'Voices From The Past' Vol. 1 — February 25

To constantly fight against sin is a big part of mortification. We need to recognize the enemy we are dealing with and that he is to be destroyed by all means possible. The battle is a hazardous one that deals with issues of eternity. When a man sees his lust as a trivial thing, it is an indication that he is not mortified. We cannot go forward unless we recognize the danger of our own hearts. We need to be intimately acquainted with the ways, wiles, methods, advantages, and occasions in which lust has the victory. This is the way that men deal with their enemies. They search out their plans, ponder their goals, and consider how and by what means they have prevailed in the past. Then, they can be defeated. This is a most important strategy. If you do not utilize this great strategy, your warfare is very primitive. We need to know how sin uses occasions, opportunities, and temptations to gain advantage. Search its pleas, pretences, reasonings, strategies, colours, and excuses. We need to trace this serpent in all of its windings, and to recognize its most secret tricks: 'This is your usual way and course; I know what you aim at.’ Even when one thinks that a lust is dead because it is quiet, we must labour to give it new wounds and new blows every day. The soul in this condition has the upper hand. Sin is under the sword and is dying. Frequent success against any lust strengthens us. When the heart recognizes at any time sin and temptation at work, seducing and forming sinful imaginations to get you to fulfil its lusts, the heart must immediately see it for what it is, bring it to the law of God and love of Christ, condemn it, and follow it to execute it to the uttermost. These weapons will lead to a great degree of success.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Devotional Readings 'Voices From The Past Vol.1.'
John Owen, Works, VI:30-32
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