Unseen Warfare: How the devil delays us from doing good ( Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite )

Those, who have realised how dangerous and evil is the life they lead, the devil succeeds in keeping in his power, mainly by the
following simple but all-powerful suggestion: ‘Later, later; tomorrow, to-morrow.” And the poor sinner, deluded by the appearance
of good intention accompanying this suggestion, decides: ‘Indeed, to-morrow; to-day I shall finish what I have to do, and then, free
of all care, will put myself in the hands of Divine grace and will follow unswervingly the path of spiritual life. To-day I shall do this
and that; to-morrow I shall repent.” This is the net of the devil, my brother, with which he catches a great many, and holds the
whole world in his hands. The reason why this net catches us so easily is our negligence and blindness. Nothing but negligence and
blindness can explain why, when the whole of our salvation and all the glory of God are at stake, we fail to use immediately the most
easy and simple and yet the most effective weapon, namely: to say to ourselves, resolutely and energetically: ‘This moment! I shall
start spiritual life this moment, and not later; I shall repent now, instead of to-morrow. Now, this moment is in my hands, tomorrow
and after is in the hands of God. Even if God will grant me’ to-morrow and after, can I be sure that I shall have to-morrow
the same good thought urging me to mend my ways?’ Moreover, how senseless it is when, for example, a sure remedy is offered for
curing one’s illness, to say: ‘ Wait, let me be sick a little longer!” And a man who delays the work of salvation does exactly this.
So, if you wish to be free of the prelest of the enemy and to over come him, take up at once this trusty weapon against him and
obey immediately in actual deed the good thoughts and promptings coming from the Lord and calling you to repent. Do not allow
the slightest delay, do not permit yourself to say: ‘I have made a firm resolve to repent a little later and I shall not abandon this
intention.” No, no, do not do this. Such resolutions have always proved deceptive and many people, who relied on them, have for
many reasons remained unrepentant to the end of their lives.
(a) The first of these reasons is that our own resolutions are not based on distrust of ourselves and a firm trust in God. Therefore
we are not devoid of high opinion of ourselves, the inevitable consequence of which is always withdrawal from us of the blessed
Divine help and our consequent inevitable downfall. This is why a man, who decides in himself: ‘ To-morrow I shall abandon the
path of sin without fail ‘, always meets with the opposite effect— that is, instead of rising up he falls down worse than before, which
is followed by downfall after downfall. God sometimes allows this to happen deliberately, in order to bring the self-reliant to the
realisation of his weakness and urge him to seek Divine help, renouncing and abandoning all trust in himself, since God’s help alone
can be trusted. Do you want to know, 0 man, when your own decisions will be firm and reliable? When you abandon all trust in
yourself and when all your hopes are based on humility and a steadfast trust in God alone.
(b) The second reason is that in making such resolutions we mostly have in view the beauty and radiance of virtue, which attract our
will, however weak and impotent it may be; and so naturally the difficult side of virtue escapes our attention. To-day this side
escapes notice, because the beauty of virtue strongly attracts our will; but to-morrow, when the usual works and cares present
themselves, this attraction will not be so strong, although the intention is still remembered. When desire weakens, the will also
becomes weaker or relapses into its natural impotence, and at the same time the difficult side of virtue stands out and strikes the eye;
for the path of virtue is by its nature hard, and is hardest of all at the first step. Now let us suppose that the man, who decided
yesterday to enter upon this path, today does so; he no longer feels any support for carrying out his decision. The desire has lost its
intensity, the will has weakened, nothing but obstacles are in sight—in himself, in the habitual course of his life, in the usual
relationships with others. And so he decides: ‘I shall wait a while and gather my strength.” Thus he goes on waiting from day to day,
and it is no wonder if he waits all his life. And yet had he started work yesterday, when the inspiring desire to mend his ways came
upon him, had he done one thing or another in obedience to this desire, had be introduced into his life something in this spirit—
today his desire and will would not be so weak as to retreat in the face of obstacles. There must be obstacles, but if the man had
something to lean on in himself, he would have overcome them, be it with difficulty. Had he been occupied all day with overcoming
them, the next day he would have felt them far less; and on the third day still less. Thus going further and further he would have
become established on the right path.
(c) The third reason is that if the good of awakening from sinful sleep is not translated into practice, such awakenings do not easily
come again; and even if they do come, their effect on the will is less strong than the first time. The will is no longer as quick in
inclining towards following them and so, even if the resolve to do so is there, it is weak and lacks energy. Consequently, if a man was
able to put off till to-morrow obedience to a stronger impulse and then lost it altogether, how much more easily will he do this a
second time, and still more easily the third. And so it goes on: the more often obedience to good impulses is put off, the weaker
their effect. After a time they lose their effect altogether, come and go without leaving a trace, and finally cease to come at all.
The man surrenders himself to his downfall: his heart hardens and he begins to feel an aversion from good impulses. Thus delay
becomes a straight road to final perdition.
I shall add also that delays occur not only when an inner impulse is felt to exchange one’s bad life for a better, but also when a man
already leads a good life. For instance, when an opportunity presents itself to do good and a man puts it off till to-morrow or till
some other indefinite time. All that was said about the first form of delay applies to this second one, and it may lead to the same
consequences. Know that if someone misses a chance to do good, he not only deprives himself of the fruit of the good he might
have done, but also offends God. God sends him a man in need, and he says: ‘Go away, later!’ Although he says this to a man, it is
the same as saying it to God, Who has sent him. God will find him another benefactor; but the man who refused will have to
answer.


Taken from "Unseen Warfare" By St.Nikodemos the Hagiorite

On the many desires and tendencies existing in man and on their struggle with one another

  Know, that in this unseen warfare, two wills existing in us fight against one another: one belongs to the intelligent part of our soul and is therefore called the intelligent will, which is the higher; the other belongs to the sensory part and is therefore called the sensory will, which is the lower. The latter is more frequently called the dumb, carnal, passionate will. The higher will is always desiring nothing but good, the lower—nothing but evil. Each equally happens by itself, so that neither is a good desire in itself reckoned as good, nor an evil desire as evil. The reckoning depends upon the inclination of our own free will. Therefore, when our will inclines towards a good desire, it is reckoned in our favour; but when we incline towards an evil desire, it is reckoned against us.

  These desires follow one upon another: when a good desire comes, an evil desire immediately opposes it; and when an evil desire comes, a good desire at once rises against it.. Our will is free to follow the one and the other, and whatever desire our will inclines towards, it becomes victorious on this particular occasion. It is in this that all our unseen spiritual warfare consists. Its aim should be never to let our free will incline towards the desire of the lower, carnal and passionate will, but always to follow only the intelligent, higher will. For it is the will of God, to follow which is the basic law of our being: ‘ Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man “ says the Preacher (Ecclesiastes xii. 13). Each of these desires draws our will towards itself and wishes to subjugate it. Stifle the lower desire and incline towards the higher—and victory is yours; but disregard the higher and choose the lower, and you will find yourself vanquished.St. Paulwrites of this: “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members’ (Rom. vii. 21-53). And he gives to all the rule: ‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust. of the flesh’ (Gal. v. 16). And this cannot be accomplished without struggling with the flesh.

  A particularly great effort and laborious toil must be experienced to start with by those who, before deciding to change their worldly and carnal life to a righteous one and to give themselves up to the practices of love and sincere service of God, had enmeshed themselves in evil habits through frequent satisfaction of the desires of their carnal and passionate will. Although the demands of their intelligent will, which they wish to follow, stand on one side of their free will and arc made active by God, yet on the other side there stand the desires of the carnal and passionate will, towards which they still feel a certain sympathy. Opposing the former, these desires pull it towards their side with the same force as a beast of burden is pulled by its halter; and only the grace of God gives them strength to remain firm in the decision they have taken. .Long-drawn resistance and not yielding them victory saps, the strength of carnal desires; yet this does not end the struggle.

  So let no one dream of acquiring a true Christian disposition and Christian virtue, and of working for God as he should, if he does not want to compel himself to renounce and overcome all the passionate impulses of the will of the flesh, whether great or small, which he was formerly accustomed to satisfy, willingly and fondly. The chief reason why so few people attain to full Christian perfection is exactly their reluctance, through self-pity, to force themselves to deny themselves absolutely everything. But if, having overcome great passionate tendencies, they do not wish, thereafter, to compel themselves to overcome small ones, which seem unimportant, then, since these small tendencies are the outcome and expression of the great, by indulging in them they inevitably feed the latter, and so make them continue to live and act in the heart, in spite of the fact that they no longer manifest themselves on a large scale. And so the heart remains passionate and impure, and, above all, in no whit freed from self-indulgence and self-pity, which always make any practice to please God of doubtful value.

  For example, there are men who refrain from appropriating other people’s possessions, but are excessively attached to their own, and who, on the one hand, lay too much trust in what they have, and on the other, arc slow to bestow alms. Others do not seek honours by evil means, yet do not count them as nothing, and often even welcome them, if those honours can be made to appear to come against their will. Others again keep long fasts according to the statutes, yet do not refrain from satisfying their desire to eat their fill, and to eat well, which deprives the fast of all value. Others lead a chaste life, yet continue their connections and acquaintanceship with people they like, and enjoy it, not wishing to understand that, through this, they build a great obstacle to perfection in spiritual life and union with God.

  I shall add to this the fact that some people disregard the natural defects of their character, which, although not dependent on selfwill, nevertheless make a man guilty if, seeing how much they interfere with spiritual life, he does not trouble not only to destroy them completely, but even to try and keep them within harmless bounds, although this could be achieved with the help of God’s grace, due attention to oneself and zeal. Such defects are for example: aloofness, hot temper, and excessive sensibility, with the consequent thoughtless hastiness in words, movements and actions, harshness and querulousness, obstinacy and argumentativeness, and so on. All these natural imperfections and faults should be corrected, in some by reducing excess, in others by adding what is lacking, and by translating both one and another into corresponding good qualities. For no natural feature, no matter how savage and stubborn it is, can stand up against the will if, armed with the grace of God, it resists it with all attention and diligence.

  And so it happens that some perform good deeds, but these deeds remain imperfect, lame, mixed with the lusts, which reign in the world (John ii. 16). And so such people make no progress on tile path to salvation, but turn round and round on one spot, and often even turn back and fall again into their former sins. This shows that even from the first their love for true life in Christ was not wholehearted, that they were not sufficiently filled with the feeling of gratitude to God, Who had delivered them from the power of the devil, and not perfect in their decision to work only for Him and to please Him. As a result such people remain forever untrained in good, are blind and fail to see the danger in which they stand, thinking that their position is secure and that no harm threatens them. Owing to all this, my beloved brother in Christ, I beseech you to love the hard toil and heavy burdens which inevitably accompany our unseen warfare, if you do not wish always to be overcome. The wise Sirach counsels the same: ’Hate not laborious work’ (Ecclesiasticus vii. 15). For this is the very foundation of the whole of inner warfare. The more you love this hard toil, or this pitiless driving of yourself, the more quick and complete will be your victory over yourself and over that in yourself, which resists the higher good. And through this you will be filled with every virtue and good disposition, and God’s peace will come to dwell in you.

Unseen Spiritual Warfare ( St Nikodemos The Hagiorite )

Just as the presence of spiritual warmth in the heart is sweet, so is its absence bitter, wearisome and frightening. It has been said already that it goes when attention and heart deviate from things of the spirit and turn towards things not of the spirit. By this is not meant something sinful - since a man who has had a taste of spiritual warmth is no longer attracted to sin - but all the soul-body realm, vain, earthly, created. As soon as attention inclines towards it, spiritual warmth immediately declines; but when the heart also cleaves to it, it withdraws altogether, leaving behind coldness towards all things divine and towards God Himself, accompanied by indifference to all spiritual works and occupations, practised for the purpose of preserving this warmth.

If a man recollects himself at once and hastens to re-establish his habitual warmth-producing order, this warmth returns quickly or not so quickly. But if he pays no attention to it, and through being dispersed, infatuated with something or self-reliant, deliberately allows himself to linger in this cooling atmosphere, and especially if he takes the risk of satisfying in actual deed his non-spiritual tastes resurrected by it, his very zeal for spiritual life becomes undermined, if not completely deadened. The latter is the forerunner of falling into former habitual sins, which will not fail to overcome the negligent. But if a man recollects himself, he has no difficulty in returning to his spiritual state, even from there.

This is how cooling always happens; it is always through our own fault, since it is produced by weakening of attention and of watchfulness over oneself. This weakening is caused either by the temptations of a man's worldly surroundings, and when forms of worldly prelest stupefy a man and abduct him from his own self; or by the wiles of the enemy, who contrives to induce a man to come out of his inner self, which the enemy sometimes succeeds in doing, merely by adding his own more attractive picture to the natural flow of images of fantasy, and sometimes by somehow affecting also the body.

But, whatever the cause, the action of cooling begins with the attention coming out of the inner depths, and its further progress is established by the heart cleaving to something, at first vain and empty, and later passionate and sinful. And in every case it is a man's own fault. For neither the world nor the devil can violate man's freedom; they can only subject it to temptation.

Sometimes cooling is due to the action of grace. In its true aspect, spiritual warmth is the fruit of grace present in the heart. When grace comes, the heart is warm, when it goes - it is cold. Grace also leaves a man, when he comes out of himself attracted by wrong things. Then this cooling is and is called punitive. But sometimes grace withdraws of its own accord, for the purpose of assisting the spiritual progress of the servants of God. And in such cases this withdrawl is and is called instructive. But in this instance the consequences are still the same - cooling, a sensation of emptiness in the heart; for the guest and visitor has gone.

The difference between these coolings is that the guilty cooling weakens the very zeal of spiritual life, whereas cooling due to an instructive withdrawl of grace makes it burn with even greater fervour, which is also one of the purposes of such withdrawl.


Divine grace withdraws of its own accord for purposes of instruction for the following reasons; to excite zeal, which sometimes slackens through a long period of calm; to make a man examine his situation with greater attention and reject the attachments and occupations not directly connected with a life acceptable to God and not leading to Him; - to increase and strengthen the consciousness and feeling that everything good in us is the fruit of God's grace; - to make us value more highly the gifts of God in the future, care more about preserving them, and be more deeply humble; - to make us surrender with greater sincerity into the hands of Divine providence, with complete self-denial and self-belittlement; to force us not to become attached to spiritual delights themselves, thus dividing our heart in two, since God wishes the whole of it to belong to Him alone; to prevent us from relaxing our efforts when Divine grace works in us, but to make us toil without sleeping on the path of God, straining all the powers with which he has endowed us precisely for this purpose.


Thus, even when cooling results from an instructive withdrawl of Divine grace, you yourself are the cause of it, since, although Divine grace withdraws of its own accord, it does so with its eye on you. So when you feel a cooling for spiritual things and occupations and generally for all divine things, enter deeply into yourself and examine carefully why it has happened; and, if it is your fault, hasten to eliminate and efface it, not so much because you are anxious for the return of spiritual delights, but rather because you want to destroy in yourself all that is unfitting and not pleasing to God. If you find nothing of this kind, submit to God's will, saying to yourself: 'God has decided: let Thy will be done on me, O Lord, weak and unworthy as I am.' Then be patient and wait, never allowing yourself to deviate from the habitual order of your spiritual life and spiritual works and exercises.


Overcome the lack of taste for them, which has assailed you, by forcibly making yourself practice them, paying no attention to thoughts which try to distract you from your efforts by suggesting that this occupation is useless; drink willingly your cup of bitterness, saying to the Lord: 'See my humility and my efforts, O Lord, and deprive me not of thy mercy,' and let your efforts be inspired by the faith that this cup comes from God's love for you, because He desires you to attain a greater spiritual perfection.


An Excerpt from "Unseen Warfare" Edited By St Nikodemos The Hagiorite,and revised by St Theophan The Recluse.