Lord Jesus, who lived in the world but was not of it, help us to escape the ways of this world – the vices and passions born only of the world, the flesh, and the devil, that we might find life in you and live by your ways of love and peace, through you who showed us the way to the Father and gave us your Holy Spirit of wisdom and guidance in love. Amen.
‘You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.’ – Eph. 2:1-3