Conversations with the priest. What you can and cannot ask God for. Priest Oleg Gerasimov

What to do so that God hears a request for help

A person’s spiritual movements originate and live in the heart. If a person’s conscience is clear, then his prayer reaches the Lord. Our Heavenly Father finds out what a person dreams of and fulfills his request.

But in life, people constantly do things that contradict their conscience. But only God’s saints have a truly pure heart, who, during their lifetime, cleansed it with prayer, fasting and a sinless life.

When the heart is full of resentment, anger, envy, selfishness and other human passions, then it is hidden from the Lord.

For a request for help to be heard, you need to:

• see your own sins and repent of them;
• confess to cleanse your heart;
• take communion.

Confession and communion should not be approached formally. Repentance must be sincere, coming from the depths of the soul.

"The Beast" Seryoga

Once I had the opportunity to witness the very first prayer in the life of an adult. This was in the early nineties. I then got a job at a construction site as an apprentice mason, and essentially as a helper. For some reason, the workers of our organization called the brigade to which I was assigned “animals.” The storekeeper, giving me overalls, asked:

—Who will you work for?

- At Karpukhin's.

- Oh, not enough! — she clasped her hands. - So they threw you to the “animals”?

I was surprised:

- Why so harsh? Are they biting you?

“If you work, you’ll find out,” the storekeeper sighed. - Okay, go ahead, sign.

I signed for a padded jacket, a wrinkled hat with earflaps, and a pair of felt boots, hard as stone. And he went to the site to the mysterious “beasts”.

No special cruelty was found in them, thank God. Ordinary Russian men, who graduated from vocational school after an eight-year rural school and spent their whole lives laying bricks at various construction sites in their native area. Their only drawback could be considered an amusing professional snobbery: in assessing any person, they considered the ability to do bricklaying to be the main criterion. All those who, for some reason, had not mastered this simple art, were considered “beasts” as representatives of a lower caste. With an appropriate attitude towards them.

I didn’t know how to lay bricks back then. And I honestly admit: I have never received so much swearing at myself either before or after this apprenticeship. In fact, almost all of them were at work: a musician on a construction site is a sad sight. I brought the brick at the wrong time and in the wrong place, and I stirred the mortar in the huge trough too slowly and incorrectly. In short, I did everything wrong. And for every incorrectly performed action, I immediately received from the “great and powerful” another piece of information about who I am, where I should go, where my hands come from and what I was made of. Only two people in the “brutal” brigade did not swear - the elderly bricklayer Aunt Anya and the thirty-year-old guy Seryoga. Aunt Anya was a believer, which at that time was still considered exotic. And Seryoga is just a cheerful person who doesn’t really care about his professional exclusivity. The rest of the “animals” worked intently and gloomily. Seryoga, while working, always screamed some stupid songs and jokes that are not in any folklore collection.

- Oh, shikaldy-buldy-yaldy! Lived with a young woman, walked with vodka - never worked! - joyfully rushed from the nook where he was erecting another wall. The “animals” frowned even more and grumbled angrily:

- Works without a soul. Empty man.

And Seryoga continued to bawle:

- Eh, my friend and I worked on the northern tracks, we returned to the village - he was wearing galoshes, I was wearing bast shoes!

Before my eyes, this cheerful mason acquired the very first experience of prayer in his life. It happened like this. After lunch we sat in the trailer and waited for the solution. In theory, if the ordered machine with the solution does not appear at the construction site before three o’clock, it means that it will no longer be available that day, and by five you can safely go home. But if the car does arrive, say, at half past four, then you will have to take the solution and work it out until seven o’clock.

It was stormy outside. The “animals” at the table were excitedly playing a card game with an indecent name. Aunt Anya was dozing in the corner, by the stove. And for some reason the usually rollicking Seryoga behaved quietly that day. He didn’t sit down to play cards, smoked, and looked thoughtfully out the snow-covered window. Then he turned around and called:

- An, listen...

- What do you want? — the awakened Aunt Anya muttered displeasedly.

- You’re a religious person, aren’t you?

- Well. What do you care?

- Here... God hears everything I say?

- All. I’m probably tired of listening to your nonsense,” Aunt Anya turned back to the wall and closed her eyes.

“Wait,” Seryoga came up and squatted down next to him. - But, for example, does God hear my thoughts or not?

- He hears. He hears and sees everything. Because - God.

Seryoga digested what was said for several seconds. Then he walked back to his previous place and stared out the window again.

About forty minutes later a car arrived with the solution. Brigadier Karpukhin cursed quietly through his teeth and began to pull on his padded jacket. The others also got ready slowly. And only Seryoga’s face glowed with genuine resentment:

- You're lying, Anna! Your God doesn't hear anything. I asked Him for half an hour not to bring the solution today. And what? Now poke around for another two hours in the cold!

Aunt Anya looked at him sternly and pulled the warm scarf tighter around her chest. And she said:

- You are a fool, Seryoga. Let's go to work.

Seryoga was silent for a couple of seconds. Then he sighed, took his hat from the table and went out into the snowstorm.

Aunt Anya hardly read the works of Gregory of Nyssa. But in her short answer, she surprisingly managed to express the thought of the Saint: “... anyone who during prayer is not directed towards what is useful to the soul, but asks God to show favor to the passionate movements of his mind, is really an absurd person, praying that God became the helper and minister of his vanities.” I really hope that for the cheerful “beast” Seryoga, this was not his first appeal to God.

How to Pray for God to Help

The Gospel of Matthew says that help is given according to faith in God. If a person turns to Heavenly Father for help, but does not believe in the existence of the Lord or the possibility of fulfilling his desire, then help will not come.

The request of a believer, who lives according to the laws of God, who observes church regulations not for formality or out of fear of punishment, but out of love for God, will be heard.

The words of the prayer that the person praying says mentally or out loud should not diverge from the prayer coming from the heart.

And in order for the prayer to be heard, you need not only to trust in God, but also to make an effort yourself to make your desire come true. If the request concerns health, you should undergo treatment, follow a diet and regimen.

When facing difficulties at work, you need to show patience and perseverance, and listen to criticism. If there is disagreement in the family, they make peace with loved ones, forgive the offenders and themselves ask for forgiveness from relatives and friends.

Rats

One day, my wife, with the help of prayer, created a real miracle. True, there is no such prayer in any prayer book, and the miracle itself is very... specific, or what? However, it’s better to tell everything from the very beginning.

After several years of wandering around rented apartments, we finally bought ourselves a house. With gas, running water, sewerage, a garden and a vegetable garden - what else does a large family need? Live and be happy! However, some problems cannot even be imagined until you experience them firsthand. Late autumn, rats came to our house. With the first serious frosts, they wisely left their holes in the field and moved to a “winter apartment” - closer to warmth and food. And it had to happen that this rat invasion happened during my departure for the next construction “shabby”.

My poor wife was on the verge of complete despair. Imagine: there are four small children in the house, and the youngest is not even a month old. And closer to night, a terrible fuss, stomping and angry screeching begins under the floor. Then tailed gray shadows begin to flicker along the walls, here and there, and all this hellish cacophony already sounds in the room, from under the beds...

The wife spent two nights without sleep, guarding the children's cribs. She no longer had the strength to stay on duty for the third night. Then she stood in front of the icons and said: “Lord, you see - I can’t do anything about this. Now I'll fall asleep, and these creatures can bite my children. Get them out of here, please." After which she poured Epiphany water into a bowl and walked throughout the house, sprinkling corners, floors and walls. And then the rat race stopped. Not in an hour or two, not after some time, but immediately. The surprised wife tried to hear at least a rustle, but in vain. There was silence in the house. Exhausted from two sleepless nights, she lay down on the bed and immediately fell asleep.

My poor wife was on the verge of complete despair. Imagine: there are four small children in the house, and closer to night, a terrible rat scuffle and evil squealing begin under the floor.

The next day the rats did not come. There was no more noise, no stomping, no squealing. Just in case, my wife sat for a couple of days after midnight with the lights on, but the tailed neighbors never showed up. They were found only when I arrived and reached into the underground for potatoes. Seven large dead rats were lying on the ground not far from each other. I collected them in a bucket and took them to the field, from which they came to our house at an unlucky hour. After that we didn't have rats for several years. Such a strange miracle...

The legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin drowned the hordes of rats that were bothering the city with the help of a magic pipe. My wife managed to do much the same thing with her naive but sincere “homemade” prayer. Apparently, John of Kronstadt wrote about something similar: “It is good sometimes in prayer to say a few of your own words, breathing with ardent faith and love for the Lord. Yes, it’s not all about talking to God in someone else’s words..., but you also need to show your intelligence..., besides, we somehow get used to other people’s words and grow cold. And how pleasing to the Lord is this our own babble, coming from a believing, loving and grateful heart: it is impossible to retell.”

Prayer for help

Asking for help from God does not have to be the words of church prayers. You can address the Heavenly Father in your own words. But the everyday language that we use in the market and at work does not reflect the emotions of the petitioner and is not understandable to his soul.

It is best to address the Lord in Church Slavonic, which is not used in everyday life, but is understandable to the human soul.

The words of prayer are addressed directly to God. The shortest prayer will be heard, such as the “Our Father” or the “Jesus Prayer.” The main thing is that the request comes from a pure heart and does not contradict Divine regulations.

Who to contact for help

If the petitioner’s heart is burdened with sins, then they turn to angelic powers and saints. The saints of God, who have achieved purity of heart during life, strengthen the request of the human soul with their holy prayers.

In the Prayer Book you can find prayers for any occasion in life, like this:

1. For eye diseases, they pray to the Mother of God, Nicholas the Wonderworker, and St. Athanasius.
2. They ask the Mother of God and the holy martyr Ferapont to cure the tumors.
3. For liver diseases, they turn to the martyrs Cyrus and John, Saints Theodore and Tikhon.
4. For alcoholism they pray with a prayer compiled by the righteous John of Kronstadt.
5. Before the operation, the prayer of the Optina Elders and Psalm 27 are read.

Prayer is not a mantra whose words are pronounced mechanically. For the Father to hear the prayer, every word of appeal must come from the heart, in which there should be no envy, lack of faith and anger.

Where to pray - at home or in the Temple

If a person is sick, old or too busy to attend a service in the Temple, then one can pray at home. But the best way to achieve a repentant state of soul and purification of the heart is church prayer.

In the Temple, the worshiper is not distracted by everyday issues, nor is the neighbor’s TV on or honking cars outside the windows disturbing him. During the service, a person stands before the Lord in a consecrated place and is maximally focused on prayer.

Pray to God with thirst and love

The Lord Himself will teach us prayer

Man seeks joy and happiness in heaven. He seeks the eternal, far from everyone and everything, wants to find joy in God. God is a mystery, this is silence. He is limitless, He is everything. The whole world has the yearning of the soul for heaven. Everyone is looking for something heavenly. Everything that exists is turned to Him, even if unconsciously.

Constantly turn your mind to Him. Love prayer and conversation with the Lord. Everything lies in love, in zeal for the Lord, the Bridegroom Christ. Become worthy of the love of Christ. To avoid living in darkness, turn the prayer switch so that Divine light comes into your soul. Christ will appear in the depths of your being. There, in the depths, is the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is within you (Lk. 17, 21).

Prayer occurs only in the Holy Spirit. He teaches the soul to pray. For we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be expressed (Rom. 8:26 ). We don't need to make any effort. Let us turn to God as humble servants, with a pleading and pleading voice. Then our prayer will be pleasing to God. Let us stand with reverence before the Crucified One and say: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. That says it all. When a person’s mind is moved to prayer, then in the blink of an eye Divine grace comes. Then a person becomes gracious and looks at everything with different eyes. It all lies in loving Christ, prayer, contemplation of God, and reading. Let's take a million and divide it into pieces. So, a person’s efforts, his efforts, are one millionth part.

Unbeknownst to ourselves, we enter into prayer. It is necessary to be in a suitable environment. Communication with Christ, conversation, contemplation of God, reading, singing, lighting a lamp, burning incense - everything must take place in an appropriate environment, so that everything is simple, in simplicity of heart (Acts 2:46 ). By reading liturgical texts and sequences with love, we, without noticing it ourselves, become saints. We feel joy from Divine words. This joy, this joy is the result of our diligence to easily enter the atmosphere of prayer, to warm it up, as we say. We can imagine the beautiful places we have seen. These efforts are soft and bloodless. But we must not forget what the Lord said: Without Me you can do nothing (John 15 :5).

The Lord Himself will teach us prayer. We cannot learn it ourselves, and no one else can teach us. Let’s not say: “I made so many bows, now grace is guaranteed to me.” But let us ask that the imperishable light of Divine knowledge shine in us and open our spiritual eyes to comprehend His Divine words.

In this way, we imperceptibly love God without violence, effort or achievement. What is difficult for people is very easy for God. We will love God suddenly when grace visits us. If we love Christ deeply, then the prayer will be said by itself. Christ will continually be in our minds and our hearts.

But in order to remain in this state and not lose it, Divine zeal, fiery, Divine love for Christ is necessary. Love is directed towards the One Supreme. The Lover, that is, God, loves the beloved, and the beloved desires to achieve union with the Lover. The lover loves the beloved with divine and perfect love. A God who loves man is selfless.

The highest love for God is expressed as gratitude. We need to love. Love is not a duty, but a vital necessity. Often we come to God out of need, when we need support, because nothing around us satisfies us, and we feel lonely.

For Christ to reveal Himself within us, our heart must be pure

...Christ Himself will enter and dwell in our soul if only He finds certain things pleasing to Him: good will, humility and love. Without this it is impossible to say: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.

For example, we have a radio. When the setting is set to 1, say, where there are many radio stations, then the reception is better. At level 2 there are not many radio stations and audibility is worse. And at mark 3 you can hardly hear anything at all. The same thing happens in communication with God. When the soul is tuned to level 1, then communication goes very well. This happens for two main reasons: love and humility. For these reasons, the soul communicates with God, hears His voice, accepts His word, receives strength and Divine grace, and is transformed. She turns to God easily and naturally, and becomes moved. When there is less love and humility, this is mark 2, then communication with the Divine is worse. And when the soul moves to level 3, then communication is completely bad, because the soul is full of passions, hatred, enmity and cannot rise.

In order for Christ to reveal Himself to us within us, when we call on Him in prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, our heart must be pure, must be free from any hindrance, free from hatred, from selfishness, from malice. We need to love Him, and He needs to love us. But if there is anything in us worthy of condemnation, then here again we need to resort to the sacrament. And the secret is to ask for forgiveness or tell your confessor about it. All this requires, as we said, humility. If, while fulfilling God’s commandments, you conform to them and have no remorse, but feel inner peace and do good deeds, then you easily enter into prayer without noticing it...

Let us ask God that His will be done in our lives

Our prayers are not heard because we are not worthy. You need to become worthy to pray. We are unworthy because we do not love our neighbor as ourselves. What does Christ Himself say? So, if you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5 , 23–24). Before you begin to pray, go and make peace with your brother, ask for forgiveness in order to become worthy. If this does not happen, then you will not be able to pray. If you are unworthy, you will not be able to do anything. When you have everything settled and prepared, then you go and bring your gift.

Those who desire and thirst to become Christ's, who surrender to the will of God, become worthy. Not having your own will is very valuable, that’s all. A slave has no will of his own. Cutting off your will can be achieved in one simple way - through love for Christ and fulfilling His commandments. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he loves Me; and whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and appear to him myself (John 14:21 ). A feat is required. We have to fight against the world rulers of the darkness of this age (Eph. 6:12 ). We must fight the roaring lion (1 Peter 5 :8). We cannot allow the all-evil one to win the fight.

This requires tears, repentance, prayer, alms, petition, accompanied by trust in Christ, and not lack of faith. Only Christ can save us from oppressive loneliness. Prayer, repentance and almsgiving. Give me at least a glass of water if you don't have money. And know that the more you are sanctified, the more your prayers are heard.

Let us not force God with prayer. Let us not ask God to deliver us from anything, from illness or the like, or to solve our problems. But let us ask Him for strength and strengthening to endure everything. Just as He nobly knocks on the door of our soul, so we will nobly ask for what we desire. And if the Lord does not answer, let us stop asking for it. If God does not give us what we so earnestly ask for, then He has his own reason for this. God also has His “secrets”. If we believe in His good providence, if we believe that He knows exclusively everything in our lives and He always wants good, why shouldn’t we trust Him? Let us pray simply and calmly, without passion and violence. We know that the past, present and future are all known, naked and open before God. As the Apostle Paul says: There is no creation hidden from Him, but everything is naked and open before His eyes (Heb. 4:13 ). We won't insist. Such effort brings harm, not good. Let us not strive to acquire what we desire, but let us leave it to the will of God. Because the more we chase something, the further it moves away. This means patience, faith and calm are needed. And if we forget about it, the Lord never forgets, and if it is for our benefit, then He will give us what we need and when we need it.

In prayer we will ask only for the salvation of our soul. Didn’t the Lord say: Seek first the Kingdom of God... and all this will be added to you (Matthew 6:33 ; Luke 12:31 )? Easily, in the easiest way, Christ can give us what we want. Look at the sacraments. The sacrament consists in not at all keeping in mind the request for anything specific. The sacrament is to unselfishly ask for our union with Christ, without saying: “Give me this or that...”. It is enough to say: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. God does not need to ask us what we need. He knows about all this incomparably better than you and me and gives us His love. The challenge is to respond to this love by praying and keeping His commandments. Let us ask that God's will be fulfilled. This is the most useful, the safest for us and for those for whom we pray. Christ will give us everything in abundance. When there is even the slightest egoism, nothing happens.

For Christ to reveal Himself within us, our heart must be pure.

Based on the book: Elder Porfiry Kavsokalivit. Life and words. Maloyaroslavets: Publishing House of the St. Nicholas Chernoostrovsky Convent, 2006

What you can't ask God for

Not every request can be pleasing to the Lord. If you ask God for something unworthy, then your most sincere prayers will not be heard.

Moreover, requests that violate the laws of God and harm other people can be heard and fulfilled by the servants of dark forces. You will have to pay for such fulfillment of desires in crippled destinies, destruction of the family, and loss of peace of mind.

A wish for harm to the health or death of a neighbor cannot be fulfilled. You cannot ask for benefits for yourself without having humility in your heart before the will of the Lord.

The demanding “Give!” addressed to God shows that a person has not destroyed pride in his heart and suffers from lack of faith. And the Lord helps according to our faith. If a person is weak in faith, then his request will not be heard.

“The most entertaining book”

Humanity has been painfully pondering the problem of “divine cruelty” ever since it became aware of itself. The pagans reasoned something like this: there is suffering in the world, because good and powerful gods are opposed by evil and no less powerful demons. But for those who believe in One God, this explanation does not fit well: if God is all-good and all-powerful, how can He allow so much innocent suffering in the world? If He does not want to stop them, then He is not good at all, and if He cannot, then He is not omnipotent. How many times have I come across this logic... People are willing to put up with a lot of everyday troubles and even real personal tragedies, but when you are faced with the extreme and senseless cruelty of Auschwitz or Beslan, any explanations stop working. God, why didn’t You do anything to save these children or at least make their death easier?! Surely they - or their parents - could not have been so sinful as to deserve all this? – there is a book in the Bible that asks God exactly this question. This is the book of Job. It tells how a perfect, impeccable righteous man suffered every conceivable disaster: he lost his wealth, children, health, and his closest friends considered all this a punishment for his sins and turned away from him. And then Job made a claim to God: why are you doing this to me?

Today they talk and write about this book as much as, probably, about no other book of the Old Testament (as an example, we can cite the wonderful book by F. Kozyrev, recently published in Russia, “The Temptation and Victory of Saint Job”). At the dawn of the 20th century, the English Christian writer G.K. Chesterton wrote: “The meaning of Job cannot be fully expressed by saying that it is the most entertaining of the ancient books. It’s better to say that this is the most entertaining of current books.” A hundred years have passed, which included two world wars, revolutions and concentration camps - and this book has become even more - one can no longer say “entertaining” - relevant. What is she talking about?

If God already wants good for people, why beg Him?

The question is what kind of good God wants for us. In order for us to find that eternal happiness for which we were created, it is not the things around us that must change, but ourselves. Without changing, we cannot become residents of heaven - in much the same way that a selfish person cannot become happy in marriage.

Only God can make these changes in us. But He created us as persons, not as things, and persons change by making decisions, by doing things that change the world around us, and, more importantly, ourselves. When we decide to acknowledge our dependence on God, to thank Him for His gifts, to ask forgiveness for our sins, we change—or rather, we give God the opportunity to change us.

“It’s time for the Creator to return the ticket”

Marina Tsvetaeva wrote in one of her poems: “it’s time, it’s time, it’s time for the Creator to return the ticket.” That is, not just to leave this world, but to bitterly reproach its Creator for the fact that this world is hopelessly bad, and therefore it is impossible to remain in it. And Tsvetaeva was not the first at all - long before her, Job spoke in exactly the same way. He is horrified not only and not so much by the troubles that befell him, but by the fact that in general “the world lies in evil” and there is no visible way to rid it of evil. “Why do the wicked live, and their power only increases in old age? ... They spend their lives in prosperity and easily descend into the underworld... an orphan’s donkey is taken away, a widow’s bull is taken as collateral, an orphan is torn from her breast, a poor man’s child is taken into bondage; the beggars are driven off the road, and the poor people of the earth hide like wild donkeys in the steppe... From the villages the groan of the dying is heard, and the wounded cry out for help, but God does not notice their prayers.”

And therefore Job’s speeches begin with terrible words - he curses the day of his birth, even the night of his conception, in words that remind us of the story of the creation of the world in the book of Genesis: “At the dawn of that night, let the stars darken, she will wait for the dawn - but in vain, he won’t see any glimpses of dawn.” It’s as if he wants to scroll the film back, right up to the moment when the Creator created light, separating it from darkness, and began counting the days of this world...

His own suffering is primarily a matter of his relationship with God. “But how can a person justify himself before God?... He came at me like a whirlwind, multiplying my wounds without cause; does not allow me to catch my breath, it fills me with bitterness. Should we measure our strength with Him, the mighty? Should I sue - but how to call Him? … He laughs at the despair of the innocent; the earth was given over to the power of the wicked, and He closes the eyes of the judges - and if not He, then who?!”

To the reproaches of his friends, he replies: “Be quiet and let me speak, and then whatever happens. He will kill me, and there is no hope, but I will tell Him that I am right - and this will be my salvation!” Job really insists on his rightness and integrity, and the author of the book completely agrees with him. From the very beginning he emphasizes that Job was a completely blameless man. This is probably why this book sounds so poignant: it takes the tragedy of the situation to its ultimate limit, this is no longer just a private injustice of fate, it is a blatant and completely inexplicable example of undeserved suffering.

Ultimately, Job’s speeches are nothing more than a petition to God: “Here is my seal - and let the Almighty answer, let my accuser write a scroll!” Job does not look like an atheist; he does not have the slightest shadow of a doubt that God exists (however, in ancient times, few people doubted this at all). But he looks like a God-fighter who challenges God. And God accepts him, the “Accuser” answers the accused, but not quite as Job expected, and with him the reader.

Isn't it humiliating to make constant requests to God?

If this seems humiliating to us, we are simply projecting negative experiences in relationships with people onto God. Indeed, turning to someone with a humble request, we recognize the power of this person over us, and people, alas, tend to abuse power over their neighbors.

In an atmosphere where people compete fiercely for status, for honors, for power over others, to ask is to step down a notch. As the prison saying goes, “don’t believe, don’t be afraid, don’t ask” - a request can be perceived as a sign of weakness, which is simply dangerous to show.

But even between people, sometimes (most often in a family) an atmosphere of trust arises when the person asking knows for sure that he is loved, and his request will never be used against him. In this case, it is safe to ask - maybe they won’t give us what we ask for, but they certainly won’t push us away, won’t humiliate us, and won’t begin to arrogate themselves over us.

Of course, in prayer we acknowledge our weakness, dependence and God's power over us - but we admit this with confidence. God does not seek to humiliate anyone. On the contrary, when He became man in the person of Jesus Christ, He Himself was willing to endure the worst humiliation - the shameful and painful execution on the Cross - for the sake of our salvation. As Christ says, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).