ‘He who endures to the end will be saved’, Mt. 10:22. It was during a period of intense suffering that the Lord Jesus Himself prayed ‘My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt’. Mt. 26:39. Was Jesus tempted not to go through with Gods will? What a great victory that would have been for Satan! Isn’t it during crises that we pray the most? Then we pray very specifically. Usually we pray for generalized blessings on all concerned! Isn’t it then, during the trials, that we feel that our prayers are not being answered? Why is this? What is going on?! 1. James 4:2. Prayerlessness! We do not have because we do not ask! 2. Jas. 4:3. Selfishness. We pray selfishly. 3. Is. 59:1, 2. Un-confessed sin. Ps. 66:18, if I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me. 4. Mt. 5:23, 24 and 1Pet.3:7. Unresolved conflict. The onus is on us. Rom. 12:18. 5. Is. 58:6-9. Uncaring attitudes. Lk. 22:32 is very encouraging! The Lord, who knows the end from the beginning, is talking to Peter and telling him of Satans’ desire to have him, Peter. Jesus continues, ‘But I have prayed for you!’ Maybe we should add to our prayer ‘God help me’ the request ‘and please, Jesus, would you pray for me like you prayed for Peter?!