God's Will.

Following God's Will. Submission. Surrender. Trust.

...Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (...). Lord's Prayer.

Open yourself to the Tao, then trust your natural responses; and everything will fall into place. Tao Te Ching 23, quoted after Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.151.

And going on a little further he fell on his face and prayed. "My Father," he said, "if it is possible, let this cup pass by me. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it." Matthew 26:39

My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work. John 4:34

I can do nothing by myself; I can only judge as I am told to judge, and my judgment is just, because my aim is to do not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. John 5:30

(...) I do nothing of myself: what the Father has taught me is what I preach; he who sent me is with me and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him. John 8:29

The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work. John 14:10

In the morning let me know of your love, for I put my trust in you. Show me the way I must take, for my heart is set on you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God, by your gracious spirit guide me on the level ground. Ps 143:8,10

(...) By the time he grows up and reaches the age of forty, he should say, "My Lord, direct me to appreciate blessings You have bestowed upon me and my parents, and to work righteousness that pleases You, and grant righteousness to my children. I have repented, and I totally submit to you." Quran 46:15

Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Ps 37:4-5

Never be perturbed. Trust the Lord - your Real Companion. It is not difficult for him to change the circumstances favourably. Shanti Vachan Bhandar, 326.

Remain within the bounds of Lord's command if you desire complete freedom and salvation. Shanti Vachan Bhandar, 449.

O my Lord! In case I desire something which is not in accordance with your pleasure, please do place obstacles in the way of fulfillment. Grant me instead only what is in accordance with Thy Pleasure. Shanti Vachan Bhandar, 528.

O Striver! Never bear doubts or misgivings about Lord's Divine Play. Do not question Lord's Deeds. You are not so wise and intelligent, but the Master is Omniscient. It is your duty to render implicit obedience to His Will and remain cheerful so that you become worthy of His Divine Grace. Shanti Vachan Bhandar, 716.

Whatever happens, consider it to be Lord's Will. Shanti Vachan Bhandar, 1075.

Merge your desire in Lord's Will and say - "Be it Thy Will.' Shanti Vachan Bhandar, 1297.

Consider yourself a true lover of the Lord only if you have never been annoyed or offended by anything. Shanti Vachan Bhandar, 1780.

If you have to part company with a dear one, do not feel disheartened as it is but natural that this will happen anyway sooner or later. Regard this as eternal law, therefore remain contented always in the Will of the Lord. Shanti Vachan Bhandar, 1815.

Question: How can I know that I am doing God's will when I am away from Babaji? Answer: You should eat only fruit and milk for nine months. Teachings of Babaji, P.7.

Faithful submission to the will of God, always and everywhere, in all events and circumstances of life, gives great glory to God. Such submission to the will of God carries more weight with Him than long fasts, mortifications and the most severe penances. Oh, how great is the reward for one act of loving submission to the will of God! As I write, my soul is enraptured at the thought of how much God loves it and of the peace that my soul already enjoys, here on earth. Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 724.

Sorrow will not establish itself in a heart which loves the will of God. My heart, longing for God, feels the misery of exile. (...) Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 886.

When I was close to the Lord, He said to me, (...) My daughter, even though you do not perceive Me in the most secret depths of your heart, you still cannot say that I am not there. I only remove from you the awareness of My presence, and that should not be an obstacle to the carrying out of My will. (...) Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 1181.

Jesus: My child, make the resolution never to rely on people. Entrust yourself completely to My will saying, "Not as I want, but according to Your will, O God, let it be done unto me." These words, spoken from the depths of one's heart, can raise a soul to the summit of sanctity in a short time. In such a soul I delight. Such a soul gives Me glory. Such a soul fills heaven with the fragrance of her virtue.(...) Faustina Kowalska, The Diary, 1487.

Meditation is then always to be associated in practice with abandonment to the will and action of God.  It goes hand in hand with self-renunciation and with obedience to the Holy Spirit.  Meditation that does not seek to bring our whole being into conformity with God's will must naturally remain sterile and abstract.  But any sincere interior prayer that really seeks this one all important end - our conformity to God's will in our regard - cannot fail to be rewarded by grace.  It will prove, without question, to be one of the most sanctifying forces in our lives.  And St. Teresa of Avila believed that no one who was faithful to
the practice of meditation could possibly lose his soul. Merton, Thomas.  Spiritual Direction and Meditation. P.108. Submitted by Gary Horn mailto:ghorn@uswest.com

You may think that you will be full of determination to resist outward trials if God will only grant you inward favours.  His Majesty knows best what is suitable for us; it is not for us to advise Him what to give us, for He can rightly reply that we know not what we ask.  All that the beginner in prayer has to do-and you must not forget this, for it is very important-is to labour and be resolute and prepare himself with all possible diligence to bring his will into conformity with the will of God. As I shall say later, you may be quite sure that this comprises the very greatest perfection which can be attained on the spiritual road.  The more perfectly a person practices it, the more he will receive of the Lord and the greater the progress he will make on this road; (...) St. Theresa of Avila.  Interior Castle. P.51

(...) it is not sufficient to rush into church with a desire for contemplation or to do a lot of good works and acts of virtue with a
desire for sanctity.  In all the aspects of life the supreme good which includes everything else is God's will.  Without it, contemplation and virtue are nothing.  The first movement in all prayer, together with faith in His presence, ought to be the desire to know His will and to abandon oneself entirely to all His dispositions and intentions for us. Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas.  P. 112. Submitted to L-Center Discussion Group by Gary Horn mailto:ghorn@uswest.com

This then is what it means to seek God perfectly: to withdraw from illusion and pleasure, from worldly anxieties and desires, from the works that God does not want, from a glory that is only human display; to keep my mind free from confusion in order that my liberty may be always at the disposal of His will; to entertain silence in my heart and listen for the voice of God; to
cultivate an intellectual freedom from the images of created things in order to receive the secret contact of God in obscure love; to love all men as myself; to rest in humility and to find peace in withdrawal from conflict and competition with other men;
to turn aside from controversy and put away heavy loads of judgment and censorship and criticism and the whole burden of opinions that I have no obligation to carry; to have a will that is always ready to fold back within itself and draw all the powers of the soul down from its deepest center to rest in silent expectancy for the coming of God, poised in tranquil and effortless
concentration upon the point of my dependence on Him; to gather all that I am, and have all that I can possibly suffer or do or be, and abandon them all to God in the resignation of a perfect love and blind faith and pure trust in God, to do His will.  And then to wait in peace and emptiness and oblivion of all things. Merton, Thomas. New Seeds of Contemplation. PP. 45-46.
Submitted to L-Center Discussion Group by Gary Horn ghorn@uswest.com

I ask you to abandon yourself completely to God. Our Lady of Medjugorie, March 25, 1989. Words from Heaven, P.70.

Dear children, I am calling you to a complete surrender to God. (…) Be strong in God. I desire that through you the whole world may get to know the God of joy. Neither be anxious nor worried. God will help you and show you the way. I want you to love all men with my love, both the good and the bad. Only that way will love conquer the world. (…) Our Lady of Medjugorie, May 25, 1988. Words from Heaven, P.250.

Dear children, today I am calling you to a complete surrender to God. Everything you do and everything you possess give over to God so that He can take control in your life as King of all that you possess. That way, through me God can lead you into the depths of the spiritual life. (…) I am blessing you with the blessing of joy so that for you God may be everything in life. (…). Our Lady of Medjugorie, July 25, 1988.Words from Heaven, P.250.

(…) pray and seek the will of God in your everyday life. I desire that each one of you discover the way of holiness and grow in it until eternity. (…). Our Lady of Medjugorie, April 25, 1990. Words from Heaven, P.258.

(…) Forget your desires, dear children, and pray for what God desires and not for what you desire. (…) Our Lady of Medjugorie, September 25, 1991. Words from Heaven, P.263.

O children! Remember: the only way for you to be always with me and to know the will of the Father is to pray. (…) Our Lady of Medjugorie, May 16, 1987.Words from Heaven, P.391.

By being willing to act and work in the actual conditions of the human situation we enter into relations with God to cooperate in bringing to pass what He proposes to accomplish in the world.  What the human race achieves is the joint work of God and man.  God supplies the fundamental and essential power and man works and organizes.  No act of ours is creative unless it is
done within our own relationship with God to further a vast plan which we cannot understand and about which we know only that part which impinges on our own lives.  If we link ourselves with God in this joint task, our actions and our entire life are a prayer. Raguin, Yves. How To Pray Today. P.47. Submitted to L-Center Discussion Group by Gary Horn  <horngary@aol.com>

Abba Nilus said:  Do not want things to turn out as they seem best to you, but as God pleases.  Then you will be free of confusion and thankful in your prayer. Nomura, Yushi. Desert Wisdom:  Sayings from the Desert Fathers.

All truly contemplative souls have this in common: not that they gather exclusively in the desert, or that they shut themselves up in reclusion, but that where He is, there they are.  And how do they find Him?  By technique? There is no technique for finding Him.  They find Him by His will.  And His will, bringing them grace within and arranging their lives exteriorly, carries them infallibly to the precise place in which they can find Him. Even there they do not know how they have got there, or what they are really doing. Merton, Thomas.  Thoughts In Solitude. P. 96.

Cling to surrender and contentment with God's will.
(...)
When you forget your own scheming,
happiness will come to you from your spiritual guide.
When you forget your self,
you are remembered by God.
When you have become His slave,
only then are you set free.

Rumi, Mathnawi III, 3071-3076, quoted in: Helminski, Kabir (2000). The Rumi Collection. P.142.

Do not pray for the fulfillment of your wishes, for they may not accord with the will of God. But pray as  you have been taught, saying: Thy will be done in me (cf. Luke 22:42). Always entreat Him in this way - that His will be done. For he desires what is good and profitable for you, whereas you do not always ask fir this. St. Evagrios the Solitary (345-399 C.E.), quoted in: The Philokalia, Vol. I., P.60.

He who knows God's will, and performs it according to his power, escapes more severe suffering by suffering a little. St. Mark the Ascetic (4th Century C.E.), quoted in: The Philokalia, Vol. I., P.123.

When something accords with God's will, all creation aids it. But when God rejects something, creation too opposes it. St. Mark the Ascetic (4th Century C.E.), quoted in: The Philokalia, Vol. I., P.142.

Even when he gets angry with Moses for not wanting to accept his mission, he yet does not repent of his election, and Moses yet becomes one of the greatest figures in the history of man. If we are wise, we learn to go along with God without struggle. Pennington, Basil. (1978). O Holy Mountain! Journal of a Retreat on Mount Athos. P.75.


Last updated: 2008/03/04

See the related subjects: Conversion, Duty, Fear of God, Inspiration, Kingdom of God, Purpose, Salvation, Will.

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