This excerpt from a dictation by Lord Maitreya was delivered December 31, 1975, at the Challenge of Initiation in Anaheim, California and published in the 2000 Pearls of Wisdom Vol. 43 No. 26.

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I come, then, to the place where mankind are found in life, needing to be washed clean, needing the flow of the waters of the Word, needing to know that they are loved in compassion and compassion’s flame.

I AM Maitreya, initiator of souls. I am always watching for the soul who is ready to be initiated in the unexpected. This requires flexibility, being accustomed to the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing to and fro, rearranging the garment of mercy, requiring continual adjustment to and therefore continual openness to the flame.

You will not be initiated in that which you expect to be initiated. I can assure you of that. I can assure you that you may study and prepare and give your decrees, and just when you are all decreed up on illumination’s flame, you will be tested in the emerald ray.

In that moment, when you realize you have been caught either empty-handed or red-handed, as the case may be, you must say to yourself:

I AM ready because God in me is ready.
I AM ready because the white fire of initiation’s flame
     contains the allness of God and every good and perfect gift.
I AM ready, Lord.
Do with me what you will.
I AM ready to answer the call,
     to fulfill the requirements of hierarchy.
I have asked for initiation and
I will take it when it comes.

So you can anticipate initiations but somehow they come when you are least prepared and off-guard. Yet how can we say this of the true chela, for the true chela is never off-guard, waking or sleeping. This is preparation for initiation. It is wakefulness, being alert, expecting the bridegroom at the midnight hour, expecting the coming of the Keeper of the Scrolls or the vials of the seven last plagues.

It is setting yourself as a diamond set in Matter, set in the very hills of the human consciousness, saying:

Let all the world and all of heaven and earth come to me.
I AM set and I AM ready.

Remember Jesus’ Example

Remember Jesus as he saw the multitudes, representing all aspects of the human consciousness. Seeing their consciousness, he went up into a mountain and when he was set in the Christ consciousness of the Cosmic Christ, he called his disciples unto him and taught them, giving them the Beatitudes, blessing the multitudes and teaching the end of that state of consciousness. The meek, the humble, the peacemakers, the poor in spirit—all were aspects of the multitudes.

Jesus did not begin to teach until he was set in the Christ consciousness. Yet, you say, “Jesus was always set in the Christ consciousness.” This is true, but there is a dialing of that consciousness, a focusing of the spectrum, whether as a concentrated band in the chakras or as a wide band including the aura of a planet.

Getting set means getting ready for the task at hand. It does not mean that you are off-guard. It means that you are on-guard in the white flame of purity, ready to adjust yourself to whatever is the need and requirement of the hour.