Четверг
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“Do not let your eyes sleep and your eyelids slumber; escape like a chamois from the hand and like a bird from the hand of a fowler” (Prov. 6:4-5).
Anyone who has now decided in his heart, before the face of the Lord, to live according to His commandments, should take this rule as a guide. And he should not give sleep to his eyes - not these external, but the inner eyes of the mind, so that they look intently into the heart and correctly notice everything that happens there, and thereby enable the zealot to find out the enemy’s machinations and avoid danger from them. The heart has now become a field of struggle against the enemy. There he continually sows his thoughts, which are reflected in thoughts, which, however, are not always grossly bad, but are mostly covered up by imaginary kindness and rightness. The chain of all thoughts is like an intricately woven network! Anyone who follows them without attention will not escape entanglement, and, consequently, the danger of falling. That is why, brother, keep the eye of your mind sharp, through strict attention to everything that happens in you and around you. Notice what your persistent adviser offers you from the outside and understand why it is offered to you, where it will lead, and you will never fall into its snare.
Just don’t forget that attention alone is not powerful; but when he stands in fellowship with sobriety, vigilance and unceasing prayer to the Lord. Combine all this and you will be elusive.
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