By the Will of God

I am not worthy of the least of mercies, and of all the truth,

 which thou hast shewed unto thy servant (Gen.32, 10)

Not everything seems like mercy to us now, but it will when we look back at all the storms and tribulations we lived through.. “I am not worthy of the least of mercies” – said Jacob, when he was going to meet Esau. But before he could meet him he has to receive a blessing from the Lord Himself.

Lord met Esau, touched him, and crashed him by the power of His love and then, having blessed Him, renewed him and gave him the power: “thy name shall be Israel… and will prevail over men”.

Let the Lord direct you. Give away your will to Him, unconditionally. Do not lead the way, submit yourself to Him and tell Him: “I submit myself to You, fully and irrevocably”.

Lord is merciful, I know, He loves us so much, that He can not leave us without sorrow, because it leads to Him; can not deliver us from tears, because this is the water that we need to walk on. So tell your Lord: “Not my will, but Thine be done”.

Fight Will Strengthen Faith

For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted,

He is able to succour  them that are tempted (Heb.2, 18)

Devil tempted Christ in desert, on the mountain, and in the Holy City. So we are tempted everywhere: in public, in seclusion, in church, outside church. It is impossible for us to avoid it, but we must fight it and exit that fight with new strength, which will also strengthen our faith.

Temptation, which is sent by God, cleans our soul like fire cleans gold. But to be able to resist it, we must stand on an unshakable ground of faith and let it deeply penetrate our soul. A young tree, which does not have its roots deep in the ground, would unlikely sustain a storm. Do not grieve too much and do not grumble when you are being attacked by temptations. The only thought of 40-day long temptation, which Christ went through, should give us strength. Whenever everyone around you is against you, when all of your efforts are in vain, and when you, exhausted by fight, can not find any consolation, - just glance at the Savior in the desert. Amour yourself with the Word of God, which Christ used against satan, and this will eliminate every doubt and temptation.

Cross of Christ and Love

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man

lay down his life for his friends. (Jn.15, 13)

Do you think that the Cross of Christ is a wondrous sign and the proof how much God loved the world?  Is it real that He poured down the streams of love  all around the world, but love came right back to Him? No, Cross is the proof and the measure of endless love. Cross, depicting a flamingly strong desire to bless and spare the mankind, - is the impression of the love, which God has to the world.

To the world! We may think, how meaningless is our personal part in this love, which is spread to the rest of the world. What could our sorrow, needs and despair mean to the Lord? No, the love of God is perfect. Love can not be split. It is either everything or nothing. And our love, which is often too passionate and inconstant, has nevertheless something divine within itself. And it can sometimes also be limitless, immortal, fearless and strong until death.

Great, endless, perfect love of God is all yours, as if there’s no other creature for it to be poured onto. “My God” – you say as if He belongs to you only. This appropriation will not be an act of self-love or pride. The power of this love is so great that it influences not only my soul, but the souls of others as well. Because the more earthly things I appropriate to myself, the less will be left for others; but it is different here: the more of God I appropriate for myself, the more will pour onto the others.

The true love and truth do not get stagnant, they must pour. They must shine like a sun and this what they live by.

Our Petitions

Lord, evermore give us this bread (Jn.6, 34)

That was a true prayer. Every one of us is in need of this kind of prayer every day. But those, who were asking the Lord, did not realize what they were petitioning for.

This happens to us too. What we desire is often not God’s intention for us. He is preparing a great spiritual gift for us, but we desire the earthly things instead.

By the God’s mercy we have a petitioner, the Holy Spirit, Who accepts all of our petitions and in response to our erroneous, thoughtless prayers, gives us not what we expected, but something higher and better.

Abraham, all of his life, was searching for the land, which he never reached. But he received something better: his faith grew, and his thoughts and desires started to search for the divine, only and true treasure.

Same happens to us: disappointed in our dreams, we often do not receive what we asked from God, but we are given a great grace, which we had no idea about. Walking a hard path of life we follow the ghost of unrealizable happiness, but the Lord is leading us, step-by-step, to the only true eternal bliss.

Noodles with Mushrooms

Boil mushrooms with 1 onion and a bundle of parsley; drain, dice mushrooms finely and add some pepper .

Sautee 1 finely diced onion and carrots in oil, add mushrooms, fry them up a little, add mushroom stock; when all starts to boil, add noodles or vermicelli, which must be boiled for 1 min prior to that and rinsed immediately in cold water. Cook until ready. Sprinkle with parsley and dill when serving.

If you wish you can add boiled potatoes as well.

You will need:

1/4 lb mushrooms

2 onions

bundle of parsley

bundle of dill

1/4 lb noodles or vermicelli

1-2 potatoes

2 carrots

pepper

2-3 bay leaves

1-2 tblsp of oil

Value of Our Works

So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things

which are commanded to you, say,

we are unprofitable servants:

 we have done that which was our duty to do (Lk.17, 10)

No one gets surprised when, for instance, soldiers at war perform their duty with true selflessness, forgetting themselves, so that they could exactly follow the orders of their commanders. Everyone finds it quite ordinary and no one expects an award for performing their duty. We, however, are very inclined to proclaim a great achievement if we sometimes succeed to do something, forgetting that we are just the servants of our Heavenly Master, and have received everything from Him and are worth nothing, that we can not achieve anything without Him and receive strength and opportunity to do something from Him only.

Let us never forget our complete unworthiness realizing that our works are worth nothing compared to what we daily receive from our Lord. And which of us can truly say that he did everything what he was supposed to? And even so, let us remember that we are just servants, who did what they were supposed to.

Unity of Soul and God

With desire I have desired to eat this passover

with you before I suffer (Lk.22, 15)

Pascha – a symbol of great closeness, holy and unbreakable connection, which the Lord desired to establish with every soul. How much He desires this holy union – live and unbreakable! This is a mystery that one needs to taste to establish continuous spiritual communication with the Lord from the first minute till the last; it is possible. And here, on Earth, it is granted by Him only. And the faithful one will walk in light, because Christ is the light of the world, the light of every soul.

“If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Mt.6, 22). Do not be afraid of dark places, where light does not reach, - everything will be enlightened; the light of God will fill the whole being. How much a clean eye means! Do not think that this is easy and simple. Clean eye, undarkened, directed straight and clear to only target, - the eye which is ready to meet the peering look of God, even if one would have to die for that. “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead” (Rev.1, 17) This death, this defeat, this destruction has to be experienced by the one, who really wants to live. If you look at the crucified  and glorified Lord with a clean eye, then His mere wish will be your eternal and unchangeable law. You will hurry to do His holy will. The Spirit of God will be with you and the heavenly guard will protect you always.

Even if you are wounded by the fights of life and bleeding, in joy and thanksgiving you will bring your gift to the feet of the Lord and when He comes in His glory, He will tell you: “This servant has been faithful to Me in the world” and “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Mt.25, 21) And you will rest your head in the hands of the One, Who loved you and be with Him forever.

Obedience

Except ye be converted, and become as little children,

ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Mt.18, 3)

Jesus Christ while in His earthy life left an example of an obedient son for the world.  We know that “He was subject unto His parents” (Lk.2, 51) and have His testimony of His complete obedience to His Heavenly Father: “For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me” (Jn.6, 38) “Will of the Father” – Jesus was repeating these words constantly. “I and my Father are one” (Jh.10, 30)  Not My will but Thine be done”, - “My Father is greater than I” (Jn.14, 28)

And finally the last exclamation: “It is finished” (Jn.19, 30), i.e. the will of God has been completely done, till the end. Why? Because the life of Christ was perfect in obedience; He was reflecting the will of God in His obedience. But we can not be His heirs if we don’t convert into little children. Only then we will have the life of true children of God, relying on Him completely, trusting Him all of our cares of this life and next one.

Our sorrows, our difficulties - all belong to Him. Careless, unquestionable obedience must be our life. Let us stand on our knees in humility and give everything in our life, all of our cares, small and big, into His hands. The will of God can be done only in this complete childish obedience, which will not allow us to get confused. “Cast all your care upon Him” (1 Pet.5, 7), - and “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil.4, 6-7)

Responsibility

For unto whomsoever much is given,

of him shall be much required:

and to whom man have committed much,

of him they will ask the more (Lk.12, 48)

Think hard over these words. There is a great responsibility on each and every one of us for the talent, given to us by God! Be it either earthly treasure – money, health, power, knowledge, or be it spiritual , - more to one and less to another, - but everything entrusted to a man is for temporary use for the benefit of others and to the glory of God. We will have to answer for everything and will hear praise from the Lord only if we put into growth everything that has been received by us and do good for the others, keeping noting for ourselves, in our unworthy hands.