Strange and mysterious is my life

The inward warfare. by John Newton

Scripture reference: Gal 5:17


 * Strange and mysterious is my life,
 * What opposites I feel within!
 * A stable peace, a constant strife,
 * The rule of grace, the pow'r of sin:
 * Too often I am captive led,
 * Yet daily triumph in my Head.


 * I prize the privilege of prayer,
 * But o! what backwardness to pray!
 * Though on the LORD I cast my care,
 * I feel its burden every day:
 * I seek his will in all I do,
 * Yet find my own is working too.


 * I call the promises my own,
 * And prize them more than mines of gold;
 * Yet though their sweetness I have known,
 * They leave me unimpressed and cold
 * One hour upon the truth I feed,
 * The next I know not what I read.


 * I love the holy day of rest,
 * When Jesus meets his gathered saints;
 * Sweet day, of all the week the best!
 * For its return my spirit pants:
 * Yet often, through my unbelief,
 * It proves a day of guilt and grief.


 * While on my Savior I rely,
 * I know my foes shall loose their aim;
 * And therefore dare their pow'r defy,
 * Assured of conquest through his name:
 * But soon my confidence is slain,
 * And all my fears return again.


 * Thus different pow'rs within me strive,
 * And grace, and sin, by turns prevail;
 * I grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,
 * And vict'ry hangs in doubtful scale:
 * But JESUS has his promise passed,
 * That grace shall overcome at last.