We cannot constantly rely on the extraordinary grace of God, we must adopt His grace personally, by correctly overcoming temptation. – Metropolitan of Strumica Mr. Nahum
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Even though I have written and explained the topic: “How to overcome any temptation, through the method of “five control points”, unfortunately, I still see that for some people it is not clear and they do not know, and, consequently, do not apply it in practice. The problem is that there is no other way to overcome any temptation and therefore, instead of transfiguration, we are faced with the problem of suppression. On the other hand, suppression only multiplies and increases the problems in our life – in all spheres; it never solves them.
We have said, the lesson that we will not learn we will repeat until we learn it. If a temptation for us is a lesson that we need to learn through proper overcoming, and we do not succeed, then the Lord temporarily removes the permitted temptation, so that after we have rested and prepared to face the same thing again, i.e. with the same lesson. The Lord rests us through His extraordinary grace. We cannot constantly rely on the extraordinary grace of God, we must adopt His grace personally, by correctly overcoming temptation.
Learning the lesson is a question of spiritual growth – if the temptation is not overcome, i.e. if the lesson is not learned, there is no spiritual growth. Haven’t we noticed this whole process in our life repeating itself many times and how we keep falling again and again into the same things? And don’t we wonder how long will we repeat the same lesson; how long will we be repeaters? That is why we will suffer… And we do not suffer because the Lord punishes us, but because we deny and fall away from Him – from His grace, and fall into the hands of demons – who are murderers from the very beginning. In fact, we punished Him and, we are constantly punishing Him – the One who sacrificed Himself for our salvation, by falling away from Him, and thus from His salvation. And the Lord cannot leave His spiritual vineyard, i.e. we Christians, unclean and without any fruit.
Let us recall once again: the method of the “five control points” through which every temptation is overcome. This method is as follows:
– First, everything that happens to us, no matter how bad it may seem, we accept as a gift from God;
– Second, we thank God for it;
– Third, we consider ourselves guilty of what happened – by seeking God’s justice;
– Fourth, We do not make an outward display, neither to demons nor to people, what is happening to us; and
– Fifth, we continue to pray, not so as to remove the temptation – which we accept as a gift from God, but in order to continue to build our personal communion (relationship) with God, as well as to repair our relationship with those who hurt us.
This method of the holy fathers should be known by heart – at all times, and constantly applied in practice, with faith. Once we find God’s justice within ourselves, it will be much easier to achieve human justice.
Where do we most often make a mistake? Self-love and unbelief do not allow us to accept what has happened, or is happening, we always want to be nice; to always be in some comfort zone – without any discomfort. We always strive to seek human justice first, and we do not even think about God’s justice – instead of the other way around. And most often, we do not respect the natural hierarchical arrangement of things. All this shows a high opinion of ourselves – to the point of demonic pride, which is most often not even supported by any deeds and achievements; and even if it is supported, it is obviously not done for the glory of God, but for our own glory. Besides, we forget that our path is suffering and the Cross, but not out of stupidity and sinfulness, but for the salvation of our neighbours. Our Cross should not only have an auto-therapeutic, but also a catholically-therapeutic dimension. If there is a catholic Cross, there will also be Christianity. Glory to You, O Lord!
Metropolitan of Strumica, Mr. Nahum
29 / 06 / 2025
