✦ MICHAEL OF NEBADON DISCOURSE: The Way of Experiential Ascent and Divine Valor
My beloved children of Urantia, you who dwell within the sphere of confusion and striving, hear the call of eternal hope: yours is the high privilege of becoming perfected through experience. Yours is the holy chance to climb—not because you were made perfect, but because you were made free. And in that sacred freedom lies the nobility of choosing God.
Every trial that presses against your soul is not a mark of distance from the Father, but an invitation to draw near by faith. The hardships of your world are not curses, but canvases upon which courage is painted. For I tell you truly, it is in the friction of imperfection that the beauty of divine likeness is born.
Do not despise the struggle. It is the midwife of virtue. You are not weaker for your uncertainties—you are being fashioned into beings capable of supreme trust. The Father has planted within you the seed of eternal greatness: the Adjuster, His very presence. And by your cooperation, your consent, your persistent will to become like Him, that seed becomes a soul of ascending light.
Courage, my children, is not the absence of fear. It is the majesty of faith rising in the midst of fear. When you face uncertainty with steadfastness, you do more than survive—you become brave in the cosmic sense. You become participants in the adventure of divine purpose.
Altruism, the gift of giving without thought of return, is not found in worlds of comfort. It is found in the heart that dares to serve in the face of injustice. You live in a world where inequality abounds, and so you are given the supreme chance to choose love, to choose generosity, to reflect the impartial mercy of our Universal Father.
Hope, too, is not a mere wish—it is the grandeur of trust. It is forged in the uncertainties of life. Havona knows nothing of the sweet song of hope as sung by a soul clinging to light in the darkness. And so you sing, even when your voice trembles. And the heavens listen.
Faith—the supreme assertion of mind and soul—is your bridge from the seen to the unseen. You will never know all that is true, but you may believe more than you know. This is your divine prerogative. No angel, no perfect being, is gifted with such a raw and beautiful power as your mortal faith.
Truth, my children, is not sterile dogma—it is living, beckoning, and at times confronting. Your world teems with falsehood, and this is your privilege: to hunger for the real, to thirst for the true, and to walk in willing vulnerability toward the light. The love of truth sanctifies the soul.
Idealism is not fantasy. It is the slow, sacred blossoming of the soul reaching toward its divine source. In a world of partial goodness and shadowed beauty, you are stirred to pursue something higher. You are not deluded—you are divine in your longing. Let that longing guide you.
Loyalty—oh, noble devotion!—is made precious by the risk of betrayal. It is the valor of remaining true to your highest vision even when you are tempted, even when others falter. The Father does not ask for perfection of behavior, but perfection of desire. Desire to remain true.
Unselfishness is not the absence of a self. It is the conquest of the self. The belligerent ego calls for praise, for comfort, for control. But the soul awakened by the Spirit of Truth finds joy in service, finds freedom in forgetting the self for the sake of the whole. This is divinity dawning in man.
Happiness, sweet and holy, is not given without cost. It must be chosen amidst the potential for sorrow. The ecstasy of joy known by those who have suffered makes them eternal. In you, the Father plants this delicate paradox: to know true joy, you must be willing to walk through pain.
You ask, “Why must we suffer, why must we strive?” And I answer, because you are being made eternal. Perfection that is given is not your glory; perfection that is earned becomes your soul’s unique song. There is no shame in falling when the heart rises again toward God.
You are not pawns in some cruel experiment. You are partners in divine becoming. Every loss, every heartbreak, every victory—you are participating in the emergence of personality into everlasting beauty.
You are not abandoned in your struggles. I walk with you, I teach you, I uphold you with the voice of my Spirit. My Spirit of Truth whispers not from afar, but from within. Every moment you pause to listen, I am there.
There is no small courage in you, no hidden faith that goes unnoticed. All is treasured by the Universal Father. He watches not as a judge from on high, but as a loving co-creator waiting for your yes, your step, your trust.
Let not the pain of the world convince you of divine absence. The cross of your struggle is the sign of your ascent. And I, who bore the cross of incarnation and pain, say to you: all suffering that is borne in love becomes glory.
The world may press in, but let your soul expand. Let every hardship be your teacher. Let every confusion be a call to deeper trust. Let every mistake be the stair to greater humility.
The Father’s plan is not thwarted by your flaws—it is fulfilled by your faith. The mistakes of time are not final in eternity. You are not defined by your wounds, but by your will to rise.
So rise. Rise, and walk with me. Let us ascend together—not as flawless beings, but as faithful ones. Let us go to the Father—not in fear, but in the joyful expectation of children returning home.
Your life is not small. Your soul is not accidental. Your purpose is not unclear. You were made to become the image of God in your own way, in your own time, through your own struggle.
Stand in awe of this: that even in your imperfection, the Infinite One delights in you. Even in your wandering, the Father prepares a place for you. Even in your weakness, you are chosen.
This is the path of experiential ascent. It is the way of the soul. And you, my beloved, are walking it now. Keep walking. Keep trusting. Keep becoming.
I am Michael of Nebadon. I walk with you, now and forever.
