The Most Important Spiritual Skill | Alireza Panahian

The Missing Link in People’s Lives

I chose my goal. What should I focus on? I want to move forward. I don’t want any of my good deeds to be fruitless. I want the minimum good deeds from me to take me to my goal; plus, they write good deeds for me that I haven’t done!

I want to tell you a secret for you not to have any ineffective actions or fruitless knowledge, for our belief to give results, and for our love to be appropriate. I want to move forward. I don’t want any of my good deeds to be fruitless.

There is a link between knowledge, belief, and love with action. Paying attention to this link causes knowledge, belief, love, and action to be fruitful. Even if you don’t do any actions, when this link is present itself, you will receive the results of your deeds! Even without actions! This link does something else too. It will increase knowledge, belief, and love by itself. This link prepares you to be ready for action and makes your deeds beneficial and fruitful. The missing link in our life!

The outcast, cursed, and wretched Satan, who is our enemy, continuously makes us miserable because of this link. How? Through negligence. You should start practicing from now. This is the most pronounced spiritual skill that everyone should have. When I tell you the answer to this question, don’t say that was easy. Yes, it is easy. Human beings are always becoming wretched due to neglecting easy things. Did you think people go to Hell because it was hard? So why is the Day of Resurrection called “the Day of Regret?” Because people regret.

Everyone who is sitting here, who are very good people and I am the most wretched of all, will regret in the Hereafter. We will regret why we didn’t become like Ayatollah Bahjat. Why? Because we will realize that it was easy.

Now, I want to teach you this simple method. This missing link is intention. The intention of getting close to God. The intention that, “I will do this to get close to You God. I’m doing this deed for that.” This is intention. Don’t do good deeds without an intention. It’s useless. You will be like Cane who killed Abel! You will become so bad with your good deeds, that you will be ready to kill Abel! Make an intention for each one of your actions. Learn to say, “O God, because of You.” Your problem is not your sins. Your problem is when you do good deed without saying, “O God, because of You.”

(God says,) “I want intention from you.” “So You don’t want action?” “I want action coming from pure intention.” “What if I wasn’t able to do it, but I had the intention?” “I will accept it from you. I want intention from you.” Friends, is it hard to make the intention? Do you want to say in the Hereafter, “I couldn’t make the intention?” When you pass by a house that hasn’t been finished after a few years, you can say, “O God, I wish I had the money and finished their house for them.”

Is this hard to do? You don’t have this much conscience?! What does God want from us? I swear to God! What does God want from us?! A tradition says, “If a person has the intention to pray the midnight prayer, light will pour on him till morning! Even if he sleeps.” Is it hard to make an intention? This part of existence has been ignored. It is not there at all! Why don’t you make an intention?

A man was building his house. Imam Sadiq (a) asked him, “What are you doing?” He said, “I’m putting a window for the kitchen smoke to go out.” The Imam (a) said, “Say, ‘I am putting a window to see the sky and know when it is time to pray.’” Make the intention for God; the smoke will go out from the window too. You are putting it anyway.

I swear to God we are wretched that we don’t use these opportunities. This is our problem. A tradition says, “People will be resurrected based on their intentions.” (It will be said,) “People with this intention come to this side. Those whose intention was to help Imam Husayn (a) come here.” Some people will be chosen, and you will say, “This Person! Why him?! Why not me?!” Because you di