O holy and merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg You in the Holy Spirit, for the sake of Your Son, to powerfully work in me and put to death the old man. I need this every day so that I can be made strong in You according to the inner man. Sin dwells in my flesh [Rom. 7:17]. Give to me the strength of the Spirit, so I will not allow it to rule me [Rom. 6:12]. You set my hidden sins in the light of Your countenance [Psa. 90:8]. I ask that You place them in the light in my heart, so that I may recognize them and regret them, and humbly seek their forgiveness. I am not yet completely free from the indwelling of sin. Please be gracious, I ask, and grant me freedom from the guilt and condemnation of sin. The law of sin in my members is warring against the law of my renewed mind [Rom. 7:23]. Give me the grace of Your Spirit so that I may take captive the law of sin, and not be captive to the old law of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh [Gal. 5:17]. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak [Mat. 26:41]. Give to my spirit, therefore, great power and strength, so that it may overcome the depraved lusts which battle in my flesh. That whoring Delilah attacks me every day with her flatteries [Jud. 16:6]. Strengthen my inner man by Your Spirit [Eph. 3:16] so that she cannot break his powers. Oh how incredibly difficult and hard it is to fight against one’s self! When I fight the flesh I am fighting myself! How difficult and arduous it is to remove an enemy from one’s own home!
Unless You clothe me with heavenly strength in this war, I am afraid that I will certainly be defeated because of the hidden plots of the enemy. Strike down, burn, cut, and kill the old man, so that I can flee from his flattering fraud and seduction. Grant that daily I die unto myself, so the allurements of the flesh will not draw me away from the true life which is in Christ. Inflame the fire of the Spirit in my heart, so that I may offer to You as a sacrifice the beloved son of my soul, depraved lusts and my own will. Flesh and blood cannot receive the inheritance of the kingdom of God [1 Cor. 15:50]. May they die in me, so I will not be excluded from the kingdom of heaven! Those who live according to the flesh will die; those who by the Spirit kill the deeds of the flesh will live [Rom. 8:13]. Those who belong to Christ crucify the flesh with its desires [Gal. 5:24]. Pierce and crucify my flesh, O Christ pierced and crucified on the altar of the cross for me! Amen.
On the festival of Epiphany you heard that it was so called on account of the manifestation of Christ, which occurred that the new-born Babe might not be unknown, but revealed; for if we had not heard of His birth, it would have been of no avail. Hence it is that during these days we preach also upon other Gospel lessons which refer to the manifestation of Christ. Thus we use the one relating to Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan by John, and also the one which speaks of His first miracle, performed at the marriage at Cana, where He manifested Himself as Lord over all. These manifestations took place not only that Jesus should be known among men, but also that He might be acknowledged and praised as One who is more than human, born to have dominion over everything; and also that we should recognize Him as our Savior, upon whom we can depend in every distress and anxiety, and from whom we can obtain our help.
(The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.56-57)
