SO GOOD QUOTES

Author: SO GOOD QUOTES

  • God will both prepare and direct us for whatever He has in His mind, even if He does not reveal it to us.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Know the Will of God

  • God is not an author of confusion

    Another principle is that God is not an author of confusion. That is to say, God will not send you a certain message through the Scriptures, a different message in your heart, a third message through your father of confession, a forth message through your parents, a fifth message through your friends, and so on. God is not an author of confusion. So, if it is the will of God, God will change the heart of everyone, almost to be in consensus, to declare that this is the will of God, except if some people are clearly against His will; and this will be outside our calculation. But anybody who is willing wholeheartedly to know the will of God, all will be in agreement: whether you read in the Scripture, or the voice in your heart, or the counseling you are receiving from your spiritual father, or you hear from your parents; everything will be in harmony together.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Know the Will of God

  • we need to be persistent in seeking the will of God. When we are persistence and seeking His will and seeking His guidance, He told us, “Ask, and you will receive.” Also, the Lord said to us, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. This means that if you seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, if you live righteously, God will reveal to you in a way or another His will in everything else. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. And here is the rule, one rule that is very important: if you are faithful and honest in keeping the general will of God— to do good, sanctification, abstain from sexual immorality, giving thanks in everything—if you are faithful in this area, then God will reveal to you His will in other areas. But if you are not faithful but are careless about fulfilling the will of God in this general area, why would God reveal to you His will in other areas. So, the more you are faithful, the more the will of God will be revealed to you regarding the specific questions.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Know the Will of God

  • The renewing of your mind means that you should think in another way. You can think of the same situation either in a way that agitates you, or in another way that calms you down.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Endure Injustice

  • There is an Arabic saying that says that if someone loves you, he will endure and be patient with you, but your enemy lies in wait for you to make a mistake. This is very true. If I love someone, I will let it go; I will endure. But if I do not love, I will be lying in wait to catch the person in a word he might say. Lack of endurance is lack of love.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Endure Injustice

  • Sometimes we ask, “Why is he treating me in this manner? Why this injustice?” This question itself is wrong. It will produce within us some kind of anger and intolerance. Therefore, we, as children of God, must program ourselves to endure injustice because of conscience toward God.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Endure Injustice

  • What does “enduring because of conscience toward God” mean? While you can talk back politely to the one speaking with you, or you can answer “eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,” or you can ignore them completely and not answer them, or any other kind of reaction, here however he is saying to you: “For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully” Then he continues, saying, “For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?” That is to say, if I did something wrong, and then someone yelled at me, and I remain silent and endure it, here I deserve it because I had done something wrong. Then he goes on to say, “But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God,” meaning that, if I am walking uprightly, and then someone rebukes me or yells at me, and I take it patiently, this is commendable before God.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Endure Injustice

  • And he endured injustice and the harshness of the rich man, who walked in front of him day and night without paying him attention, not even giving him some food. And it is amazing that when the Lord told us the story of Lazarus, he did not mention any other virtue in the life of Lazarus, except this virtue, that he endured poverty, being in need, without grumbling or complaining.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Endure Injustice

  • To help you grow in enduring others, you should find excuses for them. And when I say, “find excuses,” I am speaking about finding real excuses. Like the Lord on the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do,” which was a real excuse. They did not know that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. When you find excuses for others, this will help you to endure them.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Endure Injustice

  • Do not be this person, who does not have the grace of God. Do not be the person who embitters those around him, causing trouble in the community.

    Do not be the person by whom others become defiled, through a thought of judging someone, a thought of / anger, a thought of revenge, and so on. Do not be this character.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef, How to Endure Injustice