Sept 8 . . . casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God . . . —2 Corinthians 10:5

Deliverance from sin is not the same as deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, that the saint can only destroy through sheer neglect.
This is an interesting distinction that I would never have made on my own.  We so often hear about--and I so often reference it myself--our selfish, sinful nature.  For me, sin and human nature have always been closely intertwined; after all, it's our sinful, selfish nature that has defined our relationship with God ever since the Fall.  It is that natural, inborn rebellion against God that accounts for so much of the challenge of following Christ--we have to go against our own nature by giving it up and becoming a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

There are some things over which we are not to fight, but only to “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord . . .”
Sometimes it can be so frustrating trying to decide which battles we are to fight ourselves and which ones we are to leave to God.  As I mentioned in a previous post, we are hardwired to fix things ourselves, to get by in this world on our own strength.  One of the hurdles to being an effective follower of Christ is allowing Him to fight the battles for us and relying on His strength, not ours.  Yet, we must have discernment to know what we are to leave to Him and what we are to take up ourselves.  I think this can only be accomplished through prayer and the guiding of the Holy Spirit.  In the mean time, it's frustrating for someone like me who has little-to-no natural discernment. 

God does not make us holy in the sense that He makes our character holy. He makes us holy in the sense that He has made us innocent before Him. And then we have to turn that innocence into holy character through the moral choices we make.
Again these are interesting distinctions that Chambers makes:  is he splitting hairs or expressing important theological points?  The reading for Sept 1st was all about holiness yet Chambers did not bring out the above distinction until now.  If God doesn't make our character holy, then what part of us is He making holy:  our spirit, our mind, our conscience, our . . . ?  And for Joe Believer in the pew, does it even matter to know which parts are which, or does Joe just need to concentrate on following Jesus?  I'm certainly not arguing that we needn't make moral choices, and maybe I'm just feeling nit-picky today.  However, this reading seems like a hard one to put into practice if we get all caught up in prejudice vs. sin, fighting vs. standing still, character vs. moral choices.