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Call on God

Translated from a sermon by HH Pope Shenouda III

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Em1bN7dKjuF34aqMA

I have the will, but I don’t have the motivation to do good. This is the condition of the human who stands alone. I am not supported by God. A human who works by their own will and by their own strength. Completely alone. By himself. It cannot work this way for they do not allow God to enter into their life to renew them.

They stand alone. If only all your struggles that you hold by your own strength, you could give over to the mighty Hand of God. Instead of struggling against a sin, struggle with God to give you victory over sin. If only you had struggled in prayer and supplication and cry out, “God stand with me, work with me, I cannot do it alone. God, I tried alone and it didn’t work. Every time I get up, I fall back down again in despair. God, help me, save me, every time I fall, help me to get back up again.”

Don’t stand by yourself in helplessness. Be sure that by yourself, you will be overcome by the devil. The corrupted nature will overcome even the strongest without God. Sin in its power will overcome you. The cunningness of the devil will easily defeat you. Do not fight alone. Do not give power to sin.

In Proverbs, we read about sin, “For she has cast down many wounded, And all who were slain by her were strong men.” – Proverbs 7:26.

If you fall despite all your strength, know that you fought alone and God was not present with you. Find God and tell Him, “Come! Come and fight the devil to flee from me. Come and save me from myself. Come and give me the will to fight, the strength to fight and the motivation to attain victory over sin.”

My heart loves evil and sin. Give me a heart renewed in Your Love. Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). Give me a clean heart and a new soul. Give me anything from You.

I am not able to do it alone. Do not be ashamed from God. Confess and hold yourself accountable for your weaknesses and sins. Say to God, “I can’t. I won’t promise You that I will not sin when I know that I am weak. I can’t do it without You. Instead of promising You that I will walk straight, I want to take strength from You so that I can walk straight. When I promise You that I am going to walk straight, that is me telling You that I am strong. But I won’t fool myself in that way. I know I am not strong, for strength comes from You alone. My previous experience with myself proved my weakness. My experience in falling proves that I cannot. My experience showed me that my will is weak. I am sinful and nothing in me is good, as the apostle says in his epistle to the Romans.”

Talk to God and say to Him, “Come. Come live in my heart and clean it of all its blemishes. Come live in this mind and sanctify its thoughts. Come live in this mouth, and cleanse my words. Transform my entire being. I can’t do it on my own.”

If only every single one of us could cry out before God that I cannot do it on my own! I’ve labored all night and caught nothing. O’ God You saw Pharaoh enslave me for 400 years. If You did not save me from him, I would not have been able to save myself. Salvation is of the Lord. Save me, O’ Lord. Purify me from my iniquities. Sanctify my heart and my needs. Return me to You.

Held In Powerful Hands

Translated sermon by Fr Loka Sidarous: https://soundcloud.com/username-for-me/held-in-powerful-hands-fr-loka-sidarous

“For you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20)

The One who bought us with His precious blood will preserve every soul. We became His, and He became responsible for us.

It is Finished!

Our part is very small, and that is to seek shelter in Him, and His part which was very large was to say “It is Finished”! At the moment when an athlete steps over the finish line, he exclaims proudly “It is Finished”! And after the finish, there is nothing else left to do. There is nothing left after the cross, after the salvation by which He defeated death and crushed the devil. His part was completed with absolute perfection.

What is my part then?

My part is suitably small. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy: Cling to Him! For without Him, man is lost. My part is to observe His commandments. He said whoever loves Me hears Keeps My commandments. (John 14:15)

His commandments aren’t heavy. He said take My yoke upon yourself, and learn from Me. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:29-30)

For many of our holy martyrs like St George, by the love of Christ, they were able to lose everything and bear everything. Don’t think that when we say that the mighty St George is very brave, that he is unlike you and me. Rather, his love for Christ gave him bravery with which he overcame the world.

So then, what makes us weak? What makes us weak in front of the world other than its temptations, lusts, and greed?

You see, love is not manifest in the heart only, but rather, when you love someone, you are prepared to sacrifice everything for them. The works that seems very daunting, with love become simple. The work feels burdensome when the person does not love. The one who loves gives himself joyfully. If we loved the Lord from the heart, His commandments become easy.

For the love of Christ…for His sake

Do your works for the sake of Christ. Bear for His sake. For we do all the works that He strengthens us to do for His sake…for His sake. Believe me, even the actions that seem very lowly or trivial, and worthless, if done for the sake of Christ, then they have a great value.

St George bore great pains of torture for seven years and then gave his life for Christ. By comparison, we haven’t done much! Even if people praised St George during his trials, he will answer “have I even done anything?” It’s only for the sake of whom gave Himself for me. It’s for the sake of Him who was nailed on the Cross for me, bore the shame, was hung naked and bore the mockery, smacked and flogged, all that while being God!! What is all this for you ask? For me!

Tell me then, what shall we give in return? Ask yourself, what do I pay back to God for His great goodness to me? I am ready to give everything and consider everything rubbish for the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord? Yes, I shall bear all things with patience/forbearance and thanksgiving!

We are under His Watchful eyes

Not a hair on your head will fall. (Luke 21:18)

We must live a life of thanksgiving. If we experience pain, we are wise to remember that we are under His watchful eyes. Pains do not befall us haphazardly, but rather it is precisely measured on God’s scales. He does not allow you to be tempted above what you can bear ever (1 Corinthians 10:13). For we are of His body. He considers the measure of pain for every one of us, and in exchange gives us glory beyond comprehension!

If we suffer with Him, we will be glorified with Him. For this reason, I tell you to live a life of thanksgiving even in the most difficult of situations. Why? Because of what Christ said in the garden. He said the cup that the Father gave me, I drink (Luke 22:44). And of the sins He bore on the cross, He said “for He who did not know sin, it pleased the Father to bruise Him with grief (Isiah 53:10). If we are then in the hands of the Lord, everything that happens is good.

Many matters, my beloved, we do not understand, and cannot interpret, but we give thanks nonetheless. Why? Because there are many things that a person cannot comprehend, but we are certain that we are in His hands. He said “and those in My hands, no one can take them away from the hands of my Father”.

Look at the peace that comes to you when you know that you are in His hands. “I have scribed you on my hands” (Isiah 49:16). “he who touches you touches the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8). This is our assurance, our life, and our faith, that we are watched and protected.

When we live this faith and confidence and joy, all the worries of the world will not cease to count for anything. We are confident that our presence on this earth is for mere days. Even if one received a lot of glories while in the world in that time, it’s still days.

Throw yourself in front of God. There is no problem that does not have a solution. For in Christ, all things are possible, but with people, it is not possible. We think and think and ask ourselves is this thing that is seemingly impossible even possible?! Does this problem have a solution? Think of the impossible like walking on water. Is it possible? Is raising the dead possible? Is opening the eyes of a blind…possible? They are the works of Christ. The impossible, with Him, is possible.

Even if you think with your mind that it doesn’t have a solution, have faith. The man whose son was sick asked Him: can you do something for him? Jesus replies: can you believe? The man bowed to the ground and said: Lord, my faith is weak, strengthen my faith, and he healed his son. When my faith weakens, what do I tell Him? I tell him, help! My faith is weak! I then place myself with my weakness and my sins along with my situation and problems that I feel are without a solution in front of Him, and all will be solved.

Christ, nothing is impossible!

Hold on to Him and observe His commandments.

A Pure Heart

How do we attain purity of heart?

The verse our Lord Jesus said: “ Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. The verse is very noteworthy. If your heart is pure, you shall see God. You will see Him possibly before you get to heaven. You may see him in Nature, or in visions.

This is something very appealing. Of course, this means you will see Him in heaven and you will be in His presence eternally. Purity of heart is surety you have a place in God’s Kingdom.

Purity of the heart is a long path that starts with continuous repentance. The 1^st thing for someone to be purified is to offer repentance continuously. We remember the parable used by Our Lord, glory be to Him, when He was talking to the Pharisees: O you blind Pharisee, clean first inside the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also (Matthew 23:26).

What does this parable mean? It means when you go to purify something, some people wash only the outside. So from the outside, things appear sparkly, but from the inside, it’s unclean.

The Lord examines the hearts. It’s more important for God what you look like from the inside, not your outward appearance; because what will continue onto Heaven is the inside, not the outside.

Our teacher, St Peter, uses a lovely expression: “the hidden person of the heart” (1Peter 3:4) Which do you concentrate on? The hidden person of the heart or the outward person? Because there are 2!! One inner and one outer. If you’re always busy with the outer, then you’re only cleaning the outside. So before people, you look pure but before God, you’re not.

Thus He said: O you blind Pharisee because the Pharisees beautified the outer appearance. He told them you are like whitewashed tombs from the outside. Imagine a tomb, covered with sparkling marble on the outside. Would you go and sit inside it? It’s full of bones of the dead and all that is unclean. So we can be like that, looking great from the outside, like the marble covering the tomb. But inside, is a disaster; a lot of sin, evil desires, and thoughts.

The Lord works on the inside as He cares for the inner not the outer. O blind Pharisee, clean FIRST: meaning put this inner purity as your number one priority.

We’re always busy trying to look good before one another. When are we going to look good before the Lord?

This requires continuous repentance. This is the first and most important step towards purity. That’s why David says: “wash me and I will be whiter than snow”, “wash me with hyssop and I will be clean”.

Hyssop is a plant they used to rub things with like we do with antiseptics. David is saying: It’s not easy for me to be purified. All these years and all these sins, You need to thoroughly wash me from inside. That way my heart is cleansed from years of hatred, envy, evil desires, love of money, the world, the gossiping.

Purify FIRST. Let purity be before your eyes.

The 2nd step towards purity: is the word of God. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples when He said “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”John 15:3.

Even though some of what Our Lord Christ told them, they did not understand, sitting with the Lord and listening to His words, benefits. The words of God cleanse the heart. This works independently in the heart. “the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” Hebrews 4:12

What discerns right and wrong within the heart? The word of God. Will guide: this thought is not from God; his counsel is not from God; this goal is impure. He who wants purity, read the Bible. If you want inner purity, you need to sit a long time with the Bible.

You know the story of the simple monk who used to go to his father telling him: I read but I don’t understand. The Father tells him: read again; and so on. The father then told the monk, take the basket and put it down into the well, and get water in it. The monk obeyed and later came and told the father: the basket is not collecting the water. The father answered: but the basket is cleansed. So even if you don’t gather information, you will be cleansed, and that’s more important.

You will not enter heaven by gathering information from the Bible. What is surety for a place in heaven is that you are pure from the inside. Sit a long time with the Bible, you will feel the purity of heart within you. You will find that you are hating the sin you had failed to hate before. Sins will leave just like the cockroaches who run from the light in fear.

When light enters, all those who love darkness will flee from you. All evil spirits and sins will flee. They will not bear the light of the world. However, he who reads the bible every now and then doesn’t get the chance to be cleansed.

“you are pure because of the words I have spoken to you”

The path to purity needs continuous struggle. Struggle means effort. St Paul says in Hebrews 12:4 “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin”. There has to be striving. You will find attacking thoughts and throughout all your life. There will be desires, difficult people, difficult situations, etc.

Do not lose hope! Strive! Resist! Flee!

They strike you, strike back. Fall and get up again. DO not worry. God does not count how many times you fall, He counts how many times you get up! This is very comforting.

Self-examination leads to purity. The saints say: do not let a day pass by before you self-examine and do not let a night pass by before you do the same. Even if you do that for just a few minutes every day: which commandments have you broken. Which opportunities to do good have you missed? When was the time you were distanced from God and lost the connection? Was their prayer? Were the words of the Bible in your thoughts or lost by the end of the day?

When we self-examine, we are purified. If we say, we are good and don’t self-examine, we never move forward.

Glory be to God forever, Amen.

Let God

Inspired by a Fr Daoud Lamei sermon: https://soundcloud.com/madonna_loves_jesus/dbdsuiulfiv3

The person who is used to leaving his life in the hands of God, his salvation itself he leaves in the hand of God. He constantly says to Him;

Lord, I don’t know how to walk in the way of righteousness. I’m scared and wary of judgment day. But I am full of confidence that You’ll be there on the last day and say he’s mine and call me by my name. I have no hope in any other. I have hope Lord, that You will be the one who saves me in these few days on earth, and I also have hope that You will be the one who will save me in the Last day. “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he that will shake hands with me?” Job 17:3. In other words, I won’t let anyone else Lord hold my hand except for You. I won’t let anyone else command me to not be afraid.

When Peter was walking on the water, he was definitely in a weird and strange situation. As soon as he started drowning he said “Save me, Lord”. So the Lord stretched out His mighty hand and answered him saying “O ye of little faith…”

Again, Lord, You are my hope, I want no other than You because there is no greater than You. I don’t want a doctor to hold my hand. Not even a lawyer. Nor bank, nor governor nor any person on the face of the earth whatever his status may be, to tell me not be afraid. Only You Lord.

The first thing that will allow you to live a life of sacrifice is to not expect anything from yourself. Because the more you expect from yourself, the less you will be able to allow God to take the reigns on your life. You are still holding on to the belief that you can do everything without the help of the Almighty. You’re either too confident in yourself or too confident in others and this is what will prevent you from leaving EVERYTHING to Him.

Our God is a jealous and zealous God. He is jealous over you from the snare of others. He begins to slowly take away the people you confide and are confident in and leaves you to think “Okay… who’s left? Or what’s left. Who’s left other than me that you are able to be confident in?” None Lord. So what should you do? Will you leave it to God now or are you still confident in others and in yourself?

Again, “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he that will shake hands with me?” Job 17:3

I cannot even allow my left hand to be put with the right, nor allow anyone to hold my hand. I have no other but you Lord.

Our issue in living a life of sacrifice and giving our life to God is in our mind. Why? Because it just refuses to stop. We pray “According to your will Lord” and in a matter of moments we take it all back with our actions; as if we never even prayed. As long as you’ve told God that there is something bothering me, leave it to Him and genuinely follow and believe the words “According to Your will O Lord”. Wait so He knows? Of course. Will you then involve yourself in the ways of the Lord and stand in front of His will?

Do not rethink your prayer after it has been given to Christ. It’s the hardest thing to stop your mind from worrying after you’ve given the prayer to the Lord. Rest assured and do not think of the issue, but leave it to has all the issues in His hand. Unfortunately, when the tribulations and hardships come steaming in, Christ becomes merely a character. The more you think about it, the more you convince yourself how inadequate any solutions is to your hardship. So what’s the solution? Not to be disheartened but to not think about it at all. We look at everything with an earthly eye but the Lord looks at it with a divine and heavenly eye. Easier said than done of course. It needs struggle. That your eye is on the Lord and not on anything else.

Rest your mind. But to rest your mind you need to rest your heart.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6,7).

Something has to work. Either your heart or your mind. The more your mind is working there is no sacrifice and there is no peace. All you need to do is give it to Him. As soon as He knows, go to sleep.

Every time we worry, we consider ourselves orphans with no father. And this is an insult to our Heavenly Father. An insult to Him that we worry. He wants to tell us “Am I not here? Have you not seen all that I’ve done for you in the past? Why are you worried about money or about your health? Why do you think about your kids? Are your kids not my kids?

Leave it to Him

Why?

Why?

Sermon by Fr Daoud Lamei and can be found on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/olivia-boles-1/leh-father-dawod-lam3y

Why? There is a common question: why does this happen to me?

A very hard question indeed. Why do those who are most precious to God get hurt to such a great extent? Why can it not be easier than this? And if it is not as a result of their sins, then why?

Of course, we have the wisdom of the church fathers with us, however, their answers will always remain incomplete. These questions will not be answered until we enter heaven. When we hear the saying “He will wipe every tear from our eyes”, what does this mean?

Every tribulation and struggle that you went through in your life will be wiped away by the hand of God. He is the only one in heaven that can tell you why this happened, its benefit, and its value for us. Nothing happened without purpose.

There won’t be any sadness remaining, or tribulation persisting then. However, here on earth, there has to be sadness and tribulation, even to those most precious to God. God did not lift the pain of the earth but He came Himself and carried it on the cross for us.

So sometimes even when we don’t have an answer to these hard questions it is enough for us to sit and look at the crucified Christ and you will be strengthened. Even if our minds are not at ease, our hearts are comforted. The mind may not be convinced, no worries, but when you see the Lord Jesus, the holy and pure who truly bore the sins of the whole world and has taken up a burden far greater than any of us, we begin to say “according to your wisdom O’ God, surely You know what you are doing. Surely this tribulation is good for me. Surely You have chosen goodness for us.”

Jesus did not promise us earthly comfort, however, the true value of a person begins to show when they start to hurt. However, as long as you are still comfortable, you are not a true human, just like the eagle is not an eagle until he begins to fly.

We often do not experience tribulations apart from those of earthly ones, but there are tribulations above our abilities, and God knows better than anyone the extent of these abilities of ours. He knows what you can handle.

“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole.”
Job 5:17

Lucky is the person whom God pays attention to discipline. Lucky is he who God works tirelessly to correct. When you find someone who is struggling with tribulations, then say within yourself, ‘how lucky!’ However, you may feel and say within yourself, ‘God please protect me from such tribulation and do not let me go through such a thing!’ As you wish, but to your loss! In Heaven, you will remember what you said and truly understand the meaning of how lucky they are.

Let us understand this through the metaphor of a surgeon. The wounds are not random. The wounds from God are meticulously in the hands of God, like from a perfect surgeon who understands. In His discretion, He opens such wounds of hurt, and in time he closes it. But only after fixing up what is inside. In doing so he saves your life. “He wounds, but His hands make whole.” This is the secret of life, without it, one would be damned.
Then a logical question comes, why then would He hurt? Why open up a wound? Why not just leave us be? Where is the necessity in Him hurting us?

Sometimes God is removing the tares (see Matthew 13 for the parable of the tares). What are these tares? These are negative feelings, a hardened heart, hatred, jealousy, greed, too much attachment to the world, and corrupted relationships. Many things within a person could lead them to hell. These are all tares. To remove these tares, surgery is needed. Sometimes God would wound so we can scream. Is screaming beneficial? At times screaming is exponentially more useful than a laugh.

The Bible says “woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep,” (Luke 6:25) and “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted,” (Matt 5:4). What does this mean for us?

That the scream of “Have mercy upon me God!” is far greater than the laugh of a man.

““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.”
Isaiah 55:8

God loves us and He disciplines His children, but we don’t have to understand everything. And the wise one is he who prays and asks, ‘guide me Lord and grant me understanding.’ What do we do then with God who wounds and makes whole?

The first thing we must do is bear the wound He gives us because we know very well that this is to your benefit. Exactly as you go to the doctor and you suffer a bit because you know it is to your benefit. Bear the wound because afterward, He will heal. After the tribulation, He will bless. If you have lived your life not knowing the meaning of bear, then you cannot be a soldier for God, you cannot be a man with God. Man up and bear the burden so you can feel the hand of God. I say this because it is the same hand that wounds that also heals us.

Don’t push the hand of God, But hold onto it! It is that very hand that will heal the wound that He made!

We have already agreed that He wounded you to heal you. This is a chance to truly feel the hand of God and cling to it. There is a common mistake that people make when they get upset due to tribulation, they distance themselves from God and so they decide they are not going to pray. Well, that’s up to you, but the wound will remain open. You won’t let God stitch the wound. It’s as if you walk out of a surgery mid-way, you ruin the work of the physician halfway. He was just about to stitch you up and clean you up, but you don’t let him. Please, don’t push the hand of God. One of the hardest things that can pass over one that is in tribulation, is despair. To think that it will never end, to lose hope that anything will change, ‘nothing will change’ they say.

The tribulation will pass, the sickness will heal, the problem will be solved. The feelings of despair are sometimes much harder than the tribulation itself. Never lose your hope because God will interfere.

“I waited patiently for the Lord, And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.”
Psalm 40:1

This, “He inclined to me”, often takes time but it happens, so wait. Do you want to get to a point where you’re made of steel? Where any tribulation, humiliation, poverty, sickness, or sorrow doesn’t affect you. Is that even possible? Yes! But you have to cling to Jesus Christ. When you truly stick to Jesus you tend to feel that everything that is happening to you is happening to Him. He has calculated the situation very well, He has chosen the Cross and the resurrection. Any tribulation, the end of it is Glory. Stick to Jesus, do this through the Bible, Prayer, communion, consistent repentance, and confession.

“But it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God.”
Psalm 73:28

“He wounds, but His hands make whole”, bear the wound, hold onto the hand that will heal, cling to the Lord, and wait for healing!

Glory be to God forever, Amen.