Faith Realization and Realization by Experience

Greetings and good morning, 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 of faith realization and realization by experience.

And now, sit back and listen to today's message.

 
Faith-Realization and Realization by Experience


"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. " Hebrews, Chapter 11, Verses 1
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast, we shall explore the relationship between faith-realization and realization by experience. The need for faith-realization is encountered wherever there is a difference between a spiritual potential and an actual spiritual state. By grasping the potential with the faith grasp, we insure that the potential becomes actual, that the faith-realization yields to realization by experience. And when faith-realization becomes a realization by experience, it will still be at the same time a faith realization. In other words, when the truth becomes factual, it still remains true. We shall us various material analogies to help us grasp the value and meaning of faith realization.

In our material life, we experience material reality objectively so that reality can be demonstrated to all material beings. For example, when a scientific discovery is made, the discoverer explains how the discovery was made and how it works. Those coming after him or who doubt whether a new discovery has been made can follow the instructions given and can duplicate the discovery. It is not until this discovery is duplicated that it becomes acceptable as factual. And this is true of all material reality. It can be experienced by any material creature who takes the time and follows the instructions. This is called material realization by experience.

Now when we deal with spiritual values and meanings, we are dealing with the need for proof through faith realizations. This faith realization cannot be demonstrated on the outside. There is no set of instructions that will allow an subjective experience to be translated into an objective experience. This is so because of our spiritual natures. The spiritual nature begins in the material mind, and its values and meanings do not take origin in the material mind as material reality does. Since it cannot be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the material mind, it can never become factual until such time as we are possessed with spiritual minds that will allow us to demonstrate values and meanings to other similar minds.

 
The spiritual nature, the soul, is gaining ascendency. It is the future vehicle for the expression of our personality even as the material self is the vehicle for expressing our personality in this life. But although spiritual values and meanings appear to be subjective when considered from the material mind’’s point of view, they are of such a nature that they become compelling in their revelations. They are proof to the material mind that there is more to life than the material mind’’s assessments, the assessments of material reality. But even though mind deals with objective reality, this same minds colors material reality with subjective flavors, with emotions, and biases. And the net result is that when the self acts upon a material reality, the way the facts of material reality are displayed are changed. For years, we have had access to certain scientific discoveries but because of biases, attitudes, and sometimes, frankly, fear, the application of these scientific discoveries are not made. Thus we see that when the final assessment about material reality is made, how we handle this reality is subjective. Mind must handle material fact as well as spiritual values from its subjective registry.

But what is the value of having a spiritually subjective reality in the mind? The value is that it can cause the material self to respond to material reality in a different manner——non-subjectively. The values of spiritual reality can be infused into the kinds of decisions that we make, thus altering the decisions. The greatest of all spiritual reality--which is divine love--can transform a selfish individual into an unselfish individual. And the difference between an unselfish individual and an selfish individual determines what use we make of material reality. We can use material reality for the good of all or we can use it for purely selfish reasons. At this stage of development in our civilization, there is a mixture of both.

But even so, potential reality has its own set of values. Consider the woman who desires to conceive a child. Even though it will be months before the product of this conception becomes fully actualized, the mother treats the conception if it were already an actualized fact. All her thoughts and emotions, her attitudes and desires are as if this is already absolute fact, and her decisions faithfully reflect her reaction to this potential reality. Now we see that this is an example of a materialistic faith-realized fact. And we are all familiar with how desirable it is for the mother to thus regard her conception.

 
When this potential child becomes a fact, a reality of experience, the attitude of the mother does not make any adjustment from the potential state to the actual state. But there is a difference. The difference is that in the former state, the mother is at liberty to prevent this potential child from being born; in the latter state she is not. And so it is with potential spiritual reality. In the material state, we can enjoy all the spiritual values as if they were a fact. Jesus gives us eternal life while we are still living in the flesh. We can enjoy the values and meanings of this state even though we are still mortal. ““The divine spirit considers our decision to abide by the Father’’s will a fact, and reveals the values and meanings to our souls in the here and now."

Now the methods of realization of material reality are fairly straightforward. With the use of our material minds we interact with the material reality, work with it, and realize the thing we are trying to achieve. For example, if we want to write a letter, we forthwith expend the effort, and time, and using material means the letter comes into existence. Now it must be apparent that we need some way of bringing potential spiritual reality into being. And there is--the way is faith. Using our faith we bring into existence the spiritual values and meanings. And these same values and meanings are also realized by and through faith.

Now we know that when we have realized something in the material world, a change occurs in us. We do things differently, done differently to reflect the realization of the fact in the material world. For example, when the automobile was invented, we gradually switched from the animal mode of transport to the mechanical mode of transport, and this switch was the reflection of the realization of a material invention. And around this invention, a whole new set of values, meanings, emotions, attitudes, social changes came into existence. But what may not be so obvious is that when we faith-realize something in the spiritual world, a change occurs also. Let us consider our spiritual status:

We are the sons of man. This a factual assertion, but we are also the sons of God. "Behold what manner the Father hath bestowed upon us that we shall be called the sons of God." This is a faith acceptance, for though we are absolutely certain we are the sons of man, our certainty of beings sons of God is subjective. How do we realize this faith acceptance. Although we are dealing with two different kinds of reality, one spiritual, the other material, the technique for realization are the same. We realize that we are sons of God by having experiences with this faith state, and in the course of these faith experiences, we gain values and meanings associated with this state, and when we respond to these values and meanings, we realize them. The son of God operating in the soul and in the increasingly spiritualized mind is one who reveals the matchless character of the Father through his Son, Jesus. The values and meanings of this state while they may be intellectually known by the material mind can only experienced by the soul, the son of God. Divine things have to be loved in order to be known. And finally concerning faith realization: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.

This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of faith-realization and realization by experience. 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 

.
     Your kingdom Come; Thy Will Be Done
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Faith Realization and Realization by Experience