I am nothing but that thou makest me.
I have nothing but that I receive from thee.
I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.
Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with living water.[1]
Galatians 5:16-21 NRSV
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Psalm 95:8-11 ESV
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore, I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”
John Cassian
An inward war is being waged every day with us. The desires of the flesh and of the spirit are within one and the same person. The lust of the flesh rushes headlong into vice, delights in the worldly enjoyments that seem to satisfy.[2]
Eternal Father,
Unmask to me sin’s deformity, that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it. My faculties have been a weapon of revolt against thee; as a rebel I have misused my strength and served the foul adversary of thy kingdom.
Give me grace to bewail my insensate folly.
Work in me more profound and abiding repentance; give me the fullness of a godly grief that trembles and fears, yet ever trusts and loves, which is ever powerful, and ever confident.
Grant that through the tears of repentance I may see more clearly the brightness and glories of the saving cross.
Amen.[3]
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
[1] “The Deeps” (The Valley of Vision, Banner of Truth Trust, 2002, p. 75)
[2] Ancient Christian Devotional Year C (InterVarsity Press, 2009, p. 160)
[3] “Yet I Sin,” (2002, The Valley of Vision, Banner of Truth Trust, p. 79)
