PARADISE NOW

PARADISE NOW

OUR LORD DESCENDED AND REACHED FOR US BUT WE MUST ALSO REACH UP REGARDLESS OF WHERE WE ARE

If You Don't Love Your Neighbor,
It Is Impossible To Love God

Is it not true that God has done and will continue to do everything in order to restore us to the Garden of Eden? (Paradise).  And has He not provided every means by which we may assist ourselves in doing our part to free us from the bondage that has held us for so long?   Such as: the denial of the fallen self who was beguiled, such as taking up and bearing a cross upon which the fallen self may be crucified (not by shedding blood but the circumcision of the heart will do) such as fasting, prayer, mourning, meekness, by making peace at all times through love for neighbor, and so on!  

But for a moment lets set aside these aids in our restoration and fill out hearts with just one great and immeasurable virtue, a virtue that cares nothing for gain, that seeks absolutely nothing in return, a virtue that is so much like our Father, our Creator - and that is simply thanking God - gratitude.  How often should one express gratitude to the Father  - not for something, not for everything, just the simple love of expressing thanks to God?  Is there a limit?   

And there is more.   Contemplate what kind of God we are grateful to.  That which He has already given - can it be measured?  Impossible!  But set that on the side.  Having contemplated  its magnitude and that it was and continues to be given infinitely, now consider that it was done in lieu of His foreknowledge that billions of His beloved creation would show no gratitude at all but instead mocked and crucified Him, and continue to do so age after age.

Arrogance

Doesn’t always claim to be more intelligent than everyone but rather treats everyone else as stupid.

Revealed

What cannot be uttered, can be revealed.

Be still and know that He is God

Be still - our Savior whispers continuously.  It is heard by the soul not by the ears. The soul however hears it louder than all the voices on the earth made at once.

Groveling in matter Carnal man, spiritually blind and deaf, grovels in transitory matter and thereby remains a stranger to the self that dwells within, the true Self, who is not only capable of moving mountains but inhaling galaxies and exhaling universes.

Physical Laws?
You say we are subject to physical laws?  Tell that to the Holy Apostle Peter whose shadow alone heals.

The Kingdom of Heaven

Many believe that indeed the Kingdom of Heaven is within yet few bother to search for the way in.   The tools of a gold miner are a pick and a shovel.  As for the gold mine of the kingdom of heaven only one tool is needed - the continual remembrance of Christ - the Prayer of Jesus*. 

And as a minor chips away and digs, he's removing debris to reveal the gold beneath, so you see the acquisition of Christ is by removal of the debris that we have accumulated on top of the kingdom with our attachments to material things and matter.

The Depth of God's Love

Adam and Eve only had one rule while in Paradise:  To struggle against not exposing themselves to good and evil.  Having broken God's rule, they were cast out of Paradise into a world in which they had exposed themselves - a world of more intense struggle with good and evil. But now consider and contemplate God's nature in our banishment. Its likeness is that of Paradise. Did He abandon us? No. Did He remove His love and grace? No. Did He destroy the Garden? No. What was once without and within, is now within. Dig!

*Remembrance of the name of Jesus rouses the enemy to battle. For a soul that forces itself to pray the Prayer of Jesus can find anything by this prayer, both good and evil. First, it can see evil in the recesses of its own heart, and afterwards good. This power can stir the snake to action, and this prayer can lay it low. This prayer can expose the sin that is living in us, and this prayer can eradicate it. This prayer can stir up in the heart all the power of the enemy, and this prayer can conquer it and gradually root it out. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ as a descends into the depths of the heart will subdue the snake which controls its ranges, and will save and Quicken the soul. Continue constantly in the name of the Lord Jesus that the heart may swallow the Lord and the Lord the heart, and that these two may be one. However this is not accomplished in a single day, nor in 2 days, but requires many years and much time. Much time in labor are needed in order to expel the enemy and instate Christ. +Saint John Chrysostomos 347 -406 

More to come.....