Forgiveness and Deliverance

Comments on Dr. N.T. Wright's The Lord & His Prayer:
The shallowness of our initial conceptions of the two phrases "Forgive us our sins" and "Deliver us from evil" is amazing. Forgiveness of sins and deliverance from evil are whittled down to request for “by-gones” of our daily failures and inconsistencies. Never in our wildest dreams do we see them as words of power. We imagine a poor, helpless know nothing, stumbling and staggering before a rather impatient father, and weakly requesting forgiveness and deliverance. Never have we considered that this image is backwards, that the inverse is true. When faced with sins and/or evil, we are to walk boldly as the children of God up to the devil, stare him and hell square in the eye, and declare with triumph the forgiveness of sins and the deliverance of evil. These two phrases are more than petitions; they are declarations.
The forgiveness of sin and deliverance from evil is only possible if the world is being renewed and evil has been overthrown. Forgiveness and deliverance are mere pipedreams if sin and evil still have a stranglehold over the world. To petition for forgiveness and deliverance is at the same time to declare that now the Kingdom of God has come, and that “now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” (John 12:31b) Our cries of mercy are paradoxically cries of victory: “Through the triumph of the Cross of Christ, Father, we pray for the forgiveness of our sins, and for the deliverance from evil.”
“Jellyfish” Christendom is caused when we act like we are living in defeat. “Oh, sin and evil still vex me. I suppose I must ask for forgiveness.” Goodness, we are the people of the Kingdom of God! People of the great triumph! We are the people who are to claim and live the truth that forgiveness and deliverance are no longer hopes—they are actualities.