We often suffer from “little faith.” We do not completely trust
God. We worry and become fearful. We entertain doubts at times. We become
depressed over our circumstances, wondering what we can do to change them.
Christ declared, “Look at the birds of the air; they neither
sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they? So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of
its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:26, 34). If
only we could have faith the size of a mustard seed!
As
Christians, we are to purposefully work toward increasing our faith. We do this
by experiencing God. Praying or talking to God is the easiest way to experience
Him. If we pay close attention, we will find that He answers us. He may respond
through an answered request or His response may come through a loved one or a
friend. Have you ever thought about phoning a friend, when suddenly your phone
rang, and it was his/her voice? Have you ever had a loved one speak words of
encouragement at just the right time that you knew came from God?
Sometimes
God allows us to experience Him through events in our lives. Think back. What
events have molded you into the person you are today? Do you believe that those
events were coincidences? Do you believe that only you were responsible for the
twists and turns you took throughout your life? Think! Is it possible that God
brought you through those twists and turns, through the tribulations of your
life to make you into the person you are at this moment? What does He have in
store for your future? What blessings has God bestowed on your life, despite
the hard times you faced? When I think back through the events of my own life,
I see God’s hand at every turn. No matter how difficult life may have been, no
matter how much I suffered, each turn brought me closer to God and made me who
I am today. I thank God for His faithfulness, even though there were times when
I was not faithful. “We know that all things work together for good for those
who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). The word
“together” is actually translated as “in synergy” with God. This means that God
works all things for our “good” with our cooperation. When I turned toward God
through my most trying times, God allowed me to experience His presence.
At times,
God will put it on our hearts to act on His behalf, to do something. Have you
ever done something, which was very difficult because God asked you to do it?
It has been my experience that the most challenging tasks were the times when I
received the greatest joy and blessings. These required a great sacrifice on my
part and required that I trust God implicitly. At these times, I obeyed Him
with self-abandonment, surrendering my will to God’s will.
Adam and
Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. According to Thomas
Hopko (1983), “Knowledge in the Bible is not an abstract, intellectual thing.
It is not a product of thinking. It is the result of living experience…Eating
of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” means experiencing wickedness.
It means committing sin.” The hymns of Cheesefare Sunday vespers, describes
Adam sitting outside the gates of Eden, weeping and mourning the loss of the
presence of God. We, too, sit outside the gates of Paradise, grieving the loss of
our intended home, longing for the presence of God. We realize that we are not
at home in this evil world, that we belong with God. We realize that we are “exiles,”
as Hopko (1983) puts it. However, as Christians, we possess the hope of our salvation,
when we will be reunited with our Lord and will finally be home in Paradise,
where “he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will
be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the
first things have passed away”
(Revelation 21:4).
For Eastern
Orthodox, Great Lent begins Monday, March 11 in preparation for celebrating the
resurrection on Easter. It is a 40-day time period of focusing on our spiritual
growth and increasing our faith. It is a time of fasting to help discipline our
bodies by bringing it under subjection to our will, which in turn, will help
discipline our minds. Some give up certain types of food, others give up T.V.
or Facebook, and yet others prepare by increasing their time of prayer and
almsgiving. For the Orthodox, this is not a time of gloominess or sadness. It
is a time of reflecting on all the blessings God has bestowed on us and
thanking Him. It is a time of joy in anticipation of the glorious resurrection
and thankfulness for God’s mercy.
The most
significant purpose of Great Lent is to spiritually strengthen us and to
develop a more intimate relationship with God. We prepare ourselves for spiritual
battle. We put on our spiritual armor, which Paul describes in Ephesians
6:10-18 because we fight against the devil himself and his demons. We put on
the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the
sword of the spirit, and the shield of faith, “with which you will be able to quench all the
flaming arrows of the evil one.” We become spiritually strengthened as we focus
on Christ and talk to Him often, no matter where we are or what we are doing.
We direct our thoughts on Him. When we are at a loss for what to pray, we can
recite the Jesus prayer, which is the simplest and most powerful: “Jesus
Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
As we
pray, fast, read our Bibles, and participate in almsgiving during Great Lent,
we will experience God and our faith will increase. And as we experience God
more deeply, we will discover an incomprehensible joy and peace. Faith is not
simply believing that God exists. It is experiencing God. “All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as
though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from
one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Experience will allow us to see the glory
of the Lord. The Holy Spirit transforms us into the likeness of Christ little
by little, and as we behold the Lord, He reflects back to us the image of what
we are intended to become: more humble, merciful, kind, compassionate, forgiving,
loving, faithful, full of integrity and truth. The more we cooperate with the
Holy Spirit to become like Christ, the more our faith will increase.
Therefore, this year
during Lent, ask God to purify you and to increase the love in your heart, to
make you more like Christ. If you dare, ask God to show you what you need to
change in yourself. Ask God to help you become the person He intended you to be.
Ask God how you can bless others and how you can glorify Him in your life. Ask
the Holy Spirit to allow you to increase your faith and experience God.
Hopko, Thomas. 1983. The Lenten Spring. Crestwood, New York.
St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. pp. 23, 28.
I pray that this will be
the most blessed preparation for Easter that you have ever experienced!
© 2019 Helen Kamenos
All rights reserved
http://www.helenkamenos.com/
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