Short but powerful prayer

i MADE A VIDEO ABOUT IT

Dang! sorry to hear about that. I would like to hear of your misfortunes and how you traversed such a difficult journey, one day. God be with you.

The Lord told me to stop in 2017 I failed once after that and balled my eye's out in disgust to God. I have been celibate ever since glory to God. God hates uncleanness. I wish you the best ok. The Lord can help you overcome.

I have a similar story. I know for certain things are better on the sober side. I still wrestle with my past,but now I am not alone. May God bless and protect us.

Beloved, believe that JESUS LOVES YOU and HE WILL DELIVER YOU FROM ALL YOUR WOES! It will happen, when you believe it! =) So, surrender your unbelief to Jesus so that He can have His way in your life, so that His will shall be done in you. I have never met you, but I love you, because GOD LOVES YOU! =)

The battle is God's and through Jesus we've already won

Also don't forget to call onto the holy Mother Of God as she will never hold back her prayers to Jesus when we, the lost sons ask for forgiveness! Impossible!

Silence is golden, time to learn .GOD BLESS

That is a very brave insight to have!

I am a Baptist. I don't know anything, so I just try to read the Bible and do the best I can. I don't see how Baptists or Orthodox are unbiblical. They are probably just different regional styles built on the culture around them. We believe in full immersion baptism, don't like dancing, etc. I just don't understand Catholicism. They do a lot of unbiblical things, but at least they follow Jesus. Maybe their religion is a product of regional development as well, as Greco-Roman influence couldn't help but to be a part of it. I think we should all accept Jesus, proclaim Him as God in the flesh who died for our sins and resurrected, repent and confess our sins, and turn from them. This is Biblical. Also, the Great Commission is to spread the gospel. As long as you believe these things, the choice of church is up to you. I always felt like we should take joy in being brothers and sisters in Christ, and while we should, there are some religions here in the US who are partaking in evil doctrines that are unbiblical. Sorry about your Baptist minister. You are probably good looking and he was being inappropriate. Sounds like it. Anyway, just want you to know that Baptists are to hold the word of God above all authority. I feel like we are the same in this, with regional styles that are only different but not heretical. God bless and keep you.

Catholics and Orthodox are the most discouraging churches existing, they will just left linger to your problems and sins. Evangelical churches at least really want to give you encouragement to go to church, never felt that from RC friends. Yes, maybe is not genuine beliefs as someone would tell for evangelism, but anyhow not all are have time to go into vigorously and deep studies of RC and Orthodox, some believers just wanna have a bit of good Christian family.

This is a wonderful insight. Thank you. A Protestant song dovetails perfectly with your beautiful message: Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

neat

This comment could have been written by me. It comes so close to my own situation. I found Christ around a year or two ago and I struggle with the same thing. I also joined Orthodox church that is near me. Almost in my backyard. I pray for you my friend, only Christ can help us

@@finnofaman4557 we are in this all together brother

Thanks for this comment. To be completely honest, something feels evil about the notion that dedication to Christ would make life worse. “Ye shall know them by their fruits”. Bad fruit never comes from a good tree. Maybe I’m not understanding but I refuse to believe Jesus would make my life worse.

It's simply the demons trying to scare you away from the Church. They will all bow down when Christ returns, and those that fought them will join in Christs eternal kingdom.

I suggest you start praising your Creator instead of idolizing his son the created.

@@ThyalwaysseekJesus is God.

@@kevinkamara1953 No Jesus is not God, Jesus is the son of God, go read your Bible and listen to Jesus.

​@@Thyalwaysseek Christ is Lord.

@@ZaidIsm007 Jesus is a human and the son of God.

Keep giving your battles to God. Keep going in the name of Jesus. Godbless

Amen

Me too my friend, my prayers are with you ☦️

Same here. Me, my wife, and three kids are there with you. God bless you and be with you. ☦️

I am as well being attacked by The evil one as catahuman Please pray for us ☦️🙏

And God Be with all of You ☦️

Same same brother

No, it’s not a magical pill, but it certainly is powerful and has the ability to accomplish what scripture says it did. Our sins have been nailed to the cross. We have been baptized into His death and raised to new life. These are not just nice sounding words, but reality. If we truly understood the power of His death and resurrection and our participation in that then we would have way more ability and courage to overcome our sin.

Protestants

We are all sinners. Do not despair, just keep trying.

It's definitely hard to listen to, but very much needed.

Dear Brother or Sister, it isthe demons knocking you down and then laughing and mocking you as they’ve caused you to focus on your failures, sadness, and fears -pulling your attention away from Christ. The Lord loves you. Get back up dear beloved. His Divine Grace is nothing the demons understand. We cannot fully understand such Grace either. Just as the prodigal son came home to his father’s embrace after years of sin. So too will you find the Lord’s embrace again should you turn and repent and cast your cares on Him, for He cares for you. Our sin is ever before us. Let it not drive us away from Christ but drive us ever nearer. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.🙏

When you say that you were very vain and misguided in your fast, what do you mean? Regarding reaction of over-indulgence since Easter, it is expected. I've seen that many times. But it gets better in time, little by little, if we persevere.

As long as we are in these fleshly bodies, we will never be perfect. Every minute of every day is a literal battle. Keep fighting. Learn what the armor of God is. Ephesians 6..the shoes of the gospel of peace. The belt of truth. The breast plate of righteousness. The shield of faith…keep that shield up! This will protect you from the fiery darts of the enemy. The helmet of salvation, and lastly the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. DONT GIVE UP. these demons do a great job at keeping us down. Keeping us from the word. Nothing can edify us like the word can. It tells us everything we need to know. I get down on myself for failing time and again too. But we can not give in. Sharpen your discernment. Read. Pray. Keep learning the truth. Lean on it. It will always be there. Everything else is lies. It’s never going to be easy for us here. We may not win every battle but we can’t stop fighting. Raise that shield and keep your sword sharp. We are the body of the church, the bride of Christ. We owe it to ourselves to stay as strong as we can…somebody may need you help them in their fight some day soon. Be prepared.

Give it all to Lord Jesus🙌✝️

Your life is not yours but the Father's that gave it

I’m confused. What does Romans 6:6 and Gal. 6:14 have to do with the “prosperity” gospel? Also, it’s kind of unfair to lump all Protestants and evangelicals into the category of prosperity. That’s patently absurd.

@@IAMFISH92 so you don’t see how those two verses could expose some sort of disunity with worldliness?

@@ptt3975 I’m not sure I understand. Are you sure you’re referencing the right passages? Romans 6:6 is “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be enslaved to sin.” ‭ and Galatians 6:14 is “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” ‭‭ Sure, it says we die to the world, but the Emphasis is on the death of the old man through Christ. This is good news. Romans in particular seems to be making the case AGAINST what Fr. Seraphim has said in this video.

@@IAMFISH92 it’s the old man which is an agreement with worldliness and is motivated by it to achieve success and pleasures. Anyone who has been through this death process realizes that God put to death that which is in him which loves the world. Then he may in vain look around for the energies that brought him success before. These are real and actual changes in our nature that affects our daily lives and career. But you are correct. It is good regarding spiritual life but But earthly success for a godly person would now only come through narrow God ordained paths much more difficult to find.

There are earthly benefits to the death of the old man, of course. Such as being encompassed with favor, as with a shield where God goes before you to resolve conflicts in your favor. and trust, where we surrender a problem to God and exhale and moments later an outside event intervenes to resolve it. And other events of protection of your person and possessions. there is no inner peace to those driven by fleshly angst to achieve notoriety, or prove a point.

Judge yourself as a man promised heaven, and not a man on earth, and those precious metrics you used to judge yourself will fall away.

Don’t be too hard on yourself ether + shame and guilt is not of God. Keep going you’re not alone❤️

​Judging myself by that metric makes me feel even more damned than before... What do you mean? Because im the least deserving person of heaven i know. ​@noiedward8847

Thank you!!!

Amen. 🙏

Seek first the kingdom

Amen indeed he is truly risen

Baptism DOES NOT save you, repentance and a relationship with God, and being born again is the ONLY way.

100% agree.

What I mean is I agree that Baptism doesn't guarantee Salvation however it may lead to it. It is really up to God. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.

​@@lykakinchen7601 Paul was not referring to baptism in this passage but to JEWISH law due to Jewish converts and their practice of the Halakah. Jesus says in Mark 16:16 that both believing and baptism are required for salvation, it is one of his commandments. A person on his death bed who comes to faith in his final moments can receive a merciful exception to this but that is very, very rare.

@@lykakinchen7601 ... TRUE!! Baptism is a outward symbol of Faith, but you are correct God will save those HE deems worthy based on there level of Faith and dedication to show themselves approved in His eyes. We are not saved by works only through Faith and studying the word of God.

Yes Glory be to God the Father for all things.

Amen.

You know that sounds nice when life is going good, so easy to sit on your high horse and say stuff like this when life ain't besting you down and you pray you don't wake up tomorrow. If it was this easy everyone would get into the kingdom. Don't get drunk on your own self righteousness, only Jesus was sinless, you're capable of sinning too so stay humble.

@@user-lt7mv2ui2p He’s not saying that life gets easier or that difficult situations don’t arise if one becomes a true believer. He’s just saying what the scriptures say. Of course sin will still occur for true believers, but not to the extent and the frequency with which Fr. Seraphim is talking about. To say sin “gets worse” after we find Christ is a complete confusion of Jesus for the law of Moses. It’s the discovery and revealing of the law that makes our sin worse and more difficult to deal with, whereas Christ is the revelation that frees us from that slavery to sin as revealed by the law. See Romans 6 and 7. Will LIFE become more difficult when one commits to Christ? Maybe. Probably, actually. But that’s not because sin increases. It typically gets harder when one becomes a Christian because once real transformation occurs in the believer then those around the believer who have yet to submit to Christ are left exposed in their own unrighteousness by virtue of the Godly life lived by the believer. This creates tension and animosity between the believer and unbeliever, and the unbeliever is likely to be aggressive towards the believer. Likewise, God gives opportunity for growth in the believer by putting temptations and obstacles in the way of the believer. This is the way in which life can become more situationally difficult for the believer. But you know what? For the true believer all of these things are experienced with joy and peace. Bottom line: Sin does not increase after transformation occurs.

@@user-lt7mv2ui2p I was referring to sin, things like adultery and stealing etcetera, I wasn't referring to your financial state or your physical health state.... but feel free to assume.

Have your meat self be less and your renewed spirit self be more so that you can feel God's joy and peace. We do not ask for forgiveness since we were already forgiven. We confess so that truth can deliver us. Renew your mind.

I can’t speak for all of Orthodoxy, but as an Orthodox Christian, my understanding is that yes, both of these states of existence exist and not just as opposites but also on a spectrum. The closer and more connected we are to God, the more things will feel like the beautiful indescribable loving side you described…and the farther away or more disconnected we are from God, the more our existence will feel like that sad, more deathly side of things that you described. And we can move between the two many times throughout life, depending on where we are at in relation to our connection to God (or, the true source of life and all creation). We believe that Christ “conquered death” for us, so that through Him we may no longer need to experience death in that terrible way, but instead, become United with God through what Christ taught, and mystically, through Christ himself as God incarnate.

@@Demetra719 Thank you for your thoughful response. Do you know how you came to this understanding? I'm wondering if there is something that I can read.

​@@cfowler9789you would highly suggest seeking out a priest and talking to him. But in the mean time read somethings from the late Metropolitan Kallitos Ware, he has some great introductions to orthodoxy. Ancient faith radio has some great stuff. Try praying the Jesus pray: Lord Jesus Christ has mercy on me. I also suggest you to the Virgin Mary and St.Jospeh ask them to guide you to the truth.

@@cfowler9789 I don’t know that there’s just one or two things you can read to really come to know this fully, because it is a deep concept and after 9 years being Orthodox I think I am only beginning to understand! But as Orthodoxy also teaches, while books definitely help - you learn these things in their depth, mystically, by participating in the life of the church, prayer, having a good spiritual father you can ask questions to who can guide you in order to avoid incorrect understanding, etc. Under that sort of protective covering and in a participatory way, you will have more experiences that help to expound upon these things in a mystical and spiritual way. Here are a few recommendations though book wise that definitely may help in terms of understanding the beginnings of some of these concepts (though I really recommend going in to talk to an Orthodox priest (I like speaking with the Greek Orthodox ones who are more familiar with the deeper meanings behind the Greek language as it pertains to these things) about what the Orthodox believe about “heaven & hell”, and how close or connected you are to God impacts how he will feel to you, whether in a body or not). The ancient church Fathers and the Saints talk a lot about this, but I would again ask a priest for a good recommendation for you personally! If you want to read more about the Orthodox Church, and kind of how it sees things to help build some foundational understanding - these books really helped me!: “Thinking Orthodox” by Dr. Jeannie Constantinou “The Orthodox Way” by Kallistos Ware And also, “The Religion of the Apostles” There’s also a KZfaq podcast called “Lord of Spirits” with some specific episodes on Heaven & Hell that might be helpful. Remember that in Orthodoxy, the thinking is not black & white, not really meant to be intellectualized, and it’s always best to try to find a good priest who you can talk to about your own personal experiences & situation! :)

@@cfowler9789 It’s really best to find an Orthodox priest to talk to about these things, initially. They can speak more to you and your experiences individually and advise in more detail and refer you to the right books that may help! These things really are so deep that it’s always best to have the help of someone like a parish priest (who has more experience and understanding) to provide the kind of nuanced conversational guidance that you can interact with and ask questions to, to at least begin to answer your questions in a way that is in line with what we’ve been taught over the past 2000+ years. ☺️

Yes

How does The Jesus Prayer compare to meditation for you?

First off I want to say I am truly sorry you are in this position. I also want to say the Christ loves you and I love you. The church will never go away even if you go from her, she is your mother. Please pray and seek guidance from wise people specifically a spiritual father. Please speak to your priest. Have you looked into the desert fathers or any monastic practices?

Its simply because you are aware of it. Look back at when you were not.

take a look at the book of job brother