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Easter Marathon. Prayer "Our Father"

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  Dear readers, I suggest you to take part in the marathon. We have two weeks in April to prepare our souls for the celebration of Easter. I want to come on Easter to the temple with my soul being changed, sanctified, illuminated. The gospel can do this to us. Therefore - a marathon for April: choose one Gospel and read it in full in 14 days so that in the last days before the holiday we have already read about the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the resurrection. I choose the Gospel of Matthew for myself and once a week I will publish reflections on the verses I have read. I will begin today with the Our Father prayer in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus taught people, “Pray, 'Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be thy name; let thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliv...
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Talking with kids about serious things

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  Simple talk about death     I started this blog because a friend of mine asked me to help her in telling her 5-year-old daughter about her uncle's death. It was necessary to reject the great theological constructions and simply convey to the child information about such an important stage of life that awaits all of us.    I can describe  Death like a dream: at one moment I am alive, talking, thinking, feeling something. In the next moment I close my eyes and flie in another world just as in my dreams. My body sleeps here, with my family, they may see it. My soul passes into another world. There I continue to think, feel, speak, know what hunger and thirst are, can be happy and sad. There I am free from everything that was difficult here: from diseases, from natural phenomena such as cold, from poverty. There my soul sees God, Who created me. God once gave me life, body, parents, talents and character traits, He has gave me everything what I need to seek H...
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Easter Marathon. Fasting

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Jesus said about fasting: " Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face; that you appear not to men to fast, but to your Father which is in secret: and your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly"  (Matthew 6: 16-18). If you are fasting, you do not get pleasure and energy from food. You control what  to put into your mouth and turn your heart to the Creator. Fasting is a crying out to God, the same as prayer, but the whole body participates in this prayer. Fasting and prayer are intimate things between you and God.  Sometimes you reach such a mental and physical strain that you can no longer move. Something upsets you so much that you can't talk about it calmly, but only with tears and screams - and that is a true cause for fasting. People around should not ...
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Easter Marathon. Prayer

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We read in Matthew 6th chapter : “ 5. And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.  6 But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.  7 But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.  8 Be not you therefore like to them: for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him.” Our prayer should promote the integrity of the soul. Therefore, if we have any other motives in our souls, such as:  I pray, because everyone does so; because I was asked to do it; from habit; by tradition, etc., then all these motives must be rejected. You need to pray only because you want...
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Discovering a power of "Jabez's Prayer"

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  I want to share with you couple ideas I’ve learned from the book of Bruce Wilkinson ‘Jabez’s Prayer’. He teaches in this book how to pray a daring prayer that God always answers. This book is a testimony about what happens when ordinary Christians decide to reach for an extraordinary life which is exactly the kind God promises. If you want to have a bigger vision for your life, be a gimper for God. Gimper always does a little more than what’s required or expected.   In the 1 Chronicles 4:9 we read the briefest of the Bible biographies: ‘ Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers’. Jabez wanted to be more and do more for God and God granted his request. Why? let's read his story in the 1 Chronicles 4 chapter. ‘’ And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand mig...
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Prayer as a Communication with God

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Today I want to share with you couple thoughts about Prayer. Every born again believer is Able to communicate with God through Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John 3:8 we read: “ The wind blows where it listen, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell whence it comes, and where it goes: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit". Communication contains two parts: talking with God (or how we used to call it - a prayer), and listening, what the Holy Spirit is saying. As prayers differ, so do listening. We read in Bible, that God is saying: " Cal l to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3. “ And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing....
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What is Faith?

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  In the New Testament we read many verses about Christian faith: “ For by grace  are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. (Hebrews 11:1).  “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”. (Hebrews 11:6).  “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, our faith”.(1 John 5:4).  “ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. (Romans 5:1). “For we walk by faith, not by sight”.(2 Corinthians 5:7). So Faith is the only thing through which we are saved, with it we can move mountains, without it we may not see God’s Kingdom. It is a good thing. Necessary thing. Faith can be great and growing or vain, failing or e...
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Self evaluation by LOVE

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  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. (1 John 2:15-17). Love of the world and God’s love can not be present at the same time in one’s soul. Why? Because they have different sources and different influences on the soul. Love of the world makes your heart narrow and tight. God’s love expands your heart. Love for the world makes you dependent and wants to control you, but God’s love gives you freedom from any kind of slavery. Still both kinds are love and a soul needs love. Why? Because love helps us to evaluate ourselves and create a desired good self image, high self esteem. Before Adam and Eve have sinned, they had God's perception of themselves....
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