responding to temptation

February 23, 2026February 14, 2026 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

The Temptation by J. Kirk Richards, 1999 via Pinterest

You, Lord Jesus, knew great power,
to heal, to transform,
to proclaim the reign of God.
So you met with great temptations.
The wrong way, glittering and possible, was open;
you could rule if you chose,
in majesty and wonder,
more victorious than Alexander,
more imperial than Caesar.
But you said No,
simply, decisively, for ever, for us.

We pray for the Church, tempted like its Head.
When the Church seeks political power,
Jesus, stay with us.
When the Church longs to become wealthy,
Jesus, speak to us.
When the Church strives to impress with splendor,
Jesus, give us simplicity.
When the Church wanders from the way of sacrifice,
Jesus, hold us.
When the Church listens to the call for cheap grace,
Jesus, keep us always in your way.

Holy Spirit of God, enable us to respond to temptation
with the strength of your Word within us,
so that we may hold firm to our calling
and take your better way in faithfulness.

Bernard Thorogood, 1927-2020, English minister United Reformed Church
The Complete Book of Christian Prayer

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Matthew 4:8-10

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain

and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written:

‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’

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Question:

In what ways do you see your Church being tempted to compromise?

I need to be led by you

February 22, 2026February 14, 2026 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

The Temptation in the Wilderness, Briton Rivière, via Wikimedia Commons

Teach me to go to this country
beyond words and beyond names.
Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier,
here where these woods are.
I need to be led by you.
I need my heart to be moved by you.
I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer.
I need my will to be made strong by you.
I need the world to be saved and changed by you.
I need you for all those
who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow.
I need you for all the crazy people.
I need your healing hand to work always in my life.
I need you to make me, as you made your Son,
a healer, a comforter, a savior.
I need you to name the dead.
I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers.
I need you for myself whether I live or die.
It is necessary. Amen.

Thomas Merton, 1915 – 1968, American Catholic writer and Trappist monk
A Book of Hours

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Matthew 4:1-2

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil.
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
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Question:

In which relationships do you need God to lead you?

Sin’s True Colors

February 12, 2026 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image source

Lord God,

when the devil presents the bait,

show us the hook.

When the devil presents the golden cup

show the poison hidden inside.

When the devil presents the sweet pleasure of sin,

show us the misery that will follow.

When the devil presents the profit of yielding to sin,

show us the wrath that comes from committing it.

When Satan promises the soul honor and profit,

give us eyes to see the shame and loss he delivers.

Strengthen our resolve

that we keep at the greatest possible distance from sin,

and not play with the golden bait held out by Satan.

May we tremble at sin, and keep our distance from it.

Give us eyes to see that sin is a bitter sweet

whose sweetness quickly vanishes,

replaced by lasting shame, sorrow, horror and terror.

May we fear to lose

that divine favor that is better than life,

that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory,

that peace that passes understanding,

those divine influences by which our souls

are refreshed, raised and gladdened.

Help us to see when Satan paints sin with virtue’s colors:

when pride is called neatness and cleanliness,

when covetousness is called good stewardship,

when drunkenness is called good company,

when a lack of self-control is called liberality,

and when wild living is called youthful tricks.

Help us to see through the deceits of sin.

Help us to see sin as one day we will see it:

when what once appeared sweet will appear most bitter,

what once appeared beautiful will appear most ugly,

what once appeared delightful will appear most dreadful.

Gracious Father, may we reckon the true price of our sin:

that it cost the best blood, the noblest blood,

the life-blood, the heart-blood of our Lord Jesus.

Thomas Brooks, 1608–1680, English Puritan preacher and author

Into His Presence Praying with the Puritans

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James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

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Prayer professing faith

May 9, 2025May 8, 2025 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

painting by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1881 via Wikimedia Commons

God, Creator, you planned from the beginning –

telling evil that the woman’s offspring would crush it.

You called to Abraham from his land on the margins to follow you.

He and three more generations relied on you to live in a strange land.

Later, you led the descendants of Israel out of Egypt, out of bondage.

You led your people with judges like Deborah,

with kings like David whose family included migrants,

and with prophets like Daniel who lived as minorities in strange lands.

In all these ways you remind us to focus our hope on your salvation

rather than in an earth-bound culture.

And when it seemed that you were absent, you sent your Only Son.

Transgressing our sense of power, your Son was born as the baby of a virgin.

Tempted in the ways we still are – riches, fame, and glory –

he chose a life of humble service, service to others even while he was betrayed.

He drank the full cup of suffering.

In his humiliation he was deprived of justice and tortured.

Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make people holy through his own blood.

When he died, he crossed the border of hell.

Three days later God raised him from the grave, exchanging death for life.

He appeared to Mary, Mary Magdelen, Salome, and Joanna;

he walked with Celopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus

to those on the margins.

Then he appeared to Peter and the twelve,

Christ, raised from the dead, presents us with salvation.

complied by Claudio Carvalhaes, professor of worship in New York City

Liturgies from Below: Praying with People at the Ends of the World

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Luke 24:45-47

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them,

“This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations,

beginning at Jerusalem.”

things I know that I should not wish for

April 11, 2025 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image by loswl via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Father, I know that I should not wish for my neighbor’s (nicer) house,

or my neighbor’s (more beautiful/ handsome) spouse.

I must not think to myself that I should have anything belonging to someone else –

not ever the smallest thing. Not even their dog.

In the other nine commandments you have forbidden

all injuries and evil practices against my neighbors.

Now you charge me to beware of thinking any evil thoughts against them.

And for this reason I have great reason to praise you.

You care about my home and everything I own, even my dog,

and you command everyone else never to wish they had all my things,

instead of me.

The apostle said we should be

“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

It is true, and I find it true.

In this way you care for us, and so you would have us care for one another.

But gracious Lord, I must confess that I have forgotten

and have broken this commandment, and I still do every day.

I am wishing and coveting every minute of every hour.

I could have been content,

but I have always thought my neighbor had too much, and I too little.

And the dregs of these things, Lord, are not quite out of my heart.

I deserve your severe justice.

But keep in mind the frailty of my flesh,

the corruptions of my nature, and the many temptations.

Remember how I am able to do nothing of myself –

and how I would come to nothing if left to myself.

Be merciful and pardon me in this way also, for the sake of your son.

Amen.

John Bradford, 1510-1555, English reformer and martyr

Grace from Heaven Prayers from the Reformation, sightly modified

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Exodus 20:17

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;

you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,

or his male servant, or his female servant,

or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

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Give me a steadfast heart

August 31, 2023August 30, 2023 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Antelope Canyon by Omer Salom on Unsplash

Give me, O Lord, a steadfast heart,

which no unworthy affection may drag downwards;

give me an unconquered heart,

which no tribulation can wear out;

give me an upright heart,

which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside.

Bestow on me also, O Lord my God,

understanding to know Thee,

diligence to seek Thee,
wisdom to find Thee,

and a faithfulness that may finally embrace Thee.

Amen.

Thomas Aquinas, 1225 – 1274, Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian

source

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James 1:12

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,

for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life,

which God has promised to those who love him.

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Why have You forsaken me?

April 6, 2023 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Study for Crucifixion (1947) by Graham Sutherland, CC BY-NC 2.0

Lord,

you were not only tempted for forty days down by the Jordan

but constantly all through your ministry.

Not to obvious blatant sins

but to the subtler deflections from the Father’s will;

to cunning compromise which would defeat the Father’s purpose.

As when the presence of the seeking Greeks

suggested the possibility of a wider mission

in which you might have been listened to and welcomed,

without the necessity of the cross.

As when in the Garden of Olives across the valley,

you wrestled with the doubt that death could be the Father’s will.

Or when, in the presence of Pilate

you might have pleaded your case with your accusers;

or in those fiercest moments of pain,

acquiesced to the mocking cry of the crowd to

‘Come down from the cross and we will believe,’

Until one temptation remained –

the final test, the last claim of love,

the fiercest attack of evil –

more subtle and shattering than the rest,

when, cloaked in a blanket of darkness

came the whispering doubt:

What if God too has forsaken you?

And at last, the battle done, the last temptation met,

faith complete, the task finished, evil defeated,

love triumphant, you said:

‘Father into your hands I commend my spirit –

the rest lies with you, Father, dear Father.’

And then it was that by the cross with its limp body

there must surely have sounded the voice from heaven

once more:

‘This is my beloved Son.’

Son in call,

Son in obedience,

Son in love

Son in death and in triumphant life.

George Appleton, 1902 – 1993, Anglican Bishop in England and Jerusalem

A Procession of Prayers

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Luke 23:44-46

It was now about noon,

and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,

for the sun stopped shining.

And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

Jesus called out with a loud voice,

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Continue reading →

bring healing in thy wings

December 13, 2021December 12, 2021 / Eric Mathews / 1 Comment

_{image by Sharon Tate Soberon / flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0}

Lord Jesus Christ,

Thou Son of the Most High, Prince of Peace,

be born into our world.

Wherever there is war in this world,

wherever there is pain,

wherever there is loneliness,

wherever there is no hope,

come, thou long-expected one,

with healing in thy wings.

Holy Child,

whom the shepherds and the kings and the dumb beasts adored,

be born again.

Wherever there is boredom,

wherever there is fear of failure,

wherever there is temptation too strong to resist,

wherever there is bitterness of heart,

come, though blessed one,

with healing in thy wings.

Frederick Buechner, 1926 – , American writer and theologian

A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People

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Isaiah 42:5-7

Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,

to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Continue reading →