The Ascended Life

"Whether you give me comforts or trials O God, Your will be done"

We serve an I AM God.  We are not to live in the past which is gone or the future which is not here yet.  We can only live in the present.  Never leave where you are for that is where God will meet you.  I have entered the fire of God's love and if it were not for God's voice in the fire, I would have been lost.  In seeking God I am finding that God is already waiting for me.

What I am learning from John Climacus is there are many steps to take in arriving at perfection.  When we think we have taken the last step, we only discover that we have only begun to ascend God's ladder to heaven.  I must take another step to detach myself from the world and seek nothing but God alone.  When I get irritable, annoyed, edgy with others only shows my need for more perfection and God's holiness in my life.

We find that first we have to fight for peace but eventually God will teach us to simply enter into His calm nature if we continue to press into God.  I am learning to be consumed by the fire of God's mercy.  I am emptying myself to be completely abandoned to God.  My life is not my own but is in God's hands.  God sought me ought when I fled from him so I know God will not leave me now that I seek Him.  I have no confidence in the flesh and I have total confidence in Gods' goodness.

Even in my faults I am finding a peace in Christ.  Even in my confusion of mind I am learning to listen to the whispers from heaven.  The Devil wants me to despair but I am full of hope in God.  Even my sins are like a small atom compared to the infinite greatness of God.  I will cast all my cares upon God for "I will both lie down in peace and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety (Psalm 4:8).  My only fear is to have reverent fear in the Lord God Almighty.