Field Report #041

 

Good morning!

I once made a brief devotional order called "Pocketknife". Here it is:

+ I am baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37b, 39)

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. (Romans 7:15, 18)

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:9-12)

I am baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4) 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

+ I am baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The idea was to repeat this set of passages and words throughout the day, and thereby keep my heart and mind steadfast on the Word of God and his commands.

It was a good and well-founded idea in theory, but ineffective in practice. I had almost no interest in pulling out this paper and reading through the various passage snippets after just a day or two of trying.

But now I've found something that actually works for me: taking a single Psalm that I need to hear and pray, and using it as my "hidden blade" against the devil throughout the day. I won't get too deep into it yet because I am so early in using this method, but I hope to write about it more fully after it has really run the gauntlet of a few weeks' use. But with 6 days down and counting, it has been stunningly effective.

My Hidden Blade is Psalm 143.