I think it can manifest itself through the circumstances of life, the movement of our conscience, the reflections of the human mind, through comparisons with the commandments of God, through, first of all, a person’s very desire to live according to the will of God.
More often than not, the desire to know God’s will arises spontaneously: five minutes ago we didn’t need it, and suddenly boom, we urgently need to understand God’s will. And most often in everyday situations that do not concern the main thing.
Here, some life circumstances become the main thing: to get married or not to get married, to go left, right or straight, what will you lose - a horse, a head or something else, or vice versa will you gain? The person begins, as if blindfolded, to poke in different directions.
I think knowing God's will is one of the main tasks human life, the urgent task of every day. This is one of the main requests of the Lord’s Prayer, to which people do not pay enough attention.
Yes, we say “Thy will be done” at least five times a day. But we ourselves internally want “everything to be fine” according to our own ideas...
Vladyka Anthony of Sourozh very often said that when we say “Thy will be done,” we actually really want our will to be, but so that at that moment it coincides with the will of God, is sanctioned, approved by Him. At its core, this is a crafty idea.
The will of God is neither a secret, nor a secret, nor some kind of code that needs to be deciphered; to know it, you don’t have to go to the elders, you don’t have to specifically ask someone else about it.
The Monk Abba Dorotheos writes about it this way:
“Another may think: if someone does not have a person whom he could question, then what should he do in this case? If someone wants to truly, with all his heart, fulfill the will of God, then God will never leave him, but will instruct him in every possible way according to His will. Truly, if someone directs his heart according to the will of God, then God will enlighten the little child to tell him His will. If someone does not want to sincerely do the will of God, then even though he will go to the prophet, and God will put it on the prophet’s heart to answer him, in accordance with his corrupted heart, as the Scripture says: and if a prophet is deceived and speaks a word, the Lord has deceived that prophet. (Ezek. 14:9).”
Although every person, to one degree or another, suffers from some kind of internal spiritual deafness. Brodsky has this line: “I’m a little deaf. God, I am blind." Developing this inner hearing is one of the main spiritual tasks of a believer.
There are people who are born with an absolute ear for music, but there are those who do not hit the notes. But with constant practice, they can develop their missing ear for music. Even if not to the absolute extent. The same thing happens to a person who wants to know the will of God.
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What spiritual exercises are needed here?
Yes, no special exercises, you just need a great desire to hear and trust God. This is a serious struggle with oneself, which is called asceticism. Here is the main center of asceticism, when instead of yourself, instead of all your ambitions, you put God at the center.
- How can we understand that a person is really fulfilling the will of God, and is not acting arbitrarily, hiding behind it? So the holy righteous John of Kronstadt boldly prayed for the recovery of those asking and knew that he was fulfilling the will of God. On the other hand, it’s so easy, hiding behind the fact that you act according to the will of God, to do something unknown...
Of course, the concept of “God’s will” in itself can be used, like everything in human life, simply for some kind of manipulation. It is too easy to arbitrarily attract God to your side, to use the will of God to justify the suffering of someone else, your own mistakes and your own inaction, stupidity, sin, and malice.
We attribute a lot of things to God. God is often on our trial, as the accused. The will of God is unknown to us only because we do not want to know it. We replace it with our fictions and use it to realize some false aspirations.
The real will of God is unobtrusive, very tactful. Unfortunately, anyone can easily use this phrase to their advantage. People manipulate God. It’s easy for us to justify our crimes or sins all the time by saying that God is with us.
We see this happening before our eyes today. How people with the words “God’s Will” on their T-shirts hit their opponents in the face, insult them, and send them to hell. Is it God’s will to beat and insult? But some people believe that they themselves are the will of God. How to dissuade them from this? I don't know.
The will of God, war and commandments
- But still, how not to make a mistake, to recognize the true will of God, and not something arbitrary?
A huge number of things are most often done according to our own will, according to our desire, because when a person wants his will to be, it is done. When a person wants God's will to be done and says, “Thy will be done,” and opens the door of his heart to God, then little by little the person's life is taken into God's hands. And when a person does not want this, then God says to him: “thy will be done, please.”
The question arises about our freedom, in which the Lord does not interfere, for the sake of which He limits His absolute freedom.
The Gospel tells us that God's will is the salvation of all people. God came into the world so that no one would perish. Our personal knowledge of the will of God lies in the knowledge of God, which also reveals the Gospel for us: “Let them know You, the only true God"(John 17:3), says Jesus Christ.
These words are heard at the Last Supper, at which the Lord washes the feet of His disciples and appears before them as sacrificial, merciful, saving love. Where the Lord reveals the will of God, showing the disciples and all of us the image of service and love, so that we do the same.
After washing the feet of his disciples, Christ says: “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you speak correctly, for I am exactly that. So, if I, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, then you should wash each other’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do the same as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. If you know this, blessed are you when you do it” (John 13:12-17).
Thus, God's will for each of us is revealed as a task for each of us to be like Christ, to be involved in Him and co-natural in His love. His will is also in that first commandment - “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).
His will is this too: “...love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).
And, for example, in this: “Judge not, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).
The Gospel word and the apostolic word, the word of the New Testament - all this is a manifestation of God's will for each of us. There is no will of God for sin, for insulting another person, for humiliating other people, for people to kill each other, even if their banners say: “God is with us.”
- It turns out that during a war there is a violation of the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” But, for example, the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War who defended their homeland and family, did they really go against the will of the Lord?
It is obvious that there is God’s will to protect from violence, to protect, among other things, one’s Fatherland from “the presence of foreigners,” from the ruin and enslavement of one’s people. But at the same time, there is no will of God for hatred, for murder, for revenge.
You just need to understand that those who defended their Motherland then had no other choice at the moment. But any war is a tragedy and a sin. There are no just wars.
In Christian times, all soldiers returning from war performed penance. All, despite any seemingly just war, in defense of their homeland. Because it is impossible to keep yourself pure, in love and in union with God when you have a weapon in your hands and, whether you want it or not, you are obliged to kill.
I would also like to note this: when we talk about love for enemies, about the Gospel, when we understand that the Gospel is God’s will for us, then sometimes we really want to justify our dislike and reluctance to live according to the Gospel with some almost patristic sayings.
Well, for example: give a quote taken from John Chrysostom “sanctify your hand with a blow” or the opinion of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow that: love your enemies, beat the enemies of the Fatherland and abhor the enemies of Christ. It would seem that such a succinct phrase, everything falls into place, I always have the right to choose who is the enemy of Christ among those whom I hate and can easily name: “You are simply an enemy of Christ, and that is why I abhor you; you are an enemy of my Fatherland, that’s why I beat you.”
But here it is enough to simply look at the Gospel and see: who crucified Christ and for whom Christ prayed, asked his Father, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)? Were they the enemies of Christ? Yes, these were the enemies of Christ, and He prayed for them. Were these the enemies of the Fatherland, the Romans? Yes, these were enemies of the Fatherland. Were these His personal enemies? Most likely no. Because Christ personally cannot have enemies. A person cannot be an enemy to Christ. There is only one creature that can truly be called an enemy - this is Satan.
And therefore, yes, of course, when your Fatherland was surrounded by enemies and your house was burned, then you must fight for it and you must fight off these enemies, you must overcome them. But the enemy immediately ceases to be an enemy as soon as he lays down his arms.
Let us remember how Russian women, whose loved ones were killed by these same Germans, treated the captured Germans, how they shared a meager piece of bread with them. Why at that moment did they cease to be personal enemies for them, remaining enemies of the Fatherland? The love and forgiveness that the captured Germans saw then, they still remember and describe in their memoirs...
If one of your neighbors suddenly insulted your faith, you probably have the right from this person to cross to the other side of the street. But this does not mean that you are freed from the right to pray for him, to wish for the salvation of his soul and in every possible way to use your own love for the conversion of this person.
Is it God's will for suffering?
The Apostle Paul says: “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18) This means that everything that happens to us is according to His will. Or do we act on our own?
I think it is correct to quote the entire quote: “Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).
God's will for us is that we live in a state of prayer, joy and thanksgiving. So that our condition, our completeness, lies in these three important actions of the Christian life.
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A person clearly does not want illness or trouble for himself. But all this happens. By whose will?
Even if a person does not want troubles and illnesses to happen in his life, he cannot always avoid them. But there is no will of God for suffering. There is no will of God on the mountain. There is no will of God for the death and torture of children. It is not the will of God for there to be wars or bombing of Donetsk and Lugansk, for Christians in that terrible conflict, located on opposite sides of the front line, taking communion in Orthodox churches, and then going to kill each other.
God doesn't like our suffering. Therefore, when people say: “God sent the disease,” this is a lie, blasphemy. God does not send diseases.
They exist in the world because the world lies in evil.
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It is difficult for a person to understand all this, especially when he finds himself in trouble...
We do not understand many things in life, relying on God. But if we know that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), we should not be afraid. And we don’t just know from books, but we understand through our experience of living according to the Gospel, then we may not understand God, at some point we may not even hear Him, but we can trust Him and not be afraid.
Because if God is love, even something happening to us at the moment seems completely strange and inexplicable, we can understand and trust God, know that with Him there can be no catastrophe.
Let us remember how the apostles, seeing that they were drowning in a boat during a storm, and thinking that Christ was sleeping, were horrified that everything was already over and now they would drown, and no one would save them. Christ said to them: “Why are you so fearful, you of little faith!” (Matthew 8:26) And - stopped the storm.
The same thing that happens to the apostles happens to us. It seems to us that God does not care about us. But in fact, we must follow the path of trust in God to the end, if we know that He is love.
- But still, if we take our everyday life. I would like to understand where His plan for us is, what it is. A person stubbornly applies to a university and is accepted the fifth time. Or maybe I should have stopped and chosen a different profession? Or do childless spouses undergo treatment, spend a lot of effort to become parents, and maybe, according to God’s plan, they don’t need to do this? And sometimes, after years of treatment for childlessness, spouses suddenly give birth to triplets...
It seems to me that God may have many plans for a person. A person can choose different paths in life, and this does not mean that he violates the will of God or lives according to it. Because the will of God can be for different things for one particular person, and at different periods of his life. And sometimes it is God’s will for a person to go astray and through failure to learn some important things for himself.
The will of God is educational. It is not a test for the Unified State Examination, where you need to fill in the required box with a tick: if you fill it out, you find out, if you don’t fill it out, you make a mistake, and then your whole life is going wrong. Not true. The will of God happens to us constantly, as a kind of movement of us in this life on the path to God, along which we wander, fall, are mistaken, go in the wrong direction, and enter the clear path.
And the whole path of our life is the amazing upbringing of us by God. This does not mean that if I entered somewhere or did not enter, this is God’s will for me forever or the absence thereof. There is no need to be afraid of this, that's all. Because the will of God is a manifestation of God’s love for us, for our lives, this is the path to salvation. And not the path of entering or not entering the institute...
You need to trust God and stop being afraid of God’s will, because it seems to a person that God’s will is such an unpleasant, unbearable thing, when you have to forget about everything, give up everything, break yourself completely, reshape yourself and, above all, lose your freedom.
And a person really wants to be free. And so it seems to him that if God’s will, then this is just deprivation of freedom, such torment, an incredible feat.
But in fact, the will of God is freedom, because the word “will” is a synonym for the word “freedom”. And when a person truly understands this, he will not be afraid of anything.
Late in the evening of November 19, 2009, in the Moscow Church of the Apostle Thomas on Kantemirovskaya: an unknown person in a mask entered the temple and shot him at point-blank range. On this day we publish a conversation about. Daniel, dedicated to the manifestation of God’s will in our lives...
“Is there God’s will for some event in my life and for some of my actions?” We ask ourselves questions like these all the time. How can we understand whether we act in life according to the will of God or on our own? And in general, do we understand the will of God correctly? After all, in fact, God’s will is freedom, because the word “will” is a synonym for the word “freedom”. And when a person truly understands this, he will not be afraid of anything.
“Do not be foolish, but know what the will of God is.”(Eph.5:17). The question is perhaps one of the most important in our lives. Agree that the will of God is the most accurate and true measure of how we should act. If we act according to our own will, we will certainly make a mistake, because, not knowing the will of the Highest God, the Revelation of the Creator, we are doomed to wander in the darkness of this world.
Many believe that the will of God is known and can only be learned by special ascetics of piety, elders, and that it is supposedly inaccessible to an ordinary Christian. If we turn to God's sacred Word, we will see that this is not so. All Christians without exception are told: “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God... do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2), “Do not be foolish, but know what the will of God is”(Eph.5:17). There are also many other places in Scripture that require Christians to know the will of God. Thus, Holy Scripture affirms that a Christian can and should know the will of the Lord.
How can we know the will of God? To begin with, we must understand what the will of God is, what it is, what it is by nature.
We, unlike sectarians and Buddhists, affirm that God is a Personality, He has self-awareness, He can say I, He has sovereign power over all beings in the Universe by right of the Creator and, by virtue of this, has absolute will.
The will of God has main properties. The first of these properties is righteousness: the will of God is the source of righteousness, the source of good.“No one is good except God alone”(Matthew 19:17)- said our Lord, that is, in a strict sense, goodness is inherent only in God, and for us - by participation in this good. We can draw from this ocean of goodness, goodness, but in ourselves we are not goodness, we are goodness, but not goodness. God is good, He is an ocean of good, therefore it cannot be said that the will of God is evil, that is, all evil is obviously not from God.
The second property of God’s will is perfection, that is, everything that is not perfect serves to imperfection and does not correspond to the will of God. We must understand the basic axioms, because with the help of such a definition a lot is cut off.
Further, we must understand that the will of God is omnipotent, that is, God can do whatever he wants, therefore it will be wrong to say that God can do one thing or another, but cannot do another, unless this other thing is something unrighteous. These are very important principles that we must keep in our minds in order to know what the will of the Lord is.
We must also understand that the will of God serves to fulfill His global plan. When we talk about the will of God regarding us, it concerns us personally, but it is connected with general plan the entire universe, because each of us was conceived by God the Father even before the creation of the Universe. There was a plan for us before the beginning of time, and our task is to reveal precisely this plan. The global implementation of this plan is for all beings of earth and heaven to unite under one Head - the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole world was created for Christ, therefore our global goal is to meet in Christ, unite with Christ and have Christ as our Head, so that everything is headed by Christ, so that Christ always acts in all of us. This is the global goal of the will of God, in which all private manifestations are reduced as private manifestations of this single global plan.
Very often, people who seek the will of God, who want to know something about it, perceive it discretely, that is, they try to divide it into pieces. For example, is it God's will to buy a car or not? But if we pose the question this way, then very often the question simply will not make any sense due to the questioner’s lack of understanding of his place in the general structure of the universe.
There are a number of things common to all creatures in the Universe, in which the will of God is manifested. When the Jews asked Christ what is the will of God and what works should we do to fulfill the will of God? “Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”(John 6:29)- this is the first command of the will of God. Anything that interferes with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a violation of the will of God. For example, a person who does not believe in Jesus Christ violates the will of the Lord. It is also said that God’s will is for us to abstain from fornication and not be angry, therefore no malice or hatred can be justified by the will of God. We can say that the main core of determining the will of God is the Commandments of the Lord, the first of which is the Orthodox faith.
The question arises: does this or that action correspond to the will of God? First, we check whether it contradicts or does not contradict faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The second is whether it contradicts the Commandments. If it contradicts the Commandments or faith in Christ the Savior, then this is obviously against the will of God and is obviously not discussed.
Where do we get the concept of the will of God? Saint Anthony the Great said: in order not to make mistakes, you must never condemn anyone and have the testimony of Holy Scripture for everything you do.
Further, we draw the will of God from the Holy Scriptures, but how, what is the condition for reading the Holy Scriptures? To properly understand Holy Scripture, first, it must be read prayerfully, that is, read not as a text for discussion, but as a text that is understood prayerfully. Secondly, in order to understand the Holy Scripture, as the Apostle says, one must not conform to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind(Rom.12:1). In Greek, “not to be conformed” means not to have a common scheme with this age, that is, when they say: “in our time everyone thinks like that” - this is a kind of scheme, we should not conform to it. If we want to know the will of God, we must deliberately discard and ignore what one of the 17th century sages, Francis Bacon, called “the idols of the crowd,” that is, the opinions of others. Before starting to read the Word of God, it is necessary to cleanse our minds of these prejudices - this is a necessary condition, otherwise we will read what we want. There is always such a temptation to look for what we want, and not what God commands. Further the Apostle says that we must be transformed by the renewing of your mind(Rom.12:2), that is, we must renew the intellect, the mind. How? “Transforming” (in Greek “metamorphosis”), that is, changing the way of thinking. This is a conscious work that every Christian is obliged to carry out from the moment of his Baptism. That is, everything we do, all thoughts must be tested by God and must be purified by His Word. Our task is to begin to think biblically, in a patristic way. It is necessary to improve your thinking process and this must be done continuously. Actually, for this purpose there is a rule of daily reading of the Holy Scriptures; it exists as a tuning fork for tuning the mind, which should gradually begin to function differently. It is necessary to change the way of thinking: I think this way, but the Bible thinks differently, so much the worse for my point of view - the general setting should be exactly like this. This process of tuning the mind takes a lot of intellectual power. Where to get strength from? It is necessary to remember that all these powers are given to us, they are invested in us at the moment of anointing. As the Apostle John the Theologian said: “The anointing that you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; But just as this very anointing teaches you all things, and is true and without falsehood, whatever it has taught you, continue in it” (1 John 2:27), that is, it is necessary to use the gift of anointing, which was invested in you immediately after the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Inside you, in the depths of your heart, lie the spiritual powers of the Holy Spirit, therefore it is necessary to ask the Holy Spirit to give you strength, since He comes to you from the moment of Baptism, you need to turn to Him for help. Do not try to renew your mind on your own, but continuously, every time you want to do this, turn to the Lord God the Holy Spirit for help.
What to do next? Now we have a difficult situation, we immediately check: we take the Word of God, pray, and begin to read. How should we understand it? We must understand the Word of God as the Holy Fathers understood it. Not the way we want to understand him, but the way he understands him Orthodox Church. To do this, it is necessary to engage in work that we have now somehow forgotten: it is necessary to study the Holy Scriptures. The first Psalm says: “But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night! And he will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which brings forth its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither” (Ps. 1:2-3), that is, it is necessary to delve into the Law of God, reflect on it, read into it, always relying on the Holy Fathers. We now live in a unique time when many works of the Holy Fathers are available in libraries and stores. We need to study the Holy Scripture so that in a difficult moment we have a practice, a habit, a habitual thought that should immediately enter us and test our mind.
Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin
Then we find out God’s will, a difficult moment arises and there is no answer yet obvious to us in the Holy Scriptures. How to find out the will of God in such a situation? This is why the Holy Church exists. It is necessary to go to the Church of God and ask the priest for advice, so that the advice is given based on the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. Justification is necessary for us to learn. After all, every episode of our life is a new stage of learning, therefore, if we take the Holy Fathers, they always referred to the Holy Scriptures and other Holy Fathers. Thus, the process of teaching a person took place, so that next time it would be easier for a person to make a choice so that he learns, and not just: I need specific advice for a specific moment, period. An ordained priest has the power to teach the “verbal sheep” the Word of God, not his own word, but precisely the Word of God. There is a situation when a priest may be incompetent in some matter. Priests are different, have different spiritual levels, but there are questions that are more complex and he can advise you to venerate one of the saints or send him to some experienced priest, elder or bishop who stands above him. People go to the elder for specific important questions of spiritual life, for example, how to deal with this or that sin, or learn this or that virtue, or to do or not do some very important thing.
Now about the situation when it is not possible to go to the priest, to the elder, that is, there is some important issue that requires an urgent solution. There are several ways to find out God's will in such a situation.
The first method, based on the Holy Scriptures, is by lot. As you remember, the Holy Apostles chose the new Apostle Matthew by lot in place of Judas. They did this in strict accordance with the Book of Proverbs, which says: “The lot is cast on the floor, but its entire decision is from the Lord.”(Proverbs 16:33). How to cast lots correctly? In order to cast lots, you must, naturally, know what to choose from. If you cast lots: to have an abortion or not to have an abortion, then God, obviously, will not bless such a lot, because it is obviously not necessary to have an abortion. The lot is cast when there are several options, all of which do not contradict the will of God expressed in the Holy Scriptures, do not contradict the direct Commandments of the Lord, but which we cannot decide. First they pray to the Lord, usually they read the Lord’s Prayer to the Heavenly King, describe some three options, cast lots or throw away pebbles, without looking at random. There is also a rule: if the matter is important, we doubt it, then it is good to draw lots three times. This is a directly biblical way of determining the will of God, which is based directly on the teachings of the saints and in no way is fortune telling or anything else.
Further, there is a second way of recognizing the will of God, which is also associated with the Holy Scriptures. It looks like one sin and I ask you to clearly distinguish one simple thing. The method is that you open the text of the Holy Scripture and begin to read it in a row, praying, asking God to reveal His will. Please note that you begin to read in a row, and do not try to do it as during fortune telling: randomly open and close, open and close. One must understand the related text, the related thought of God. When you read the word of God with prayer, one or another sacred text very often catches your eye. This method is perhaps one of the most reliable for determining the will of God, because God Himself continues to speak through His Living Word.
Also, the will of God can be determined even when the Word of God is not at hand. Father Seraphim Sakharov, a famous confessor, speaks, relying on the authority of St. Silouan of Athos, the following words: in such cases, you need to clear your mind of all the pros and cons, all decisions, stop the thought process, stop considering possible solutions. Stop the process of digging inside yourself, there are certain ways to do this: close your eyes well, take a deep breath, breathe out and after that, directly turning to the Lord God, ask Him to reveal His will and after that, consider the first thought that comes to be the will of God . This method cannot be abused, it should be used only when there is no direct evidence in the Holy Scriptures, there is no way to find out by lot, or ask a priest. People often abuse this method, thinking that any thought that comes to mind is the will of God and then go to extremes.
Now, as for things directly related to knowing the will of God, but at the same time very dangerous. We know from the Word of God that the Bible describes a number of cases where the will of God was revealed through dreams or visions. You need to be extremely careful here. As Jesus son of Sirach says: “Dreams have led many astray, and those who trusted in them have fallen.”(Sir.35:7). Remember that only that dream can be recognized as from God if, firstly, it is not caused by my previous activities: if I do something before going to bed, and then I dreamed about it, this does not mean that the will of God has been revealed, my thinking process continues in my sleep. You can be deceived here, but this is the most harmless of deceptions. We also need to distinguish between dreams that come from the devil. Remember that dreams from the devil lead a person either to a state of pride or to a state of despair, therefore, as John Climacus said: believe only those dreams that call you to repentance, but if they plunge you into despondency, then do not believe them either. God does not like despondency, God does not like despair. We must remember that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of peace and every time God speaks, He speaks in such a way that a person is at peace at the same time. When God speaks, a person becomes quiet, his mind calms down. When the words of God sound in a human head, they are always accompanied by a feeling of reverence for God, fear of the Lord, because “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord”(Prov.9:10). When God personally addresses a person, it is no longer possible to confuse this, but we must remember that we can and cannot count on this at the same time. Why? On the one hand, we can, because we are children of God, God, of course, can turn to us, but we cannot demand that God forcibly tell us something. God doesn't owe anyone anything.
When God speaks, it can no longer be confused. The external signs are the very signs that the Apostle Paul lists: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Gal.5:22-23). When God acts in a person, precisely these qualities that the Apostle speaks about arise in him. This is a clear diagnosis. If a person talks to God and is hysterical after that, it is obvious that he did not talk to God.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”
(Prov. 3:5-6)
Believers understand well that God has a will for them, but usually they are afraid not to notice, to miss it. I remember how many funny stories I heard as a teenager about how to know the will of God. How greatly people were mistaken, believing that the methods of Gideon, lot or a calm heart were the most verified.
Here is one such striking example. During the fellowship, one preacher told how he found his wife. He asked God to make it so that when he comes to church and offers to sing a certain song in a duet, the sister who agrees is his betrothed. And so he did. And that sister even had a dream that her fiancé was the one who would invite her to sing just that song. This is such a bright story. We were delighted - for us it was the height of spirituality. We had no idea that this is the height of human subjectivity, weak spirituality, openness to self-deception and even satanic lies, that God would stoop (yes, God can do that) to such a level for the sake of his children. We were young then and didn’t understand much. Now I look back and see how many mistakes were made by many comrades through such a “handicraft” way of knowing the will of God.
1. The Lord has His will for us
God Himself is interested in doing His will. Let's remember at least the well-known prayer “Our Father”: “...thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” He did not give His will so that it would not be fulfilled. God is the ruler of the whole world and wants the world to follow His desires. We must emphasize the fact that God has a will for you personally. But without personal knowledge of God, without peace with Him, without a real relationship with Him, it is impossible to understand His will.
2. Source of God's will
The will of God is available to all people. Not just a few particularly spiritual and dedicated men of God. It is revealed in God's Book - the Bible.
First, God's will regarding moral character is clearly and clearly decided. For example, the Ten Commandments, the relationship between husband and wife, etc.
Second, from Scripture we derive principles for various situations in life. Life decisions must be made based on these principles.
3. Knowing the will of God
First, you must have a desire to fulfill the will of God. For example, the story of the people of Israel and the prophet Jeremiah: should they have gone to Egypt or not? Although people said that they would do the will of God, they wanted it to be the same as theirs, and therefore did not submit (Jer. 42-43 ch.).
Also, we must understand that the will of God is always specific, however, God nurtures our faith and reveals everything to us little by little. This also means that we need to move forward in knowing God. That is why it is worth collecting information and asking questions, studying the Bible, listening to mature people, noticing circumstances...
God always provides the necessary amount of information to make the right decisions. Therefore, when thinking about alternative options, you should not take everything to the point of absurdity and engage in mathematical calculations. But it is important to fill your mind with God's Word and keep your heart pure. You can't rely on feelings.
4. God's leading
We often ask the wrong questions of God in our efforts to know His will. For example: who should I start a family with, where to work or where to live. Yes, these questions are quite fair, but they are not the main ones, they are secondary. It is precisely because we lose sight of the main questions and direct our minds to secondary ones that we do not receive answers to either one or the other.
God has already revealed His will, we just want to hear something different. After all, when the Lord accepted us into His family, He had a specific mission and goal for us.
Knowledge of the will of God is carried out by the inductive method, that is, from the general to the specific - we fulfill what is revealed in Scripture, and God directs us in the right direction, resolving such questions as: where to work, with whom to start a family, where to live, etc. etc. If I do not fulfill the already revealed will of God, then I should not hope to solve the remaining issues of my life.
There are many things that do not require seeking the will of God, but involve us using the abilities already given by our Creator. For example, healthy logic. Or simply what we like best. For example, which car to buy - white or red, Lada or BMW.
“But solid food belongs to those who are perfect, whose senses are accustomed by skill to distinguish between good and evil” (Heb. 5:14).
It is necessary to subordinate all areas of your life to God, and begin to learn to apply and understand the will of God.
Good luck friend! God is already waiting for you in your future. He has His will for you. You personally!
We live in a world where everyone relies only on themselves, moreover, we live in a world where a cult of strong people exists and is imposed, who crush everything, conquer everyone, and are always successful. But if we look closely at this promoted image of a successful, strong person who meets all the standards of the time, we will see that behind all this there is emptiness, because no matter how strong, powerful and successful a person is, he can lose it all in one moment, everything will crumble if there is no God behind it. Jesus compared such people to a man who built his house on sand: “...everyone who hears... My words and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand; and the rain fell, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and he fell, and his fall was great.” And vice versa, the one who listens to His words and fulfills them will be like “a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-27).
God's will for man is that God wants no one to perish, but everyone to have eternal life; God's will for man is the salvation of man. And at the same time, it is love towards him, although often this love is not even clear to a person, because he has his own ideas about what this love should be. The will of God towards man is both God’s favor and gracious mercy towards him. Previously, in Rus' they used the following phrase: “God takes pity on him,” and this meant simultaneously both that God takes pity on a person, and that He pities a person by His participation in his fate, by His visit to him.
The will of God is always good, and this is what we often forget when we grumble about what is sent to us.
– It is difficult not to grumble when it is illness or sorrow. Although here you can remember the answer of the old woman crying at the temple. When the priest asked her: “What is she crying about?” - she said: “God probably completely forgot me: this year I was not sick, and no sorrows happened to me.”
– Grief and suffering cleanse a person. Through grief, a person becomes stronger, he begins to perceive the world around him and himself in it differently. This is also a manifestation of the will of God when the Lord grants something to a person. And even though at first this may not be understood by a person, but after going through such trials and being cleansed, a person can perceive others differently, become different.
We always have a problem - coordinating our will with the will of the Lord. God manifests His will independently of ours; no one can interfere with its fulfillment. I will say it more harshly: man, as a creation, cannot even enter this sphere, he cannot intrude there. On the other hand, man is the creation of God, and, naturally, he depends on his Creator, and in a certain way participates in His plan, carries it out. Moreover, as God’s beloved creation, he possesses such a gift from God as free will. And very often a clash arises in a person between the will of the Lord and his own will, while even the freedom of choice given to him by God is understood in his own way. Free will is, first of all, will free from the burden of sin. And a person perceives this gift most often in the sense: I do what I want.
– So it turns out that free will is a gift from God, and we are using it incorrectly?
– Of course, because it is given to man to know the truth. Our freedom, free will is always a choice. For holy people it is a choice between lesser and greater good, for an ordinary person it is a choice between sin and virtue. But even people who are in sin are also not deprived of this gift - free will, they also have a choice - this is a choice between a greater sin and a lesser one.
– I would like you to stop at the fact that man cannot interfere with the fulfillment of God’s will. It seems to me that a lack of understanding of this often leads to the fact that we resist the inevitable just because it is inconvenient, unpleasant, etc.
– There is the Book of the Prophet Jonah in the Bible, it takes up a little more than a page – read it. It tells how to Jonah “the word of the Lord came” to rise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it, because his atrocities had reached God (Jon. 1:1). The Lord, by virtue of His mercy, desired the salvation of these people, “more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know how to distinguish their right hand from their left” (Jon. 4:11). But Jonah is trying to avoid fulfilling the will of God, he does not want to go and preach, he is not ready to be a prophet. By the way, many people mistakenly believe that prophets are predictors of the future; in fact, prophets are those who proclaim the will of God. So, Jonah, despite the fact that he was called by God to fulfill His will, tries in every possible way to avoid this - he even boards a ship that was heading in the other direction, as it is said, to “flee ... from the presence of the Lord” (Jon. 1.3 ). When we read the book, we understand the character of Jonah, it’s all similar to us, to our actions, although it happened in the 700s BC. Jonah did not manage to evade fulfilling the will of the Lord; he finally came to Nineveh, preached there, and the Ninevites believed in God and repented. God's will for the salvation of Nineveh was fulfilled.
– That is, you cannot evade fulfilling God’s will, otherwise the Lord will punish you?
- Well, this is not a punishment. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16), says Jesus. It’s just that a person who goes against the will of God, like King Saul, finds himself outside the grace of God, he begins to live outside of it. I would like to give an example from the life of St. Innocent, the first bishop of Kamchatka, Aleutian and Kuril. In 1823, Bishop Mikhail of Irkutsk received a decree from the Holy Synod, which ordered that a priest be sent to the colony of the Russian-American Company on the island of Unalaska, among the Aleuts. The lot fell on one priest, who, citing the illness of his wife, refused. But twenty-six-year-old Father John, the future saint (in the world he was Ivan Popov), suddenly, feeling a calling within himself, he himself asked to go to this remote corner Russian Empire. And together with his wife and one-year-old child on the ship “Constantine”, having passed through a lot of hardships and dangers, he reached the Aleutian ridge. Subsequently, he will translate the Catechism, prayers, the Gospel, the Acts of the Holy Apostles for the Aleuts and write the famous book in the Aleut-Lisev language: “Indicating the way to the Kingdom of Heaven.” This book will go through dozens of editions and will be translated into many languages. The children of Saint Innocent will graduate from the St. Petersburg Academy, and during his lifetime he himself will be called the Apostle of America and Siberia. But the fate of the priest, who evaded the lot that fell to him, turned out differently: he divorced his mother, and there were canonical violations, and ended his life as a soldier.
– So, a person who fulfills the will of God also receives relief?
– I would not pose the question in this way, because in this case there is a moment: “You - to me, I - to you.” The point here is about calling: if a person feels a calling within himself, he will go to the end, he will begin to fulfill this calling, no matter what he is. Because it is an internal motivating relationship between the creation and Its Creator. How to explain this when a person feels called? God called, and man cannot help but go. Although it requires strength from him. After all, every time a person begins to do the will of God, he enters into an invisible battle.
– explain what this is – “invisible abuse”?
– In order for even unchurched people to understand what this is, let’s remember how difficult it is sometimes to get up in the morning and go to church for service if you have firmly decided to do this in the evening. A lot of obstacles of various kinds arise, which - and a believer will immediately understand this - are not just of an everyday nature. This is something that has to do with the spiritual world - after all, you are going to go to God, and not to the theater, for example. All these are obstacles, no matter in what form they appear, against our good desire to become closer to God. This example makes it clear what “spiritual warfare” is. And we must understand that everyone who does the will of God condemns himself to some kind of spiritual feat. But a person must perform it, look, the word “feat” has the same root as the word “movement,” and a person must move spiritually.
– But how to recognize the will of God? What are the signs that can be interpreted as a manifestation of the Lord's will for you?
– This happens in different ways: sometimes these are life circumstances, sometimes something comes to us during prayer, sometimes in a dream or even through friends. But it will always be through the word. Everything goes through the word: a person can hear one phrase, and it will change his whole life, as it happened with a not very church-going person, who is described in the book “Frank Stories of a Wanderer to His Spiritual Father.” Having entered the temple, he heard the words read from the apostolic epistle: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) - and suddenly this phrase became defining for him - it determined his entire future life. He wanted to know what it means to pray unceasingly. It happens that a person does not even understand what is happening to him, but he is simply ready to hear the will of God and fulfill it.
Bishop John of Belgorod
“Is it God’s will for me to marry this man?” “What about going to work in a specific organization in order to enter such and such an institute?” “Is God’s will for some event in my life and for some action of mine?” We ask ourselves questions like these all the time. How can we understand whether we act in life according to the will of God or on our own? And in general, do we understand the will of God correctly? Answered by Archpriest Alexy Uminsky, rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Khokhly.
– How can God’s will manifest itself in our lives?
– I think it can manifest itself through the circumstances of life, the movement of our conscience, the reflections of the human mind, through comparisons with the commandments of God, through, first of all, a person’s very desire to live according to the will of God.
More often than not, the desire to know God’s will arises spontaneously: five minutes ago we didn’t need it, and suddenly boom, we urgently need to understand God’s will. And most often in everyday situations that do not concern the main thing.
Here some life circumstances become the main thing: to get married or not to get married, to go left, right or straight, what will you lose - a horse, a head or something else, or vice versa will you gain? The person begins, as if blindfolded, to poke in different directions.
I think that knowing the will of God is one of the main tasks of human life, an urgent task every day. This is one of the main requests of the Lord’s Prayer, to which people do not pay enough attention.
– Yes, we say: “Thy will be done” at least five times a day. But we ourselves internally want “everything to be fine” according to our own ideas...
– Vladyka Anthony of Sourozh very often said that when we say “Thy will be done,” we actually really want our will to be, but so that at that moment it coincides with the will of God, is sanctioned, approved by Him. At its core, this is a crafty idea.
The will of God is neither a secret, nor a secret, nor some kind of code that needs to be deciphered; to know it, you don’t have to go to the elders, you don’t have to specifically ask someone else about it.
The Monk Abba Dorotheos writes about it this way:
“Another may think: if someone does not have a person whom he could question, then what should he do in this case? If someone wants to truly, with all his heart, fulfill the will of God, then God will never leave him, but will instruct him in every possible way according to His will. Truly, if someone directs his heart according to the will of God, then God will enlighten the little child to tell him His will. If someone does not want to sincerely do the will of God, then even though he will go to the prophet, and God will put it on the prophet’s heart to answer him, in accordance with his corrupted heart, as the Scripture says: and if a prophet is deceived and speaks a word, the Lord has deceived that prophet. (Ezek. 14:9).”
Although every person, to one degree or another, suffers from some kind of internal spiritual deafness. Brodsky has this line: “I’m a little deaf. God, I am blind." Developing this inner hearing is one of the main spiritual tasks of a believer.
There are people who are born with an absolute ear for music, but there are those who do not hit the notes. But with constant practice, they can develop their missing ear for music. Even if not to the absolute extent. The same thing happens to a person who wants to know the will of God.
– What spiritual exercises are needed here?
– Yes, no special exercises, you just need a great desire to hear and trust God. This is a serious struggle with oneself, which is called asceticism. Here is the main center of asceticism, when instead of yourself, instead of all your ambitions, you put God at the center.
– How can we understand that a person is really fulfilling the will of God, and is not acting arbitrarily, hiding behind it? So the holy righteous John of Kronstadt boldly prayed for the recovery of those asking and knew that he was fulfilling the will of God. On the other hand, it’s so easy, hiding behind the fact that you act according to the will of God, to do something unknown...
– Of course, the concept of “God’s will” in itself can be used, like everything in human life, simply for some kind of manipulation. It is too easy to arbitrarily attract God to your side, to use the will of God to justify the suffering of someone else, your own mistakes and your own inaction, stupidity, sin, and malice.
We attribute a lot of things to God. God is often on our trial, as the accused. The will of God is unknown to us only because we do not want to know it. We replace it with our fictions and use it to realize some false aspirations.
The real will of God is unobtrusive, very tactful. Unfortunately, anyone can easily use this phrase to their advantage. People manipulate God. It’s easy for us to justify our crimes or sins all the time by saying that God is with us.
We see this happening before our eyes today. How people with the words “God’s Will” on their T-shirts hit their opponents in the face, insult them, and send them to hell. Is it God’s will to beat and insult? But some people believe that they themselves are the will of God. How to dissuade them from this? I don't know.
The will of God, war and commandments
– But still, how not to make a mistake, to recognize the true will of God, and not something arbitrary?
– A huge number of things are most often done according to our own will, according to our desire, because when a person wants his will to be done, it is done. When a person wants God's will to be done and says, “Thy will be done,” and opens the door of his heart to God, then little by little the person's life is taken into God's hands. And when a person does not want this, then God says to him: “thy will be done, please.”
The question arises about our freedom, in which the Lord does not interfere, for the sake of which He limits His absolute freedom.
The Gospel tells us that God's will is the salvation of all people. God came into the world so that no one would perish. Our personal knowledge of the will of God lies in the knowledge of God, which for us also reveals the Gospel: “That they may know You, the only true God” (John 17:3), says Jesus Christ.
These words are heard at the Last Supper, at which the Lord washes the feet of His disciples and appears before them as sacrificial, merciful, saving love. Where the Lord reveals the will of God, showing the disciples and all of us the image of service and love, so that we do the same.
After washing the feet of his disciples, Christ says: “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you speak correctly, for I am exactly that. So, if I, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, then you should wash each other’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do the same as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. If you know this, blessed are you when you do it” (John 13:12–17).
Thus, God's will for each of us is revealed as a task for each of us to be like Christ, to be involved in Him and co-natural in His love. His will is also in that first commandment - “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).
His will is this too: “...love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).
And, for example, in this: “Judge not, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).
The Gospel word and the apostolic word, the word of the New Testament - all this is a manifestation of God's will for each of us. There is no will of God for sin, for insulting another person, for humiliating other people, for people to kill each other, even if their banners say: “God is with us.”
– It turns out that during a war there is a violation of the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” But, for example, the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War, who defended their Motherland and family, did they really go against the will of the Lord?
– It is obvious that there is God’s will to protect from violence, to protect, among other things, one’s Fatherland from the “finding of foreigners”, from the ruin and enslavement of one’s people. But at the same time, there is no will of God for hatred, for murder, for revenge.
You just need to understand that those who defended their Motherland then had no other choice at the moment. But any war is a tragedy and a sin. There are no just wars.
In Christian times, all soldiers returning from war performed penance. All, despite any seemingly just war, in defense of their homeland. Because it is impossible to keep yourself pure, in love and in union with God when you have a weapon in your hands and, whether you want it or not, you are obliged to kill.
I would also like to note this: when we talk about love for enemies, about the Gospel, when we understand that the Gospel is God’s will for us, then sometimes we really want to justify our dislike and reluctance to live according to the Gospel with some almost patristic sayings.
Well, for example: give a quote taken from John Chrysostom “sanctify your hand with a blow” or the opinion of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow that: love your enemies, beat the enemies of the Fatherland and abhor the enemies of Christ. It would seem that such a succinct phrase, everything falls into place, I always have the right to choose who is the enemy of Christ among those whom I hate and can easily name: “You are simply an enemy of Christ, and that is why I abhor you; you are an enemy of my Fatherland, that’s why I beat you.”
But here it is enough to simply look at the Gospel and see: who crucified Christ and for whom Christ prayed, asked his Father, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)? Were they the enemies of Christ? Yes, these were the enemies of Christ, and He prayed for them. Were these the enemies of the Fatherland, the Romans? Yes, these were enemies of the Fatherland. Were these His personal enemies? Most likely no. Because Christ personally cannot have enemies. A person cannot be an enemy to Christ. There is only one creature that can truly be called an enemy - this is Satan.
And therefore, yes, of course, when your Fatherland was surrounded by enemies and your house was burned, then you must fight for it and you must fight off these enemies, you must overcome them. But the enemy immediately ceases to be an enemy as soon as he lays down his arms.
Let us remember how Russian women, whose loved ones were killed by these same Germans, treated the captured Germans, how they shared a meager piece of bread with them. Why at that moment did they cease to be personal enemies for them, remaining enemies of the Fatherland? The love and forgiveness that the captured Germans saw then, they still remember and describe in their memoirs...
If one of your neighbors suddenly insulted your faith, you probably have the right from this person to cross to the other side of the street. But this does not mean that you are freed from the right to pray for him, to wish for the salvation of his soul and in every possible way to use your own love for the conversion of this person.
Is it God's will for suffering?
– The Apostle Paul says: “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18) This means that everything that happens to us is according to His will. Or do we act on our own?
– I think it’s correct to quote the entire quote: “Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).
God's will for us is that we live in a state of prayer, joy and thanksgiving. So that our condition, our completeness, lies in these three important actions of the Christian life.
– A person clearly does not want illness or trouble for himself. But all this happens. By whose will?
– Even if a person does not want troubles and illnesses to happen in his life, he cannot always avoid them. But there is no will of God for suffering. There is no will of God on the mountain. There is no will of God for the death and torture of children. It is not the will of God for there to be wars or bombing of Donetsk and Lugansk, for Christians in that terrible conflict, located on opposite sides of the front line, taking communion in Orthodox churches, and then going to kill each other.
God doesn't like our suffering. Therefore, when people say: “God sent the disease,” this is a lie, blasphemy. God does not send diseases.
They exist in the world because the world lies in evil.
– It’s difficult for a person to understand all this, especially when he finds himself in trouble...
– We don’t understand many things in life, relying on God. But if we know that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), we should not be afraid. And we don’t just know from books, but we understand through our experience of living according to the Gospel, then we may not understand God, at some point we may not even hear Him, but we can trust Him and not be afraid.
Because if God is love, even something happening to us at the moment seems completely strange and inexplicable, we can understand and trust God, know that with Him there can be no catastrophe.
Let us remember how the apostles, seeing that they were drowning in a boat during a storm, and thinking that Christ was sleeping, were horrified that everything was already over and now they would drown, and no one would save them. Christ said to them: “Why are you so fearful, you of little faith!” (Matthew 8:26) And - stopped the storm.
The same thing that happens to the apostles happens to us. It seems to us that God does not care about us. But in fact, we must follow the path of trust in God to the end, if we know that He is love.
– But still, if we take our everyday life. I would like to understand where His plan for us is, what it is. A person stubbornly applies to a university and is accepted the fifth time. Or maybe I should have stopped and chosen a different profession? Or do childless spouses undergo treatment, spend a lot of effort to become parents, and maybe, according to God’s plan, they don’t need to do this? And sometimes, after years of treatment for childlessness, spouses suddenly give birth to triplets...
– It seems to me that God may have many plans for a person. A person can choose different paths in life, and this does not mean that he violates the will of God or lives according to it. Because the will of God can be for different things for one particular person, and at different periods of his life. And sometimes it is God’s will for a person to go astray and through failure to learn some important things for himself.
The will of God is educational. It is not a test for the Unified State Exam, where you need to fill in the required box with a tick: if you fill it out, you find out, if you don’t fill it out, you made a mistake, and then your whole life is going wrong. Not true. The will of God happens to us constantly, as a kind of movement of us in this life on the path to God, along which we wander, fall, are mistaken, go in the wrong direction, and enter the clear path.
And the whole path of our life is God’s amazing upbringing of us. This does not mean that if I entered somewhere or did not enter, this is God’s will for me forever or the absence thereof. There is no need to be afraid of this, that's all. Because the will of God is a manifestation of God’s love for us, for our lives, this is the path to salvation. And not the path of entering or not entering the institute...
You need to trust God and stop being afraid of God’s will, because it seems to a person that God’s will is such an unpleasant, unbearable thing, when you have to forget about everything, give up everything, break yourself completely, reshape yourself and, above all, lose your freedom.
And a person really wants to be free. And so it seems to him that if God’s will, then this is just deprivation of freedom, such torment, an incredible feat.
But in fact, the will of God is freedom, because the word “will” is a synonym for the word “freedom”. And when a person truly understands this, he will not be afraid of anything.
Oksana Golovko