h does repentance daily. He
reflects upon the evils in him, acknowledges them, guards against
them, and beseeches the Lord for help. For of oneself one continually
lapses toward evil; but he is continually raised up by the Lord and
led to good.

Repentance of the mouth and not of the life is not repentance. Nor are
sins pardoned on repentance of the mouth, but on repentance of the
life. Sins are constantly pardoned man by the Lord, for He is mercy
itself; but still they adhere to man, however he supposes they have
been remitted. Nor are they removed from him save by a life according
to the precepts of true faith. So far as he lives according to these
precepts, sins are removed; and so far as they are removed, so far
they are remitted.

--_Heavenly Doctrine, nn._ 159-165

TEMPTATION AND PRAYER

When a man shuns evils as sins, he flees them because they are
contrary to the Lord and to His Divine laws; and then he prays to the
Lord for help and for power to resist them--a power which is never
denied when it is asked. By these two means a man is cleansed of
evils. He cannot be cleansed of evils if he only looks to the Lord and
prays; for then, after he has prayed, he believes that he is quite
without sins, or that they have been forgiven, by which he understands
that they are taken away. But then he still remains in them; and to
remain in them is to increase them. Nor are evils removed only by
shunning them; for then the man looks to himself, and thereby
strengthens the origin of evil, which was that he turned himself back
from the Lord and turned to himself.

--_The Doctrine Concerning Charity, n._ 146

THE GREAT ARENA

In temptations the hells fight against man, and the Lord for him. To
every falsity which the hells inject, there is an answer from the
Divine. The falsities inflow into the outward man, the answer into the
inward man, coming to perception scarcely otherwise than as hope, and
the resulting consolation, in which, however, there is a multitude of
things of which the man is unaware.

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8159

In temptations a man is left, to all appearance, to himself alone; yet
he has not been left alone, for God is then most present in his inmost
being, and upholds him. When anyone overcomes in temptation,
therefore, he enters into closer union with God.

--_True Christian Religion, n._ 126

"BY LITTLE AND LITTLE"

When man is being regenerated, he is not regenerated speedily but