"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
And God leadeth us, not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.

God delivers us from that "suggestion of the serpent" that there is either something God is not giving us, that He is giving us what we don't want - or even that there is some other "god" ruling our lives called sin, disease, death.

But what about when maybe we're believing that God is holding out on something we not only want, but really need?

Or maybe that we don't need God, or that there's no such thing as God?

Or that we can find the goodness we need on our own? In fact, that we are completely on our own, wandering, naked, vulnerable, needing to be as sneaky as a snake to survive, fending for ourselves in a confusing sometimes-good/sometimes- evil world?

Or maybe that essentially, we can even find something even better than God?

But no matter how far we roam in our thoughts about God, God never abandons us. He speaks to us continuously. His voice is heard when we shut up! or when we cry out! But we can also learn to hear His voice in every intuition of goodness that we feel, every effort to love, every selfless act.

These are points of awakening. If we notice them, listen to their meaning, pay attention to them, begin to embody them, these intuitions of Good wake us up to what is actually real and valuable. We begin to see that "things" are less important than thoughts - than what is in our heart of hearts. And when we come face to face with what is in our heart, we might feel some very strong feelings, sometimes with a flood of tears. But these intutions of Good always work in our favor. They serve to wake us up. If listened to and acted on, they deliver us from the "forbidden fruit" sin, disease, and yes, even death.

That's because God wants you to live! God, Divine Love wants you to wake up! and see yourself the way He sees you: as His image and likeness! not the image and likeness of your human history! God wants you to feel His love for you so strongly that it will overflow your life and spill out to every one you meet.

There is, in fact, nothing "better" than God. In actual reality, there isn't anything other than God and His reflection, Christ and the universe. There is no "other" called sin, disease, death. These are the dark shadows of mortal thought which evaporate in the presence of the Divine Thought: that there is only ONE God and He has made you in His likeness - Good!

And God supplies all your need with everything that is spiritually real and permanent as well as humanly necessary. You are already complete in Him right here, right now. The Truth of spiritual being, the Truth of your status as His image and likeness, and the complete understanding of the fullness of the Christ, are already our actual reality.

And in the beauty of this spiritual wholeness, healthiness, holiness, we discover something wonderful:

"Truth is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth destroys only what is untrue."

And "God leadeth us not into temptation [to believe that wily lie] but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death"!

Why?

Because, in absolute reality: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."

Amen!