One day father told me this: `You are pious and you want to impose to those around you your faith and piety and think you will succeed. It is bad what you do, because the man reacts in the opposite way: you tell him to do something and he doesn`t do it and that is because you told him to do so. When he sees you doing that thing maybe he will follow you saying to himself: `If he does it, let`s do it too.`
If you pray to Christ in this way: `Lord Jesus enlighten, have mercy and correct this man!` and if you say this prayer without cease then God will begin to send to that person good thoughts.
For instance every time you say : `God have mercy on my child !` Christ sends good thoughts to your child. The more you will pray, the more good thoughts he will receive. Now your child is an unripe orange but slowly he will ripe and he will become as you wish.
Experience showed me that this is the most efficient way of solving all problems regardless of their nature.
The modalities applied by people out of their instinct always proved to be unsuccessful.
Excerpt from Anthology of counsels and guidance – Elder Porphyrios, Bunavestire Publishing.
