Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
At Lighthouse, this line of the Lord’s Prayer carries weight.
It’s prayed by those who know temptation well.
Not as a distant concept, but as a daily reality — a shadow that follows us down the street, a whisper in the quiet, a craving in our bones.
Temptation wears many faces.
The pull of the bottle.
The dealer’s number saved in the phone.
The urge to disappear into a screen or a bed
to numb the ache of loneliness.
The impulse to lash out — to hurt because we are hurting.
Lead us not into temptation we pray, because we know how easy it is to fall. The path to destruction is well-trodden, and some of us could walk it blindfolded.
But this prayer does not just ask for strength to resist. It asks to be led. To be shepherded away from the cliff edge. To have our feet set on a different path — the narrow road that leads to life.
And we remind ourselves —
Today, right now, I’m in a safe space.
Away from the chaos.
For this hour, in this place, I am in recovery.
At church. With the Lighthouse brothers and sisters.
With Jesus at the centre.
We pray — not only for the courage to say no,
but for the grace to say yes —
yes to healing,
yes to hope,
yes to the quiet work of transformation
that makes relapse less likely,
that rewires the heart’s desires,
that offers something better than the next hit or high.
Deliver us from evil we pray,
because temptation is not just an inner struggle.
It’s not just about willpower.
Evil lurks outside too.
In the dealers who prey on vulnerability.
In the abusive partners who keep us in fear.
In the powers and systems that profit from addiction,
that push the poor to the edge,
that turn trauma into business.
At Lighthouse, we know this evil first-hand.
Some of us have been trafficked.
Some of us have been beaten.
Some of us have been offered a fix
instead of a future.
Deliver us from evil is not a polite request —
it’s a desperate cry.
A cry for justice.
A cry for freedom.
A cry for God to step in and break the chains,
both within us and around us.
And yet, even in this,
the kingdom breaks in.
For there is One who was led into the wilderness,
One who was tempted in every way,
One who stood where we fall,
One who faced evil and overcame.
Jesus, the tempted and tested One,
stands with us as we pray.
He knows what it is to hunger and ache,
to long for an easier road.
And He knows what it is to resist —
to cling to the Father’s hand
when all else trembles.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
This is a prayer for Lighthouse.
A prayer for every relapse survivor,
every addict in recovery,
every soul still caught in the web,
every heart weary of fighting alone.
Lead us — because we can’t lead ourselves.
Deliver us — because the enemy is too strong.
Save us — because only grace can.
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A Prayer from Lighthouse
Faithful God,
who walks beside us in the wilderness
and leads us by hand through the dark,
keep us from the paths that lead to harm.
When temptation knocks,
give us the courage to say no —
but more than that,
give us the grace to say yes to you.
To the life you offer.
To the healing you bring.
To the kingdom that comes among the broken.
Deliver us from evil —
from the evil within,
from the evil that hunts us down,
from the evil that hides in systems and streets.
And as we gather at Lighthouse,
remind us —
that today, right now,
we are in a safe place,
a holy place,
a place where mercy reigns.
With Jesus at the centre,
with brothers and sisters beside us,
with hope that you are making all things new.
Amen.
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