St. John of the Ladder speaks in the same way about this subject, for whom to be wise means to fulfill the will of God at all times, in every place and in every deed. That is, only the one who knows the will of God in any situation and tries to fulfill it is truly intelligent and wise. It is precisely this wisdom that the Holy Scriptures teach us when it says through the mouth of the Apostle Paul: "Do not be unreasonable, but know what is the will of God." The same is taught by the main Christian prayer, the words of which "Thy will be done" we say every day.

In fact, whose other will, besides the will of God, can a person fulfill? According to St. Seraphim of Sarov, a person can fulfill three wills: the first is the will of God, completely perfect and salvific; the second is the will of man himself, which, even when it is not pernicious, is still not salvific, and, finally, the third will is demonic, completely and always pernicious. From this it can be seen that there is only one saving will, and that is the will of God, and the other two wills do not save us, but lead us to destruction.

Thus, he who wants to be saved must certainly fulfill the will of God in his life. However, in order to fulfill it, you must first know it. Is it possible for a person to know the will of God, and if so, how to do it? The saints, for example, knew the will of God directly from God. St. Seraphim of Sarov could directly answer a person who asked about monasticism: "There is no way for you to enter a monastery." Or a person who asks about marriage: "This marriage is not pleasing to God," or someone else: "You will marry such and such a person, and this marriage will be happy." And he never made mistakes, because he said nothing of himself, but only what he learned from God. In the same way, His other great saints knew the will of God.

Well, the saints knew the will of God directly from God, this is understandable. And for us, who are still far from the perfection of the saints, how are we to recognize it? This is not a simple or easy task, it is a science that cannot be overcome at once. It cannot be studied purely theoretically, as, for example, the laws of physics or the rules of the road are studied. It is studied only by many labors, many struggles and trials, many experiences of the Christian life. As man draws closer to God, he receives from Him the gift of spiritual discernment and becomes able to recognize His will unerringly.

What is the gift of spiritual discernment? According to Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, spiritual reasoning is purification, Divine enlightenment, spiritual clarity. Christians should strive in every possible way to acquire this gift. For those who have not yet reached this high measure, there are some ways that can help on the path of studying this science. Let's list the main ones.

So, first of all, those who want to fulfill the will of God in their lives must certainly read and carefully study His Word, the Holy Scriptures, in which the Lord Himself reveals His will to man. And it is not just necessary to read the Scriptures, but it is necessary to fulfill in life what is written there. That is, you need to try to apply the words of Scripture to every situation in life. With any of our choices, we need to remember that the Lord is looking at us now, and think about what He expects from us and how He would like us to act. It is necessary to remember what words, what commandments of the Scriptures can be applied to a given situation and, based on this, try to make the right choice, that is, pleasing to God. A person who conforms his actions to the Word of God will gradually grow in the knowledge of the will of God.

Secondly, whoever wants to fulfill the will of God must read the lives and works of the Holy Fathers. Saints are people who laid down their lives to fulfill the will of God, and therefore they can teach us the same. Reading the lives of the saints, we must imitate them, try to live as they lived. That is, when we do not know what to do, we need to remember how the saints acted in this or a similar situation, and try to act in the same way as much as possible for us. If we do this to the best of our ability, then we will be imitators of the saints in fulfilling the will of God, and little by little we will learn to recognize this will.