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"There is but one thing that we are here to do, and that is achieve Mastery."
-Flower A. Newhouse, The Christward Way

The Way of Discipleship

Enlightenment, Illumination, Initiation and Mastery

The Immortal Ascent The way of discipleship is a way of attainment. It is a voluntary surrender of the entire self to the work or the service of God. It requires great attention to spiritual realities and goals which inspire us toward inner growth. We enter Discipleship when our greatest desire is to touch Eternal Truths and mystically experience the Loving Presence of God.

The Christ constantly endeavored to teach everyone to remedy, transform, recreate, and master himself. Man's path to perfection lies in the directing of his thoughts, energies and desires toward their highest good, and toward the support of the edifying Divine Reality and the Divine Plan.

His mastery of the human self and human circumstances manifests through the practice of continual conscious alignment with the Divine Spirit. In this endeavor he should be intelligent, balanced and joyous in outlook.

Excerpts on Discipleship

Flower A. Newhouse on Christianize Your Thoughts, 1969

Flower A. Newhouse on Spiritual Love, 1969

Flower A. Newhouse on Active Faith, 1969

"When the desire for God is equaled by the willingness to change and grow spiritually, the individual is slowly and watchfully graduated into the state of discipleship."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "Disciplines of the Holy Quest"

"With discipleship comes a voluntary surrender of the entire self to the work or the service of God."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "Disciplines of the Holy Quest"

"The center of a disciple's deepest testing lies within the jurisdiction of his own free will."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "Disciplines of the Holy Quest"

"The seasons are overripe for your becoming acquainted with eternity and your finding contact and certainty through it. There are prizes and you will earn them; there are harvests and they will be gained when once you are true."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "Wellsprings of the Holy Quest"

"Discipleship requires unselfishness, surrendered obedience, integrity and the ability to sacrifice oneself for the greater good."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "Wellsprings of the Holy Quest"

"The days are winged with purposefulness and you need to regard each one so preciously."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "Wellsprings of the Holy Quest"

"This path we consciously travel from creation to resurrection passes through the large country of discipleship."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Quest"

"Discipleship undertakes to enter that state where God is loved and known. To enter higher consciousness requires true humility and depth of devotion."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Quest"

"Disciples of the Way of Christ know in this body and this incarnation the blessedness of communication with the Highest they can reach."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Quest"

"Disciples of the living Christ apply the laws of evolution to their own inner selves. They strive to think purely, to act helpfully, to live with faith, to worship God ever more deeply, and to apply themselves creatively in the application of spiritual truths to daily life. All this involves a maturing process that develops the best that lies in men."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Quest"

"It is the masks of our unconsecrated selves that obscure God's Presence... Our Lord taught man how to rid himself of this mask that he might live and walk in the freedom of his true being. With what spiritual Christ power shall we remove the masks we have worn? The force we shall use is like tranquil water--it may appear gentle, but in time it shall wear away the hardiest barrier. This force is Humility. Genuine humility is like a hinge on the door of God consciousness. It is only a small apparatus, but without it the door cannot swing open."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Quest"

"There is but one thing that we are here to do, and that is achieve Mastery. That is our paramount mission. Our task, our service to the world, is secondary. Fidelity to the first requisite - our development of mastership - will bring us into the line of our service as a natural sequence. We must never forget that mastery has precedence over service, even though each of these expressions complements and strengthens the other."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Christward Way"

"The most important phase in the training for discipleship, is the work of character preparation. This work consists of teaching the spirit, mind, emotions, and body to be one in their efforts towards realization."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "Here Are Your Answers, Vol I"

"Reverence, gratitude, love and humility are the greatest qualities that we need to approach God, as we grow to be sons and daughters of God, as we grow to be masters. Then other qualities take their foreground place in our lives and consciousness. But these are always exercised."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "In Everything Give Thanks", 292-2

"The Christ constantly endeavored to teach everyone to remedy, transform, recreate, and master himself. He spoke out of the ancient archives of wisdom that have nurtured Him in long seasons past. He spoke as every great soul who achieved masterhood speaks, and will speak. That evolution is working on us, chiseling and refining us, bringing all its tools of experience to bear on us."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Path of the Masters", 116-1

"That moment in our own growth and unfoldment arrives wherein we desire to work with evolution. When that time comes, then anyone who is more advanced than we, and particularly the great souls who have fed the Earth out of the nutriment of their own enlightenment, will have untold value for us. There is nothing to equal the impetus given to us to enliven spiritually, as when the reality of perfected souls is brought home to our hearts."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Path of the Masters", 116-1

"You too must take upon you the garment of holiness and weave your robe of mastery. You too must climb the ancient straight and narrow path to the mountain of your own self-conquest. Every word and every impulse that can be given to you from the great who have achieved this climb and surmounted it, will be as spurs on your heels, and with the fire in your souls anointing you."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Path of the Masters", 116-1

"Many persons believe in spiritual truths and realities expressed by our Lord Christ, but they stand at the fringes because they don't want to surrender the ego of selfish freedom. Someday all of us will reach the utter sincerity, that complete self-giving, that strength of trustworthiness, that will enable us to be a receiver of instruction."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Path of the Masters", 116-1

"God consciousness is the need and goal of our existence."
–Flower A. Newhouse, "The Christward Way"

Questhaven Retreat is dedicated to serving one's vital need to prayerfully repledge themselves. Here, in the quiet haven of peaceful hills, individuals from all walks of life may come to reconsecrate themselves to God and Christ, and find answers to their innermost quest. Sunday Services 10:45am.

ChristMysticismDiscipleshipMeditationAngelsNature

Christward Principles

The Living Christ is the Lord of angels and of men and the model of our own becoming. His service is the broadcasting of the Divine Christ Spirit, the light of redemption. His influence awakens in us the Christing of our own natures.

Christian Mysticism is simply a method of reverence and devotion to God. It is a path of attainment which leads to the Divine Reality - to first-hand knowing of God. The mystical path stresses the way of Divine union with God through illumination.

The Way of Discipleship is a way of drawing ever closer to the Divine Presence. It is a voluntary surrender of the entire self to the service of God. It pays great attention to spiritual realities and goals inspiring us toward inner growth.

Meditation and Prayer are the disciplines that most directly draw us Godward and into the inner worlds. During these moments, we consciously purify ourselves of worldly or personal preoccupations and center ourselves wholly upon consciousness of God.

The Angelic Kingdom consists of beings created by God. They, like mankind, press toward the goal of perfection and union with the Supreme Spirit. Angels are purer and more spiritual than man. Their very spirituality readily makes them mediators between Heaven and Earth.

Nature provides healing and enlightenment. When wisely trod, the path to God through nature employs every faculty inherent in man. In nature, beauty shines in all its pristine essence before us. It is for us to newly discover and translate this beauty to our spirits and our senses.

Recommended Reading

Disciplines of the Holy Quest	Wellsprings of the Holy Quest	The Way of Discipleship to Christ
Songs of Deliverance	The Christward Way	The Quest

* View lectures by Flower A. Newhouse on Discipleship.