PRAY READ MEDITATE ACT PRAY Home			Ephesians v 22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. I’m sure you have all spent nights where you are unable to get to sleep. You go to bed early hoping for a refreshing night of peaceful bliss and quite unexpectedly you find yourself staring at the light fitting for several hours. More than a little disconcerting and come the morning when the alarm blasts in your ear at some inhumanly early hour, quite annoying. (I’m typing this at 4am) We’ve all been there, and for most of the time there seems to be no real reason. Perhaps too much coffee before bedtime or residue stress from the working day. Whatever the reason it does not make things any better the following morning. I find the most annoying thing the frustration of trying to sleep. No matter how much you tell yourself to sleep, that is the last thing your body is intent on doing. It becomes a strange battle of wills between your mind and your body. Like some kind of inner tug of war. The result of course is always a stalemate and neither the mind or the body ultimately gets its way and both are feeling rough the next morning. This is a good analogy of the way our new and old selves battle it out on a daily basis. As Christians we are made anew, we are to stop our bad, sinful habits and replace them in our with new holy pursuits. Sounds great doesn’t it...however, I wish it were as easy as it sounds. Personally it is an ongoing war with some battles being won and some being lost. It all sounds very messy and very unproductive really. But do not worry, God understands. God knows we are not perfect, God knows that we cannot achieve spiritual perfection through our own efforts. The inner war continues to rage but I have found over a period of time, with God’s help, I win more battles than I lose. I can look back over my spiritual life and see how I have grown, I don’t say this as a boast but as an encouragement that we all continue to grow spiritually despite ourselves and most importantly because of the endless grace of God.