Devotional for September 1

The Perfect Law of Liberty 

17 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 19:7-14 (KJV)

The Morning Exhortation

In the beginning, we create our habits. But by the time our habits become as automatic as our breathing, they have created us. The power of our habits comes from repetition. As you sow, so shall you reap is an elementary God established principle of this life. What you continually do will in time produce in you the consequences of those actions. Good or bad, each can only produce its kind. The compounding effect of small actions, and the rightness or wrongness of the accumulation of tiny thoughts, will in the end draw a sharp contrast between the sheep and the goats. Thorn bushes don’t grow apples, nor do bad habits produce any type of good fruit. It is only by planting good habits that we reap good fruit. We don’t need to understand all the details of what it means to be born again, but we do need to accepted it by faith as a fact as real as anything else in our life. Consider what this means. New life on the inside where it really matters, and not just visible life in the physical world that will one day return to the dust. The more you seek the things of this new life, the less you will care for the desires of the sinful nature and the contrary things of this corrupted world.

Question

How do we put on the new man?

Answer

Pay attention to what you do (Scripture). Pay attention to how you think (Scripture). Set the Holy Bible as your standard of truth and not what you think, see, feel, or want (Scripture). The old man is forever set on the broad way that leads to destruction, wherein he feels he has the right to do whatever he likes (Scripture). Choose the better way and put on the new man by faith just as you would choose to put on a coat against the cold on a stormy day (Scripture). 

The Prayer Appointed for This Week from the Book of Common Prayer

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all people, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.