April 27, 2023 -- Galatians 5:1, 16-17 -- Fighting the Enemy Within

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

For freedom Christ has set us free;
stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Galatians 5:1, 16-17 ESV

In my work with Redemption Prison Ministry, I have the privilege of reading and correcting the correspondence course work of an inmate. In preparation for this work I have been reading along with my student, Kris Lundgaard's work "The Enemy Within". The most recent reading made a huge impact on me. Today's devotion is at the first a quotation from this book and then an accompanying prayer from Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions.

     The flesh has chosen quite an enemy; it is ‘enmity against God.”
     Sometimes we think of the flesh as our enemy; but it only hates
     us because God is in us; 'The flesh wars against the Spirit' in
     us (Galatians 5:17).
     Which is easier: to sit with a bucket of butter-soaked popcorn
     and watch Tom Cruise on the big screen for two hours or kneel
     down and pray for five minutes?...The flesh can curl up by your
     side and watch mindless movies all night long. But let even the
     barest thought of meditation flutter into your mind and the flesh
     goes to Red Alter. Before you get past 'Our Father,' your eyes,
     which were glued to the screen, now sag in sleepiness and
     your attention, which was so fixed on the plot, now zips around
     the universe faster than the Starship Enterprise.
     "The Enemy Within" Kris Lundgaard, page 46


O FATHER,
Thou hast made man for the glory of thyself,
and when not an instrument of that glory,
he is a thing of nought;
No sin is greater than the sin of unbelief,
for if union with Christ is the greatest good,
unbelief is the greatest sin, as being cross to thy command;
I see that whatever my sin is,
yet no sin is like disunion from Christ by unbelief.
Lord, keep me from committing
the greatest sin in departing from him,
for I can never in this life perfectly obey and cleave to Christ.
When thou takest away my outward blessings,
it is for sin,
in not acknowledging that all that I have is of thee,
in not serving thee through what I have,
in making myself secure and hardened.
Lawful blessings are the secret idols, and do most hurt;
the greatest injury is in the having,
the greatest good in the taking away.
In love divest me of blessings that I may glorify thee the more;
remove the fuel of my sin, and may I prize the gain of a little holiness
as overbalancing all my losses.
The more I love thee with a truly gracious love
the more I desire to love thee,
and the more miserable I am at my want of love;
The more I hunger and thirst after thee,
the more I faint and fail in finding thee,
The more my heart is broken for sin,
the more I pray it may be far more broken.
My great evil is that I do not remember the sins of my youth,
nay, the sins of one day I forget the next.
Keep me from all things that turn to unbelief
or lack of felt union with Christ.
Valley of Vision "Union with Christ"

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