At Last
Greetings, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to
explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly
Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This
morning we seek to understand the meaning contained in "at last."
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
At Last
Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will
come unto him, and make our abode with him." John, Chapter 14, Verse 23.
Brothers and sisters, today we shall relate the beautiful effects of Jesus and the Father living within
our souls and minds. After Jesus left this world he sent his Spirit of Truth to live in us. This signifies
that Jesus is in perfect communication with us. In fact we are told that "when the Spirit of Truth is
come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak." "The proof, therefore, of our fellowship with the Spirit of Truth is not to be
found in our consciousness of this spirit but rather in our experience of enhanced fellowship with
Jesus." Therefore if Jesus can communicate with us, we can communicate with him. And this two-
way communication is made possible by the Spirit of Truth. But what is the nature of these
communications that we are desirous of perfecting?
Two-way communication has always existed in some way. This barrier to communication is not on
Jesus' end as his ear is always open to the pleas of his children. Only we communicate with him
intermittently; we seem to lack the desire to communicate with him consistently, and when we do,
it is often of a selfish and material nature. But under such circumstances there can only be one
answer to such selfish and material communication. As Jesus said, "I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me,
ye can do nothing. And the fruit of the spirit is love, faith, goodness, gentleness, meekness,
temperance, long suffering, peace and joy."
"When there exists this living connection (communication) between Jesus and us, if we should
thoughtlessly and ignorantly pray for selfish ease and vainglorious accomplishments, there can be
only one divine answer: more and increased bearing of the fruits of the spirit on the stems of the
living branches. When the branch of the vine is alive, there can be only one answer to all its
petitions: increased grape bearing. In fact, the branch exists only for, and can do nothing except, fruit
bearing, yielding grapes. So we exist spiritually only for the purpose of bearing the fruits of the
spirit: to love our brothers and sisters as Jesus loves us."
Two-way consistent communication with Jesus is not a mystery. It stands to reason if we can
communicate intermittently, surely we can communicate consistently. And the communication does
not always have to involve a request, it can just be a conscious enjoyment of his divine presence, a
communion if you will, just such a communion as an earthly child enjoys by being in the presence
of his earthly father. Let us analyze the nature of such communication.
First, we are representatives of Jesus here on earth. We represent him even as he represents the
Father. Having been born again by the Spirit of Truth, it is now our task to enlarge the kingdom of
believers on earth. And we are to do this by the lives that we live. Jesus has said if you love each
other the way that I love you all will know that you are my disciples. We have difficult work to do,
work involving skill and wisdom. This work requires power and energy. It requires faith and trust.
It requires that we maintain a constant spiritual awareness of Jesus. And the nature of the
communication circles around that task that we have been entrusted with. We should never hesitate
to ask Jesus for guidance and direction when we have some difficulty executing that task, but most
of the time, we flounder in our task of shining the light on our benighted brothers and sisters because
of the failure to wholeheartedly dedicate ourselves to this task. This guidance when asked for is
always forthcoming. We sometimes fail to recognize it because sometimes the answer is the display
of his glorious character to our brothers and sisters as we mine the mines of patience and sail the seas
of mercy.
Secondly we must recognize that this will-union only exists for the purpose of allowing spiritual
values to flow through us. This is acknowledged when we pause before interacting with a difficult
brother or sister to ask what value is needed for this transaction. This is the act of recognizing that
a spiritual exchange is about to take place. When we recognize the spiritual value that is needed, this
is an acknowledgment of the recognition of the spiritual value that has gone forth from us.
We should speedily form the habit of pausing before interacting with a challenging person. It allows
the mind to make the adjustment to submit to the divine mind. And if there is some fault in
someone's mind, we should let the mind be in us that was in Jesus.
Now all this sounds rather nice but how do we faith realize this two-way communication? Well we
suggest that we faith realize this two way communication by realizing/recognizing that this is a truth.
And since all truth is realized by sharing it, we suggest that we acknowledge to the brothers and
sisters that we are indeed in two way spiritual communication with Jesus. And in closing lets
remember the quote, "The good man seeks not to retain truth for himself but rather attempts to
bestow these riches upon his fellows, for that is the realization of truth." And having done that we
can smile that victorious smile and say, "at last"--two-way spiritual communications.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of "at last." We hope you find
something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
At Last
