Wesley's list of the Means of Grace includes this discipline-- "Do you steadily watch against the world, the devil, yourselves, your besetting sin?" (Doctrinal Sermon 13 says a little more about this discipline, however not much more.)
While working on a sermon about Watching as a means of grace, I consulted Kathleen Norris' book, Acedia, which mentions the temptations that the desert fathers stayed vigilant against. The desert monks' list of eight bad thoughts was whittled down to seven deadly sins by Western church leaders. In contrast, Wesley typically warned against only the three temptations mentioned in 1 John 2:16.
Researching my Watching sermon inspired me to create a smartphone app in order to introduce my parishioners to the list of eight bad thoughts through a game format. A tempter blinks across the screen, one for each bad thought, and the player must tap it to clear it from the screen.
How are you using smartphone technology in your local church?
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