When you wish to live piously and be a true Christian and so be saved, pray to God incessantly and beg help of Him with fervor. Just as according to His love for man God commanded us to pray and ask of Him every good thing, He also promised to give us what we ask for, and most of all what is needful for our salvation.
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." (Matt 7:7-8). Know, beloved, that a Christian without prayer is as a bird without wings and as a warrior weapons.
Pray fervently, then, to Christ the Lord and give yourself to Him for direction, and He will correct and guide you to eternal blessedness according to His love for man. Only be careful and watch yourself, and seeing you care He will help you in everything. Read the Beatitudes, and the rest, often and with fervor.
+St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, from Journey to Heaven, Part 2, chapter 13
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