A blessed New Year to you and your family. It’s been a hard couple of years for all of us. With a sure and certain hope, we commend 2022, and all that we love, into the hands of the Triune God. Come what may, we do belong to Jesus.
fighting the “unholy trinity” in 2022
Over the past couple of years, have you ever felt like you or your family have been ambushed, attacked or assaulted by the “unholy trinity” (the devil, the corrupt world and your own sinful flesh)? Are they pushing you around and winning the day? Do you feel ill equipped to fight back?
Here’s some good news!
We have a God who fights FOR us, is always WITH us and has promised to live IN and work THROUGH us. In Jesus, nothing can separate us from the love of the Father. We win and are more than conquerors! (Romans 8)
Martin Luther said it this way …
The devil may be the master of 1000 arts but God and His Word are master of 100,000 more.
(paraphrase of Martin Luther, Large Catechism, Introduction, paragraph 12)
As we begin this new year, I’d like to draw on 30 years of pastoral ministry experience and share with you how the Triune God has taught His Church (and me) to …
- defend ourselves with the promises and work of Jesus
- fight with the “sword of the Spirit” (the Scriptures)
- rest and receive all of the gifts that only He can give
a Mr. Miyagi approach
In the 1984 movie The Karate Kid, a teen named Daniel is bullied by a group of well trained karate students from the local Cobra Kai dojo. Daniel is outmatched and outnumbered until Mr. Miyagi, the elderly and unassuming Japanese janitor of Daniel’s apartment building, comes to his rescue and begins to teach him the “Miyagi method” of karate.
Mr. Miyagi’s karate system is strange, slow and unconventional. It consists of Daniel waxing cars, sanding floors and painting fences. At the end of each day, Mr. Miyagi inspects Daniel’s work and says, “come back tomorrow”.
When Daniel is about to quit, thinking that he has just been taken for days of free labor, Mr. Miyagi shows him the underlying purpose of the chores and the repetitive motions.
Daniel realizes that all along, Mr. Miyagi has been teaching and he has been learning karate.
Video clips from The Karate Kid (1984):
The Receptive Life
a spiritual “wax on, wax off” method
The Receptive Life is a “wax on, wax off” approach to fighting the “unholy trinity”. It focuses on the “basics” and emphasizes a daily return to, and repetition of, the Christ centered and historic spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith.
This new digital series will teach you how to defend and fight against the devil, the corrupt world and your own sinful flesh. It will also teach you how to rest and receive all of the gifts that only the Triune God can give.
If you would like to learn the “wax on, wax off” method of The Receptive Life, you can start by using the process below.
You can also sign up for The Receptive Life email vlog. In the coming weeks I’ll give you the context behind the content. Each week the Holy Spirit will help us “teach the devil to death”. It will be my way of saying, “come back tomorrow”.
The Receptive Life Daily Practice
Station 1: Make the Sign of the Cross and Say the Trinitarian Invocation
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Station 2: Pray the Morning and/or Evening Prayer
Luther’s Morning Prayer
I thank Thee, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, that Thou hast kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray Thee to keep me this day also from sin and all evil, that all my doings and life may please Thee. For into Thy hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Thy holy angel be with me, that the Wicked Foe may have no power over me. Amen.
Luther’s Evening Prayer
I thank Thee, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, that Thou hast graciously kept me this day, and I pray Thee to forgive me all my sins, where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Thy hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Thy holy angel be with me, that the Wicked Foe may have no power over me. Amen.
(Luther’s Evening and Morning Prayers are taken from The Book of Concord, Triglotta, Small Catechism)
Station 3: Confession
As you prepare to examine your life, say …
Ps. 119:1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the Lord’s law. (WEB-BE)
Ps. 119:133 Establish my footsteps in your word. Don’t let any iniquity have dominion over me. (WEB-BE)
Ps. 119:176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I don’t forget your commandments. (WEB-BE)
Examine your life according to the 10 Commandments.
You shall have no other gods.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
And then say one or all of the following …
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”
AND/OR
1 John 1:8-10: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (WEB-BE)
AND/OR
“O almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto Thee all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended Thee and justly deserved Thy temporal and eternal punishment.
But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray Thee of Thy boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.” (The General Confession from The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941)
After making confession, comfort yourselves with the forgiveness of sins that comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
- remember your Baptism,
- make use of the Office of the Keys
- attend the Lord’s Supper in the Divine Service on the Lord’s Day
Station 4: The Reading and Study of Scripture
As you prepare to read the Scriptures say …
Ps. 119:8: Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law. (WEB-BE)
Ps. 119:97 How I love your law! It is my meditation all day. (WEB-BE)
Ps. 119:25 My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word! (WEB-BE)
And then read or study the Scriptures …
(a method or plan of your choosing)
- Read through the Bible in a year
- Read through the Psalms in a month
- Read a book of the Bible
- Treasury of Daily Prayer
Station 5: Proclaiming the Lord’s Love in the Morning and His Faithfulness at Night (the Practice of “Commending”)
Psalm 92:1-2: It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, Most High, to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night (WEB-BE)
Station 6: Say (Sing) the Doxology and the Aaronic Blessing
the “Doxology”
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
(Thomas Ken, 1674)
the Aaronic Blessing
“The Lord bless you, and keep you.
The Lord make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up his face towards you, and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26 (WEB-BE)
Here are the daily practices in PDF format:
You can sign up for the Receptive Life email vlog in the button below.
All of the gifts that only the Triune God can give to you and your family,
Paul