Please, Father, if you see my comment, pray for my family. I know it's a random stranger on TH-cam. I have been immersed in Orthodoxy for months and I want to go inquire and convert (protestant for 15+ years). My husband is very hesitant, even hostile at times. Please pray that God will soften his heart. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. His heart is so Orthodox in many ways! He does not like protestant churches, but he loves Christ. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us home. Jon and Chrissy.
Lord I pray that you will soften the heart of John allow him to come to the faith of holy Orthodoxy with his wife ever them to pronounce this Faith to High Heavens
I pray for your husband to be humbled .Show him life of saint's from Trisagion films. i am a recent convert to orthodoxy from just somebody who was agnostic and accepted Jesus but denied church etc Show him life of saint's and monks of mt athos and monk fr lazarus el anthony is trully what made me consider orthodoxy because they trully love Christ . Also show him videos from Trisagion films series Chronicles of the desert .Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on us.
I prayed for him and you, and I really hope his heart will open to the fullness of the Truth. Maybe show him the video 'Protestant visits an Orthodox Church', perhaps Fr. Truebenbach can help him in that way (he is featured in the video).
I am a retired teacher. This would have been an excellent "story" to relay to my impressionable wonderful Firsties. I have been immensely blessed by your many messages. Thank you for your supernatural wisdom. My son recently started attending a Greek Orthodox Church. As a result, I found Fr. Paul in my research and now want to be a part of Christian Orthodoxy. I am exceeding grateful for this discovery. It's a treasure! I will be praying for you Fr. Paul. With gratitude!
I want to share a story that happened just yesterday and I think speaks to what you were saying. I was sitting in a train on my way home from work and after one of the stops, the conductor said "we can't keep going, there's a delay" and I immediately got annoyed and angry. Then they continued "there is an attempted suicide on the track, we will have to wait here until the police clears the track". Again, I got annoyed. My first thought was "oh no, this will take hours! How (and when) will I get home?!". Then I caught myself and thought, how selfish of me. These poor people need help, they need prayers, I hope nothing bad happened or will happen to anyone. And then I started praying "Lord have mercy on these poor people", as soon as I said the prayer in my mind only once, the train started moving again. It was a great lesson for me.
Oh, something similar happened to me this weekend (somebody was sick and they waited until he got help), but I now realize I never caught myself and just kept winning about it. So selfish and utterly unaware of my selfishness! Lord have mercy.
I was watching a teaching of Dallas Willard the other day. He was a protestant minister and philosophy professor who taught many Christian groups, especially Protestant ones, about the spiritual disciplines. He had studied scripture and church fathers, as well as great pagan philosophers, and one of his messages was that we as Christians can progress and grow in our faith through God’s grace and disciplines like fasting, prayer, solitude, etc. I read some of his writings a few years ago, and I now see they laid the groundwork for my eventual conversion to Orthodoxy. In the teaching I watched, he said there were folks who might call some of his ideas for practical application of some disciplines “too Buddhist.” Perhaps this was in reference to training the mind. He said that there are indeed good ideas / practices in Buddhism and that “if it’s good, it belongs to us” because all good comes from God. On a personal note, one thing I liked about Dallas’ work when I first read it was the fact he IS a bee. He emphasized a life continually connected to God and the joy of friendship with Him. Something I had not heard explicitly enough before that is that we can keep improving and being more like Christ in this life, through His grace. Of course that is an idea taught in Protestant churches, but it can be overshadowed by an emphasis on our sinfulness without enough discussion of what to DO about that and what a life of continual purification looks like. Of course we are sinful (duh, haha), but I liked that Dallas focused on what we as Orthodox would describe as repentance.
The first thing I thought about when you described the fly was a news reporter who makes his living finding the dirt beneath a sweet flower so he can uproot the beautiful flower. The bee reminds me of a gardener who plants a seed in the dirt and nurtures it until the flower that grew out of the seed is in full bloom. As Christians we should seek to be gardeners and bees.
I agree with the overall message but also please consider what St Paul says. 2:22 Ephesians 5:11-13 [11] Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; [12] for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. [13] But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
“There is no need to engage with the thorns. Do not tire yourself out trying to drive evil out of yourself. Christ wants us not to engage with passions and the devil, our adversary. Direct the water, meaning all the strength of your soul, towards the flowers, and you will rejoice in their beauty, fragrance, and freshness.” -St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
This is a very hard practice to develop. I would love to listen to maybe three hours of examples to get this mindset solidified! I really enjoyed the examples given especially the driving example ! I need many many more examples
Thank you so much for this wonderful presentation, Father. Is it possible for you to provide a link to the other video you got so much out of? I'd love to see it!
Please, Father, if you see my comment, pray for my family. I know it's a random stranger on TH-cam. I have been immersed in Orthodoxy for months and I want to go inquire and convert (protestant for 15+ years). My husband is very hesitant, even hostile at times. Please pray that God will soften his heart. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. His heart is so Orthodox in many ways! He does not like protestant churches, but he loves Christ. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us home. Jon and Chrissy.
Lord I pray that you will soften the heart of John allow him to come to the faith of holy Orthodoxy with his wife ever them to pronounce this Faith to High Heavens
I pray for your husband to be humbled .Show him life of saint's from Trisagion films. i am a recent convert to orthodoxy from just somebody who was agnostic and accepted Jesus but denied church etc Show him life of saint's and monks of mt athos and monk fr lazarus el anthony is trully what made me consider orthodoxy because they trully love Christ . Also show him videos from Trisagion films series Chronicles of the desert .Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on us.
I will pray as well, and will ask my friends to pray as well
I prayed for him and you, and I really hope his heart will open to the fullness of the Truth. Maybe show him the video 'Protestant visits an Orthodox Church', perhaps Fr. Truebenbach can help him in that way (he is featured in the video).
@@solv1714 Thank you very much!
Such a beautiful teaching. Thank you again, Father. Your channel continues to bring me great wisdom.
🤯 again. Thank you father
My name is Deborah, which is Hebrew for "Bee". Now to live up to that 🐝
“You can see somebody’s Sin but not their repentance” - Incredible, Thank you Father
I am a retired teacher. This would have been an excellent "story" to relay to my impressionable wonderful Firsties. I have been immensely blessed by your many messages. Thank you for your supernatural wisdom. My son recently started attending a Greek Orthodox Church. As a result, I found Fr. Paul in my research and now want to be a part of Christian Orthodoxy. I am exceeding grateful for this discovery. It's a treasure! I will be praying for you Fr. Paul. With gratitude!
God bless orthodoxy ❤
Amen Jesus ❤
This was a beautiful reflection, Father, thank you.
I want to share a story that happened just yesterday and I think speaks to what you were saying. I was sitting in a train on my way home from work and after one of the stops, the conductor said "we can't keep going, there's a delay" and I immediately got annoyed and angry. Then they continued "there is an attempted suicide on the track, we will have to wait here until the police clears the track". Again, I got annoyed. My first thought was "oh no, this will take hours! How (and when) will I get home?!". Then I caught myself and thought, how selfish of me. These poor people need help, they need prayers, I hope nothing bad happened or will happen to anyone. And then I started praying "Lord have mercy on these poor people", as soon as I said the prayer in my mind only once, the train started moving again. It was a great lesson for me.
Praise God
Oh, something similar happened to me this weekend (somebody was sick and they waited until he got help), but I now realize I never caught myself and just kept winning about it. So selfish and utterly unaware of my selfishness! Lord have mercy.
I was watching a teaching of Dallas Willard the other day. He was a protestant minister and philosophy professor who taught many Christian groups, especially Protestant ones, about the spiritual disciplines. He had studied scripture and church fathers, as well as great pagan philosophers, and one of his messages was that we as Christians can progress and grow in our faith through God’s grace and disciplines like fasting, prayer, solitude, etc. I read some of his writings a few years ago, and I now see they laid the groundwork for my eventual conversion to Orthodoxy.
In the teaching I watched, he said there were folks who might call some of his ideas for practical application of some disciplines “too Buddhist.” Perhaps this was in reference to training the mind. He said that there are indeed good ideas / practices in Buddhism and that “if it’s good, it belongs to us” because all good comes from God.
On a personal note, one thing I liked about Dallas’ work when I first read it was the fact he IS a bee. He emphasized a life continually connected to God and the joy of friendship with Him. Something I had not heard explicitly enough before that is that we can keep improving and being more like Christ in this life, through His grace. Of course that is an idea taught in Protestant churches, but it can be overshadowed by an emphasis on our sinfulness without enough discussion of what to DO about that and what a life of continual purification looks like. Of course we are sinful (duh, haha), but I liked that Dallas focused on what we as Orthodox would describe as repentance.
Thank you, father, for the lovely garden in this video to feed and delight us
The first thing I thought about when you described the fly was a news reporter who makes his living finding the dirt beneath a sweet flower so he can uproot the beautiful flower. The bee reminds me of a gardener who plants a seed in the dirt and nurtures it until the flower that grew out of the seed is in full bloom.
As Christians we should seek to be gardeners and bees.
i am the fly by habit.
Im afriad i have the habbit of being a fly and a dog returning to his own vomit.
I do not wish to be like this , pray for me.
Lord have mercy.
Make your profile picture a bee. Then every time you go to start commenting, you will have a reminder.
Thank you father
I'm really enjoying your videos Fr. Paul.
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing ❤
Wonderful video. May you be blessed and guided by the Eternal Light forever, Fr. Truebenbach.
I very much needed to hear this. Well said. Thank you, Father.
Thankyou for your spreading the wise teachings of St Paisios Father. God bless you .
The 'hell' of Perfectionism
Be the bee !
Thank you Father, I needed this.
I agree with the overall message but also please consider what St Paul says.
2:22
Ephesians 5:11-13
[11] Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; [12] for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. [13] But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
Very nice Father Paul ☦️🤺🤗🏋️♀️☦️
I’m thankful for this video father
Thank you for this video.I love StPaisios and so positive is also St Porfyrios i was reading today.
“There is no need to engage with the thorns. Do not tire yourself out trying to drive evil out of yourself. Christ wants us not to engage with passions and the devil, our adversary. Direct the water, meaning all the strength of your soul, towards the flowers, and you will rejoice in their beauty, fragrance, and freshness.”
-St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
Wow! I just heard this teaching by st Paisios the other day. Thank you fr
great video
I was a fly until i found Jesus Christ now i am a bee . Lord Jesus Christ have mercy.
This is a very hard practice to develop. I would love to listen to maybe three hours of examples to get this mindset solidified! I really enjoyed the examples given especially the driving example ! I need many many more examples
Illuminating as always Fr Truebenbach! Keep up the videos we love them and the wisdom you share. Thank you!
Thankyou Father. This was very helpful.
I hope I'm the bee....I try to be the bee 🐝
Thank you so much for this wonderful presentation, Father. Is it possible for you to provide a link to the other video you got so much out of? I'd love to see it!