6. Do not pray so that everything will be
according to your wishes, because it may not always conform to God’s will — but
better pray "Thy will be done," and in every matter, pray this way
because He always wants everything good and beneficial for your soul. (Nilus of
Sinai)
6. Instead of letting God to arrange things that
are best for me, I sometimes unwisely forced God’s will through my prayers,
asking Him for one thing or another. Later, upon receiving what I had asked
for, I was left lamenting because things were not what I thought they would be.
(Nilus of Sinai)
6. Therefore, don’t lament if you don’t receive
instantly from God that which you had asked for. He wants to provide you with a
greater benefit by forcing you to have to stand patiently before Him in prayer.
Because what can be greater than conversing with God and communing with Him?
(Nilus of Sinai)
6. Condescending to our infirmity, the Holy Spirit
comes to us even when we are not chaste; and if He finds our mind occupied in
genuine prayer, He then descends into it and casts out the whole crowd of
thoughts and wishes, thereby disposing our mind toward pure prayers. (Nilus of
Sinai)
6. When praying, do not imaging God as having any
shape or appearance and do not allow your mind to take on any form, but
approach the Ethereal in an ethereal way — and you will come together with Him.
(Nilus of Sinai)
6. Beware of the enemy’s snares, because sometimes
during a sincere and peaceful prayer, a strange and alien image appears
suddenly. The enemy does this to lead you into self-conceit, instilling the
thought that supposedly Divinity had appeared to you. Do not imagine that God’s
Being occupies space, has dimension or form, because it has neither quantity
nor appearance. (Nilus of Sinai)
6. Know that the Angels induce us toward prayers,
stand with us during them, rejoicing and praying for us. But if we are careless
and accept sinful thoughts, we distress our Angels. Because, while they have
committed themselves for us, we are too lazy to ask God for ourselves. Worse
yet, in neglecting to serve God and seemingly turning our backs on their
Master, we conduct a mental conversation with unchaste demons. (Nilus of Sinai)
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