Thoughts on Praying for Others
By Michael Haldas, July 15, 2016
“An interesting thing I’ve learned about praying for others and the world in general is that while I’m praying for others, God is also working in me, changing my heart for the better.” (David L. Fontes, PsyD)
“Prayer is a weapon that all believers should use in interceding for others.” (Life Application Study Bible, Romans 15:30)
“Over the past twenty years, there has been a surge in research studying the connection between prayer and health. Researchers such as Herbert Benson, Harold Koenig, Mitchell Krucoff, David Larson, and Kenneth Pargament have identified connections between prayer and improvements in mental health, recovery from illness, immune system functioning, blood pressure, and many other aspects of health. Studies on intercessory prayer, or prayer for the well-being of others, have grown to the point that intercessory prayer in now classified as an experimental intervention by the American Psychological Association.” (George Stavros)
“He who persists ceaselessly in prayer must not disparage the man incapable of doing this, nor must the man who devotes himself to serving the needs of the community complain about those dedicated to prayer. For if the prayers and the service are offered in the spirit of simplicity and love for others, the superabundnce of those dedicated to prayer will make up for the insufficiency of those who serve and vice versa.” (St. Makarios of Egypt)
“I am often, I believe, praying for others when I should be doing things for them. It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see him.” (C.S. Lewis)
Thoughts on Rules and Persons
By Michael Haldas, July 18, 2016
“The Pharisees placed their laws above human need…God is a God of people, not rules.” (Life Application Study, Matthew 12:10-12)
“Many people draw comfort from a legal construct of our relationship with God. Legal things are extrinsic. I can say that I am not legally responsible for my brother’s actions. But legality is simply a convenient fiction for the sake of the extremely limited justice that we can know in this world. But it is not ontologically true (really and actually). We are all profoundly connected in almost every possible way.” (Father Stephan Freeman)
“Some people assert that our faith calls for nothing more than the practice of good moral precepts. In other words, true Christians obey God’s law; indifferent Christians and non-Christians do not. But if we minimize the faith, over-simplifying it and defining it as obedience to the Law, then sin will seize the opportunity with us as it did with Saint Paul. “By the commandment, [sin] produced in me all manner of evil desire,” the apostle says. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Rom 7:8-9). God’s good and gracious laws do not bring about death. Rather, the Law simply reveals that sin necessarily produces death in us.” (Dynamis 6/15/2015)
“This recognition of the necessity of faith is then the prologue to faith… Once we grasp the limitations of living according to a set of rules, we become ready to “unite [our self] unto Christ” and receive life in Him.” (Father Paul Tarazi)
“Just as Jesus was crucified between two thieves, so the Gospel is ever crucified between these two errors…I often call them religion and irreligion; the theological terms are legalism and antinomianism. Another way to describe them could be moralism and relativism (or pragmatism) …. Legalism says that we have to live a holy, good life in order to be saved. Antinomianism says that because we are saved, we don’t have to live a holy, good life.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
~Michael Haldas, https://www.ancientfaith.com/contributors/michael_haldas.
Michael Haldas is an author, a religious educator and a speaker. He wrote Sacramental Living: Understanding Christianity as a Way of Life (published by Eastern Christian Publications), a book which he presented special editions of as gifts to Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in private audiences. Michael is also published monthly in Theosis Magazine and he has authored several Orthodox Christian themed articles for various publications. Additionally, he has recorded and contributed to multiple YouTube, DVD and CD educational projects. He teaches adult religious education and high school Sunday school at the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Bethesda, Maryland and has worked with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Religious Education Department to create educational lessons and materials.
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