Beware Your Enemies

by Katie Townsend

My worst enemy called to pay a visit today,
It said, "I’m here to teach you, to show you the way".
And my heart, which is deceitful above all else,
Believed it, that is, my enemy called Self.

My Self said: It’s okay to skip my reading today.
And: It’s okay to not pray before I begin my day.
And there my deceived heart lay.
So I did not read, and I did not pray.

And for this, I soon began to pay.

I soon lost touch with Truth and reality,
I began compromising all morality.
And so things continued like this for a while,
I kept adding more and more mistakes to the pile.

Till one day I saw my bible on my bed,
And I thought, "it’s been a week since I’ve read!"
I began to read, and this is what it said:

"But God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world."

Then before my eyes, the banner of Truth unfurled!
I am alive to Christ, dead to the world!

I then rejected what Self had said to be the way,
And I kneeled, and began to pray.
I prayed for forgiveness and purity,
I prayed for meekness and humility.

And now I know, when Self knocks on the door of my heart,
I will firmly say "you and I have no part!"
Then I will go to my Savior and say,
"Blessed was that glorious day
That you saved me from myself,
For you are my Guide and Light above all else!"

(verse used is Galatians 6:14)
© K. L. Townsend-August 2006