#God's will

[wiirocku]

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT) - Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

#1 Thessalonians 5:18 #be thankful #all #circumstances #God's will #for you #who belong #to Christ Jesus

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

They all know they're right.

#god's will #god's plan #god's unknowable plan #the will of god #religion #religion is a mental illness

[dramoor]

"Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more."

~St. Ignatius of Loyola

#Christian #saints #devotion #Lord Jesus Christ #worship #giving all to God #love #grace #surrender #God's will

[momentsbeforemass]

The silent “and”

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

This gets attributed to a lot of sources – St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Talmud, Martin Luther, Dave Ramsey – and even St. Augustine of Hippo (today’s saint).

Whoever said it? It really doesn’t matter. Because it’s true. And extremely Catholic.

What makes it Catholic? Its “both/and-ness.”

“Both/and-ness” is one of the marks of the Catholic Church. At her best, the Church doesn’t elevate one positive good at the expense of losing another positive good. Here’s what I mean.

When it comes to “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you,” the Church sees the silent “and” between the sentences. And says it out loud.

But if you ask which is better – doing what I know to do, the best I know how, or relying completely on God?

The Church’s answer would be, “Yes. Both are positive goods.”

The key to this (or any of the other “both/ands”) is seeking God’s will. Letting God lead. Keeping God on the throne. By making sure that the positive goods themselves become the focus.

The only way I know how to do this?

Pray for God’s guidance. Listen and follow the movement of the Holy Spirit – even if it’s not where you thought you would be headed.

Give it to God. Trust that God will ensure the right outcome – even if it’s not your preferred outcome.

Ask God to let His will be done. Trust that God will work it all for your good – even if that means killing it dead.

And do what you know to do, the best you know how.

This isn’t a one-and-done. This has to be done each and every step of the way.

Give it to God. And keep giving it to God.

Do what you know to do, the best you know how. And keep doing it.

When you do, you’ll end up exactly where you’re supposed to be.

And you’ll do it in God’s peace every step of the way.

Even if it’s not where you thought you’d be.

Today’s Readings

#Pray #Work #God #Jesus #Catholic #Christian #Church #Both-And #God's Will #God's Peace #St. Augustine #St. Ignatius of Loyola #Moments Before Mass

[sspacegodd]

Unless it's a legitimate drowning, which is God's will.

#lifejackets #boating #god's will #abortion #pro-life #pro-choice

[thelordismylightandmysalvation]

Verse of the Day - 1 John 5:14

#prayer #God #God's will #ask #Bible verses #scripture #1 John #He hears

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Whatever We Ask from Him

and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight. — 1 John 3:22 | Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) Holman Christian Standard Bible Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved. Cross References: Job 22:26; Matthew 7:7; Matthew 21:22; John 8:29; John 9:31; Hebrews 13:21; James 4:3

#prayer #asking #receiving #God's will #faith #belief #pleasing #obedience #commands #1 John 3:22 #The Epistle of First John #New Testament #HCSB #Holman Christian Standard Bible #Holman Bible Publishers

[dailyquotes6563]

His smile was as bright as the August sun when he looked at me.

Martina McBride, God's Will

#Martina McBride #God's Will #Quote #quote of the day #quotes #love #love quotes #relationship quotes #relationship advice

[eelhound]

"For whatever is demanded by truth, by justice, by mercy, or by love must surely be taken to be willed by God. To consent to His will is, then, to consent to be true, or to speak truth, or at least to seek it. To obey Him is to respond to His will expressed in the need of another person, or at least to respect the rights of others. For the right of another man is the expression of God's love and God's will. In demanding that I respect the rights of another God is not merely asking me to conform to some abstract, arbitrary law: He is enabling me to share, as His son, in His own care for my brother. No man who ignores the rights and needs of others can hope to walk in the light of contemplation, because his way has turned aside from truth, from compassion and therefore from God."

- Thomas Merton, from New Seeds of Contemplation, 1962.

#thomas merton #quote #quotations #christian mysticism #christian theology #human rights #civil rights #compassion #truth #god's will

[justana0kguy]

2024 JANUARY 10 Wednesday

"Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust; who turns not to idolatry or to those who stray after falsehood Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Then said, "Behold I come." To do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!"

~ Psalms 40:5,7-9

#bible #verse #scripture #Psalms #psalm #blessed man #God #Lord #Jesus #Jesus Christ #Christ #Lord's trust #sacrifice or oblation #ears of obedience #behold I come #God's will #my delight #law within #my heart

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Follow up:

If everything happens according to his plan, it makes no sense for you to claim that "prayer works."

If he has a plan, then I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be to make that plan play out, and I need do nothing other than what I'm already doing. And yet, you keep trying to overthrow your own god's plan by trying to cajole me otherwise.

#free will #god's plan #god's will #god's unknowable plan #self refuting #religion #religion is a mental illness

[wiirocku]

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT) - Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

#1 Thessalonians 5:18 #be thankful #all #circumstances #God's will #for you #who belong #to Christ Jesus

[dramoor]

"Can we have that contact with God all the time? All the time awake, fall asleep in His arms, and awaken in His presence. Can we attain that? Can we do His will all the time? Can we think His thoughts all the time?... We do not think of one thing. We always think of the relationship of at least two things, and more often of three or more things simultaneously. So my problem is this: Can I bring God back in my mind-flow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind as an afterimage, shall always be one of the elements in every concept and percept? I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this question."

~Dr. Frank C. Laubach

#practice the presence of God #Frank C. Laubach #pray continually #contact with God #God's will #All the time #life's goal #focus on Christ #abide in Christ #Christian art #saints #prayer rope #Orthodox Christian #God as top priority

[momentsbeforemass]

God’s will

Someone asked me: “How do you know if you’re doing God’s will vs. your own? How do you ‘let go and let God?’”

The answers to the two questions are kind of connected. Yesterday, I answered the second one – “How do you ‘let go and let God?’”

Now, for the first one – “How do you know if you’re doing God’s will vs. your own?”

The reason that we have to answer the second question first is because of what happens when we let go and let God. When we are able to that, we receive “the peace of God that passes all understanding.” (Philippians 4:7)

Because it’s from that peace of God that we can hear God’s voice. That we can know we’re doing God’s will.

It comes back to something from yesterday. The way to have peace is the only way to be sure that we’re listening to God, that what we’re doing is God’s will. “Cast all your worries upon Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

In practice, sorting out if you’re doing God’s will or your own will has less to do with what you’re doing, and more to do with how you do it.

Ask yourself, who are you relying on to do it?

Are you trying to figure it all out? Maybe even “what-iffing?” Turning to your own “brilliance” for the next step? Are you worrying about it? If so, then you’re not relying on God.

Which means? Whatever you’re doing, it’s not God’s will.

Are you reaching out to God about it? Day by day, and even hour by hour? Turning to God to for the next step? Are you at peace about it? If so, then you’re relying on God.

Which means? Whatever you’re doing, it’s God’s will.

Because with God’s will comes God’s peace.

That’s not to say doing God’s will be effortless. Or that God will always hand us a roadmap to let us know exactly what’s coming.

Sometimes following God’s will can be hard. Even things we would not have willingly chosen. If we had known what was coming.

For me, if I knew in advance everything that I would have to go through, there are a lot of times that I probably would not have followed God’s will.

I would have taken one look at what was coming. And without saying “I don’t trust you” to God, acted like I didn’t trust God. By not doing it.

God knows me better than I know myself. Which is why many times He doesn’t give me the big picture. Just the next step.

Looking back, after having been through them, the same things that I would never have agreed to? Are the very things that God has given me to draw on for strength. To use to uplift and support others.

The things I wouldn’t have done on my own have allowed me to do more for people in crisis. They are what God has used to make me a better person.

And that is the other way to tell that you are doing God’s will.

Ask - Is it drawing you closer to God? Is it deepening your trust in God? Is it helping you to be a better person, to be who God made you to be?

May God bless you richly as you continue to seek His will. And know that you are in my prayers.

Today’s Readings

#God's Will #Peace #Better #Who God made you to be #Closer to God #God #Jesus #Catholic #Christian #Church #Moments Before Mass

[bucky1984]

I was thinking... You know that theory that two souls destined to be together always end up together, no matter what you change in their lives? What if Neil has been playing us from the start? What if Aziraphale and Crowley had already kissed? What if they'd already fallen in love in Heaven?

And that part of their memory had been erased? Both of them?

Millions of years slow-burn?

6000 years slow-burn?

Slow-burn?

NAH!

#good omens #insomnies #aziraphale #crowley #good omens s2 #renew good omens #ineffable husbands #ineffable plan #neil gaiman #god's will

[thelordismylightandmysalvation]

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.  Romans 12:2

Verse of the Day - Romans 12:2

#Bible verses #scripture #Romans #God #conform #renew #mind #testing #discernment #God's will #good #acceptable #perfect #world