Peace
“One test of spiritual attainment is peace. Those who are truly advanced in the Spirit have peace of mind and share the peace of God… “Wherever God is — there is peace. And the opposite is self-evident: where there is envy, enmity, impatience, self-love — there is the devil. Wherever the devil is — there, everything is ruinous, proud and hostile.” (Fr. Basil, St. Anatoly of Optina) “How do we attain peace? We put aside all…pride and hostility and destructiveness. And we acqui
God's Will vs Self Will
“What lies hidden in the designs of God I confess I do not know—I am only a man—but this I know with full certainty, that, whatever it is, it is more just, more wise, and more solidly based on incomparable perfection than all the judgments of people….God’s will is determined by His wisdom which always perceives, and His goodness which always embraces, the intrinsically good.” (St. Augustine, C.S. Lewis) “The story of Isaac blessing his son Jacob illustrates the intense meanin
Leadership
“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment (James 3:1)”. Teachers are often leaders and leaders are often teachers. Leaders should live what they teach. God will hold both leaders and teachers to a higher standard and in stricter judgement when they are hypocritical. Christ demonstrates this in His castigation and evisceration of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:1-39 when He points out how they repeatedly teach one thing an
Spiritual Warfare and Growth
“Sin is portrayed in Scripture as an active and powerful force in unrelenting pursuit of its victims (Gen. 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8), and the believer is called to total war against it.” (Foundation Study Bible, Psalms 97:10) “We must consider all evil things, even the passions which war against us, to be not our own, but of our enemy the devil. This is very important. You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part of you." (St. Nikon of Optina) “When we think ever
God's Will and Obedience
“Only an obedient heart can truly pray, for the end of prayer is not speaking to God, but hearing and heeding what He is saying back to us…It is in obedience that we find the means of destroying the ego, which separates us from Christ...obedience is our way of surrendering to the will of Christ…Following Christ means total submission to Him…” (Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou, Abbot Tryphon, Life Application Bible, Luke 14:27) “God responds to His obedient children…When