Reference: This verse echoes Luke 21:36: “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” The first phrase is obviously similar, and the general contexts of the admonition are the same. Believers must be continually diligent to keep on the path and avoid the snares of temptation. Located at this point, this verse reprises the earlier teaching in the same way that the allusion to building on sand referenced the Sermon at the Temple. Here the reference is to the Lord’s Prayer: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (3 Ne. 13:12).
As discussed in the commentary accompanying that verse, “evil” may have meant the evil one, or Satan, tempting us as he did Jesus. This admonition therefore reprises that part of the Lord’s Prayer, emphasizing the evil one’s temptations. The direct reference to “the devil” suggests that it should also be read into the earlier text.