Friday. [Heb. 7:18-25; Luke 21:37-22:8]

   Satan entered into Judas, and taught him how to betray the Lord; he agreed, and betrayed Him. Satan entered because the door was opened for him. What is within us is always closed; the Lord Himself stands outside and knocks, that we might open. What causes it to open? It is opened by sympathy, predisposition, or agreement. If all of this is inclined in the direction of the Lord, He enters. If satan enters, and not the Lord, the person himself is guilty. If you do not allow thoughts pleasing to satan, if you do not sympathize with them, or dispose yourself to their suggestions and agree to do them, satan walks nearby and then leaves, for he is not given power over anyone. If he takes possession of anyone, it is because that person gives himself over in slavery to him. The source of all evil is one’s thoughts. Do not allow bad thoughts and you will forever close the door of your soul to satan. That bad thoughts come—what can you do? Nobody on the earth is without them; there is no sin here. Chase them away, and that will end everything. If they come again, chase them away again—and so on for your entire life. When you accept thoughts and become engaged in them, it is not surprising that sympathy toward them appears as well; then they become even more persistent. After sympathy come bad intentions either for these or other bad deeds. Vague intentions then define themselves by an inclination toward one thing or another. Choice, agreement and resoluteness set in, and then sin is within! The door of the heart is opened wide. As soon as agreement forms, satan jumps in and begins to tyrannize. Then the poor soul is driven wearisomely like a slave or a pack-animal into doing indecent things. If it had not allowed bad thoughts, nothing of the sort would have happened.

Saturday. [Eph. 2:11-13; Luke 13:18-29]

   Strive to enter in at the strait gate. The strait gate is a life not according to your will, not according to your desires, not for pleasing yourself; the wide gate is a life according to all of the stirrings and strivings of a passion-filled heart, without the slightest refusal of oneself in anything. Thus, the gate to the kingdom is self-constraint. Restrain yourself in all things and it will be the same as pressing or pushing against a door to open it and squeeze your way through it. How and with what should you restrain yourself? With the commandments of God, which are opposed to the passion-filled stirrings of the heart. When you begin to be angry with someone, remember the Lord’s commandment not to give place to wrath, and with this restrain your heart. When lustful stirrings come, bring to mind the prohibition against even looking at a woman with lust, and with this restrain your lustfulness. When you want to judge someone, remember what the Lord said, that by judging you deprive yourself of intercession before the Judge of heavenly things, and with this restrain your arrogance. Do likewise in relation to every sinful movement [of the heart]. Gather against each of them sayings from Divine Scripture and keep them in your memory. As soon as some bad desire comes from your heart, bind it immediately with a saying directed against it, or tie up all of your desires and thoughts in advance with Divine words, and walk in them; you will be as if in bonds. But in these bonds lies freedom, or a free path to the Kingdom of God.