Hello everyone :) I have decided to continue blogging book reviews. I'm motivated primarily because of my friend, Laurie Au, who found my blog enjoyable and entertaining. I've been reading lots of books lately and I don't think it would hurt to share about it. If I am able to persuade you even slightly to pick up these books to read for the nurturing of your souls--then I shall consider my job as a writer one of great priviledge! Might as well put that English degree to use, right? I will start off with a book given to me by my good friend Stephen Jung.

The Enemy Within: Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin by Kris Lundgaard.

Having graduated from college precisely 4 months and 20 or so days ago, I realized that my post-college transition has been a lot harder than I had expected. Not only do I find myself lacking much of the joy and enthusiasm I once had for following the Lord, I also find it so difficult to bring myself to prioritize my time with Him. My life is largely characterised by busy-ness and I constantly catch myself making excuses and finding other 'more important' things to fill my time with. My problem is not that my life has suddenly become too busy, the issue at hand is my incorrect understanding of my own sin which has caused a small weed of spiritual dryness to spread rapidly through my life.

Lundgaard's book is amazingly practical and easy to understand. He notes in his preface that he once found renewed hope in John Owen's Indwelling Sin and The Mortification of Sin. Lundgaard takes on the challenge of bringing Owen's truth to modern day readers in our contemporary language. The book divides into four sections in which he takes on the role of defining the power of sin, explaining how it works, how it affects us and our responsibility to nail it to the Cross. Though the entire book is dedicated solely to the topic of sin, I wasn't left with an overwhelming sense of defeat, rather quite the opposite. I find truth in his belief that renewed hope comes not with understanding how revulsive and displeasing our sin is, but with the victory provided to us through Jesus Christ.

The greatest truth that I have taken away from this book is the proper understanding of the way our souls function, which I believe is absolutely crucial in guarding ourselves from sin. Lundgaard explains that our souls comprise of three things: the mind, the affections, and the will. Lundgaard takes five chapters to explain how sin affects each of these three things; interestingly, he devotes three chapters to the mind, and only one each to the affections and the will. Why? Because loving God with our everything begins with loving God with all our minds.

If a strategic army aims to overthrow a fortress, the army's first target is the watchman. If the watchman is unable to warn the others, the army can easily breach the wall and overtake the fortress. Likewise, the flesh works to deceive the watchman of our souls: our minds.

Lungaard states, "If the mind determines that an action is right, the affections (an old word, but Lundgaard defines it as our emotions, longings, revulsions, imagation, and more) should then fall in line and desire, long for, and cling to that which the mind said was good. Last, the will puts the soul into action, carrying out what the mind said was good and the affections hungered for. When each does its job, you obey God from the heart. You can see what a mess deception makes of obedience. If your mind is persuaded to believe a sin is good for your soul, and your affections work up an appetite for it, your will gives its consent--the dominoes fall and the flesh bears its putrid fruit in your life."

The rest of the book unfolds the power of sin and how we are to pratically gaurd ourselves (our minds, our affections and our wills) against it. Lundgaard loves lists! Every few chapter if not every contains a practical list of how we are to apply God's truth to our daily lives.

A lot of times I leave my mind unchecked, not realizing that the things that I think about are able to greatly impact the state of my spiritual walk. By failing to love God with all my mind, I have allowed myself to fall into selfish anger, jealousy, envy, discontentment, and these sins have wrought great destruction in my spititual walk. Though it takes patience on my part, to allow God to gradually weed out these sins that polute my soul, Lundgaard has brought me much hope in persevering in my pursuit of holiness. It begins with understanding our sin and how it affects us. Lundgaard reminds us though, that this pursuit is always done in light of Calvary. We have nothing without the Cross. What a necesary reminder indeed! If you find yourself struggling against sin, don't hesitate to pick this book up! Only $9.99 on Amazon.com, what a great price for a dose of spiritual revival. hehehe just kidding! :) 

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