Activity...

Or lack there of...

I have been working at my new job for a while and really enjoying it! I have great bosses and a fantastic team of engineers that love to help.

Anyway, I just wanted to check-in and leave you with this for now...

"The devil first attacks us with pleasurable temptation, for he knows that we fall into it easily. And if he finds our will obedient to his, he draws us away from the grace of God which protects us. On account of his great hatred for us, he then requests permission from God to bring upon us bitter temptation, that is, sorrows and hardships, in order to destroy us completely and cause us to fall into despair on account of our many sufferings. If he does not find our will compliant, that is, if we do not fall to the pleasurable temptation, he still brings the second kind of temptation, hoping that through many sorrows he will be able to force us to carry out his evil intent.

For this reason, the Apostle Peter directs us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). God sometimes permits him to do this in order to test His servants, as in the case of Job and the other Saints, in accordance with the Lord’s word to His disciples: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” (Lk. 22:31). That is, “Behold, Peter, Satan asked permission to sift all of you, to shake you up with temptations as wheat is shaken up.” Or God allows temptations by means of His withdrawing, as happened to David because of the sin he committed and to the Apostle Peter because of his arrogance. Other times temptations come on account of God’s abandonment, as it happened to Judas and the Jews.

The temptations the saints experience by the permission of God come from the envy of the devil, and are permitted in order that they may manifest saintly righteousness and perfection, and thus shine all the more brightly on account of their victory over their opponent. The temptations which happen by God’s withdrawal occur in order to obstruct and cut off past, present, or future sins. The temptations which happen by God’s abandonment are caused by the sinful life of man and his evil will, and lead one to complete perdition."

An Excerpt from "Concerning Frequent Communion"

by St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite

Source: http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/cfc_lordsprayer.aspx