Liberacion de San Pedro Murillo 1667 by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, via Wikimedia Commons
O Christ, deliver me.
Spread your sheltering wings about me always.
O King, drive destructive desires far from your servant.
Do not let my mind be harassed by weighty anxieties,
devised by this world and the prince of this world
for unfortunate persons.
They corrode the divine image as rust corrodes iron.
They corrupt the exalted form reducing it to base instincts
so that the soul cannot direct the flesh rightly.
Instead, the flesh drags the soul downwards in misery,
captured in sordid addictions.
O Christ, deliver us!
St. Gregory Nazianzus, c.330-389, Archbishop of Constantinople
The Macmillan Book of Earliest Christian Prayers freely modified
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Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
prayer & verse 
I needed this prayer this morning as I continue to wrestle with my habits.
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