PRAYER AND THE PSALMS

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

PRAYER AND THE PSALMS

"If you are not able to pray or keep vigil, at least force yourself to study the psalms. The psalms give expression to prayer, repentance, doxology, and thanksgiving; they recount feelings and experiences that can give strength even to the weakest soul. When someone passes out you give him a shot of something strong and he revives. That’s how it is with the psalms; read them and you too will be revived" (Elder Aimilianos, On Abba (Father) Isaiah).

There are many today that claim to know the "Gospel" but do they? Geronda (Elder) Aimilianos who truly knows the Holy Scripture advises us thus: "When one undertakes to examine Scripture in an idle, intellectual way, he creates hatred and quarrelling. Why? Because the intellectual approach to Holy Scripture does not help us to turn and reflect on our sins, but instead makes us focus on problems and concepts related to the study of Holy Scripture, with the result that our logical and intellectual faculties are aroused to no real purpose. "Knowledge" by itself does not add anything. On the contrary, it encourages the cultivation of the individual and his private sense of things; it fosters THE SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF HIS PERSONAL OPINIONS, WHICH HE THEN SEEKS TO JUSTIFY AND IMPOSE ON OTHERS. This kind of approach to Holy Scripture immediately places you in conflict with others; it opposes your will and opinion to theirs, prompting you to disagree and argue with them, and to make enemies of your brothers. Filled as I am with my own opinions about things, I am not able to receive anything from God.

The correct way, Geronda Aimilianos says, "is to read the Holy Scripture with humility and to allow God to tell us what He wants to tell us. It’s one thing to read Holy Scripture because you want to collect information, and another thing to read it because you want to acquire its true content, that is, the Holy Spirit. This kind of knowledge IS THE LIFE OF GOD (cf. John 17:3) THE ENTRY AND EXTENSION OF GOD INTO OUR LIFE; IT IS GOD’S DESCENT AND DWELLING AMONG US. We can judge whether or not our study of Holy Scripture is authentic based ON THE NUMBER OF TEARS WE SHED WHEN WE STUDY. To be sure, I can also read Holy Scripture without shedding tears, and without a strong sense of my sins, but with the hope that God’s grace through my reading of Holy Scripture, will break open my hardened heart. Read Holy Scripture, then, BUT DON’T FORGET ABOUT YOUR SINS AND REDUCE HOLY SCRIPTURE TO AN OBJECT OF INTELLECTUAL INQUIRY, FOR AT THAT POINT IT CEASES BEING THE WORD OF GOD AND YOU START SEEING IT AS SOMETHING HUMAN. The criterion for your study should be this: THE WAY YOUR READ THE HOLY BIBLE SHOULD BRING PEACE TO YOUR HEART, COMMUNION WITH GOD, LOVE OF NEIGHBORS, AND THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF YOUR OWN SINFULNESS; THE RECOGNITION OF HOW UNWORTHY AND ILL-PREPARED YOU ARE TO STAND BEFORE GOD."

PSALM 63 [62]

A Psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Judea.

O God, my God, to You I rise early at dawn.
My soul has thirsted for You;
how often my flesh has longed for You,
in a desert land, parched and impenetrable.

Thus have I appeared before You in Your sanctuary,
that I might see Your power and Your glory.

For Your mercy is better than life itself;
my lips will praise You.

Thus I will bless You throughout my life,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.

Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness,
and with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

If I remembered You on my bed,
in the early hours of the dawn I meditated on You,
For You are my helper,
and in the shelter of Your wings I will rejoice.

My soul clings closely behind You,
Your right hand has upheld me.

But as for them, in vain they sought after my soul,
and they shall descend into the lowest parts of the earth.

They will be given to the edge of the sword;
they will be served up to the foxes.

But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by Him will be praised,
for the mouth of those who speak unjustly has been stopped.

Having a life in Christ takes commitment and diligence. The Christian faces common worldly cares daily along with working out his/her own salvation. The believer, however, ought to have certain priorities in life and our Creator has made it perfectly clear that He must always be first in everything. Therefore, nothing should distract us from our duty to Him knowing full well that "for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Without our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ we can do nothing–nothing which is properly motivated and gives glory to God. We all depend on Him for everything including the very air that we breathe. Our daily duty is to offer prayers of thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father Who lovingly provides us with all necessities of life and protects us from every evil that threatens us.

Along with our daily prayer we ought to incorporate the Holy Scripture, even if it is a paragraph from the Holy Bible. Saint John Chrysostomos exhorts the Christian: "What are you saying? It is not your duty to read Scripture because you are distracted by innumerable cares? On the contrary, it is your duty more than those others, more than the monks; they do not have such need of help as do you who live in the midst of such cares. You need treatment all the more, because you are constantly under such blows and are wounded so often. The reading of Scripture is a great defense against sin. Ignorance of Scripture is a great misfortune, a great abyss. Not to know anything from the word of God is a disaster. This is what has given rise to heresies, to immorality, it has turned everything upside down." [Resources: New Testament and Psalms and the life of faith]

"The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God and Father, and
the communion of the Holy Spirit be
with you all."

_________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George