You understood faith as a practice of good. Know that you understood it as it should. Your practice until now meant fasting, prayer and giving alms. Well, all these three are of a great importance. Fasting, prayer and giving alms are the practical expression of our faith, hope and love. By all these you show that you entrusted yourself to the will of God and if you fulfill any other of Christ’s commands, you shall prove again that you entrusted yourself to the will of God.
This entrusting in the will of God is like a soul of all our deeds related to faith and not only of the deeds and endeavors related to faith, but of all our thoughts and feelings and deeds – in a word, of our entire life.
`For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.` (John 6, 38) said Christ. And before His suffering, with bloody sweat He says to His Father: `Not My will but Your will be done.`
There are many baptized people who try to fulfill the law of God however they did not entrusted themselves entirely to the will of God. When hardships come they blaspheme God their Creator. Thus they reveal the fact that they did not entrust themselves to the will of God that their faith is superficial and the deeds of their faith are calculated with earthly reason. Therefore you should know that the practice of our entrusting to the will of God is more important than any other practice of faith we would do.
At the break of each new day say: `Your will be done, Father!` and at the beginning of each night say again `Your will be done, Father!`…And either if you are in full health or fall to bed, say again: `Your will be done, Father!` Ultimately when the hour will come that no one can get rid of it and you will meet face to face the angel of death say with boldness: `Your will be done, my Father and my Lord!`
Bishop Nikolai Velimirovici
Excerpt from Answers at questions of the world of nowadays, Vol. II, Sophia Publishing House, Bucharest, 2003, pag. 92-93.
Source: ganduridinierusalim.com
