From Holy Scripture :
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me ( Rev. 3:20 ).
And you will seek Me and find Me, if you seek Me with all your heart ( Jer. 29:13 ).
If you desire wisdom, keep the commandments , and the Lord will give it to you ( Sir.1:26 ).
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Venerable Silouan of Athos :
Pride does not allow the soul to enter the path of faith.
To the unbeliever I give this advice: let him say: “Lord, if You exist, then enlighten me, and I will serve You with all my heart and soul.” And for such a humble thought and willingness to serve God, the Lord will certainly enlighten... And when the Lord enlightens you, then your soul will feel the Lord; she will feel that the Lord has forgiven her and loves her, and you will know this from experience, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will testify to salvation in your soul, and then you will want to shout to the whole world: “ How much the Lord loves us .” (From the book “Elder Silouan of Athos” ).
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Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt :
The source of unbelief is pride; the unbeliever says internally: others say this, but I don’t agree with what they say; I want to believe and say differently. This means that unbelief degrades the words of others and its own thoughts of the heart, and places its own words above the thoughts and words of others. - Therefore, in order to have sincere, heartfelt faith, you certainly need to humble yourself in heart. The Lord Savior, according to His humanity, was meek and humble in heart and showed us an example of the greatest humility.
Walking, sitting, lying down, talking, studying - at all times pray with your heart for the gift of faith and love. You have not yet asked properly, with fervor, with constancy, you have not had the firm intention of acquiring them. From now on say: behold, I have begun (behold, I have begun) . When on the path to God and His Heavenly Kingdom you encounter obstacles presented by the devil: doubts and unbelief of the heart, also heartfelt anger (sometimes towards persons worthy of unconditional respect and love), as well as other passions - do not be indignant at them, but know that they are the smoke and stench of the enemy, which will pass from the one mania of the Lord Jesus Christ. (From the diaries).
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Venerable John of Valaam (Alekseev):
If you, Mr. Director, want to find God through philosophy, you will work in vain and will never find it. Here is my advice on how to find God: start living your life according to the Gospel. The Lord said: “Blessed are the pure in heart, they will see God” ( Matthew 5:8 ). Gradually cleanse your heart of passions . To the extent that the heart is cleansed of passions, God is known, and the Kingdom of God will be within you [see: Luke 17:21 ]. Then all the questions will end.
(From the book: “Letters of the Valaam Elder” ).
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Priest Konstantin Parkhomenko:
When a person says that he has no faith, and he wants to believe, this technique helps a lot. I say: go to church for 2-3 months. Weekly.
There is no need to receive communion, and there is no need to confess either. Just come, stand and try to pray with everyone. And tell God: “I honestly don’t know if You exist, Lord, but please open up, let me feel You...”
Next: Pray for at least 5-10 minutes every morning and evening. Read the prayers that I will show you. (This is something from the Morning, Evening, Daily Prayers , fragments of Akathists.) Be sure to add the prayer in your own words.
Next: Read 2 chapters of the New Testament every day . It’s better to reflect on what you read in the morning and throughout the day (at least on the way to work).
Also: Try to live these 2 months like a Christian: do good deeds, don’t deceive anyone, do your job well, build relationships in your family, etc.
And experience shows that most often this is enough for a person to feel God. Invisible, but caring, blessing him, supporting him.
The Lord sees a person’s labors and, accordingly, opens up. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7) .
( Read full answer )
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Hegumen Nikon (Vorobiev):
For non-believers or doubters, the most important thing seems to be to believe or to be convinced that God exists. They do not yet know that it is possible to believe, to be convinced of the existence of God, but to live in opposition to God, like demons who believe in God, tremble before Him, and do not submit, do not humble themselves, but with malicious hatred do everything contrary to the will of God . Poor, blind people. They do not see, do not know, do not feel the spiritual world, they sell their birthright, the highest honor and dignity of being children of God, for the lentil stew of worldly life.
I have always been convinced, to this day, that those who seek God and want to live according to His will (i.e., according to conscience, commandments) will certainly be given faith, or even more: to experience the existence of God and the spiritual world. This is what Jesus Christ says: seek the Kingdom of God, and all this (necessary for material life) will be added to you ( Luke 12:31) . There are many examples, and my personal life is proof of this. Unfortunately, it is impossible to convince another without his own desire and work. (From the book: “On the Beginnings of Life” ).
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Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin):
What is the difference between a believer and an unbeliever? Suppose a believer and an unbeliever have the same external knowledge, the same information, the same level of education. But how does a believer differ from an unbeliever? The difference is that the believer feels God, has evidence of the existence of God in his own heart, and this internal testimony is inseparable from prayer. Some people ask, “What must we do to believe in God?” The answer is simple: live according to God’s commandments and remain in prayer. Prayer gives the human soul real proof of Divine existence. We have self-evident evidence of the existence of the external world: we perceive it through the transformed images of our senses; we perceive it directly as a given, a reality. And a believer, just as directly as reality, feels the spiritual world, his inclusion in this world, his internal connection - union with the Divine - and constant dependence on the Divine. This is precisely what distinguishes a believer from an unbeliever, even if he was an idealist in his convictions. Therefore, an idealist is one who rationally accepts the existence of God, believes that this is the most probable theory - and that’s all. And the believer feels and senses God.
(From the book: “Christianity and Modernism” ).
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Venerable Paisius the Holy Mountain :
Faith is strengthened by prayer. A person who has not cultivated faith in himself from childhood, but is disposed to do so, can cultivate it through prayer, asking Christ to add faith to him. Let us ask Christ to add to our faith and multiply it. What did the apostles ask of Christ? “Give us faith.” If you say “apply,” it means that you are entrusting yourself to God. After all, if a person does not entrust himself to God, then what will He do to this person? We ask God to increase our faith not in order to perform miracles, but in order to love Him more.
(From the book: “Spiritual Awakening” ).
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Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky) :
Faith, like love, is not given immediately and easily; it must be sought, it must be achieved, and only over time, after intense spiritual activity, faith takes possession of our entire inner being and becomes for us a vital nerve, the goal of our existence.
(From the book “Spiritual Diary” ).
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Archpriest Peter Mangilev:
Firstly, you need to pray for the Lord to give you faith, that is, you need to ask the Lord to help you gain faith. And the answer is contained in one of the beatitudes: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God . That is, in this case, the path to gaining faith is the path of purifying one’s heart, the path of avoiding sin and practicing virtue. And I’ll give one more quote from Holy Scripture, I often quote it. The Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews says about the Lord: ... He is, and He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6) . So, if we strive for Him, if we pray, want to gain faith and this is our true desire and vital need, then the Lord cannot leave our living desire and movement towards Him unanswered.
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St. Tikhon of Zadonsk :
“In order for the faith of the Gospel to be conceived in the heart, it is necessary to first recognize one’s weakness and vividly feel the wrath of God, the oath, judgment and condemnation imposed on sinners. Then, already in the heart with this fear, as if purified and prepared by fire, faith is conceived from the Holy Spirit.”
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Faith is a gift of God (Eph.2:8 ). Therefore, it is impossible to force yourself to believe, but you can and should ask God to grant faith and strengthen it: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8 ). St. Theophan the Recluse writes: “The path of faith is sincere, internal, livelier, more fruitful and more accessible to all. This is a prayer to the one true God for admonition. There is a true God. He told us His will for our salvation, with the desire that it be understood and fulfilled. Now, through human wisdom, it is hidden, or confused to the point that one or the other does not have enough strength to find the way out of this labyrinth. When, in the feeling of this vital need, with a cry, a groan, a heartache, someone turns to God, the true Father of all men, God, who wants His faith to be effective - is it possible that He would not give such a decisive instruction to conviction in the truth of it? ? He feeds screaming corvids, through prayer sends rain into the thirst of our flesh... and to man and also to his spirit, His image, yearning, seeking to know how to glorify God, as if He will not indicate a source for quenching this spiritual thirst? Such a prayer is in no way a temptation of God, although it can be turned into it when someone insincerely, out of sheer curiosity, would like such signs. Examples of conviction in faith in this way are almost everywhere. Cornelius, the centurion, asked for faith... There were many who came to the hermits to ask about faith, and instead of all the arguments they forced them to pray, and God revealed the truth to them. <…> The Lord said that everything can be obtained from God by praying to Him with faith, and even more so by praying for faith, the beginning and source of everything.”
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Kirill Borisov, catechist:
God can be known as an external object, or you can turn to Him as a loving Heavenly Father, enter into communication with Him through the Church He created. After all, you can look at a person only from the outside, or you can get to know him. God is not some “impersonal force”; you can and should enter into personal communication with God. In order not to be deceived along this path by fallen spirits, God created the Church , which serves the close unity of man and his Creator.
There are religious scholars who study manifestations of religiosity in other people, there are scientists who study the world created by God, and there are believers who strive to fulfill the will of God and are in communion with Him.
Source: https://azbyka-ru.translate.goog/way/kak-obresti-veru/?