the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
John Gossner's Treasury
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 1 John 2:15-16. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Matthew 26:41.
"Are ye still asleep? " said the Savior to His disciples when He came back from His first prayer on the Mount of Olives and found them heavy with sleep, against which He had warned them so emphatically. He foresaw the danger and knew their weakness; therefore He admonished them to watch and pray. But they all slept away from prayer and watching and fell most shamefully. Are you still asleep, O child of man, notwithstanding that you have three arch-enemies in you and around you? In you you have the world; but in the world there are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are three mighty enemies, which it is impossible for you to overcome, if you do not seek reinforcement from above, and if you are not always on your guard. He who does not watch, who is slothful in the practice of his Christianity, gives weapons in the hands of these enemies, delivers to his adversary provisions and reinforcements so that he can maintain his fortress and become invincible. You have the enemy, the thief, in the house, and yet you sleep quietly as if there were no danger at hand. How much easier you make for him the victory and the pillage! It is easy for us to fall: we are born as fallen beings. We bring with us from our parents the inclination to fall; we cannot learn to stand fast and pursue a steady aim without grace and the daily renewing of the inner man, which must be wrought from above by the Holy Spirit. He who does not each day pray God for this Spirit of power, and who does not watch in this Spirit, lies asleep in the bosom of the enemy. What a terrible awakening, when at last he is awakened by the fall into the bottomless pit!
Let us watch, then pray with heed,
God will prove our Hearer;
For the hour of utmost need
Constantly draws nearer.
Saints will cheer.
Sinners fear,
When the trumpet calleth.
Earth in ruins falleth.
