Faith and the Father's Will Two
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 relationship between faith and the Father’’s will.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Faith and the Father’’s Will
"But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for the that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."Hebrews, Chapter 11, Verse 6
Brothers and sisters, in today broadcast we share further insight into the relationship between faith and the Father’’s will. We shall show how as faith increases, so does our ability to execute the Father’’s will. We know that when it comes to spiritual matters, the Father is limited by our free will in bestowing spiritual gifts on us. In doing so He is limited by our faith and our willingness to abide by His will, to accept the divine nature which He so freely and mercifully offers.
So then, the exercise of faith and our subsequent willingness to abide by the Father’’s will becomes the rate-limiting step in our acquiring the supreme spiritual gift of the Father-spiritual perfection. Without the exercise of faith and abiding by the Father’’s will, spiritual perfection cannot be attained. As our faith increases, so does our ability to accept the Father’’s nature, the divine will. In fact, faith increases in tandem with our ability to execute the Father’’s will. The exercise of supreme faith then is spiritual perfection.
But there are steps in this process of moving from no faith at all to supreme faith, of moving from no knowledge of the divine nature to supreme knowledge of the divine nature, which is spiritual perfection.
Without the exercise of faith, it is impossible to please the heavenly Father. It is impossible to obey His eternal command to be perfect even as He is perfect. It requires faith to seek the Father’’s help. Even though the circumstances of life press us to seek help, having exhausted help from purely human sources, it requires faith to respond to the urge to ask the Father for help. In asking the Father for help, we not only acknowledge His existence but also acknowledge the reality our relationship with Him. We recognize that we are in someway related to Him and this allows us to call on Him for help.
Without the exercise of faith, we will never choose His divine nature, for in the midst of our suffering He offers us His divine nature. It requires faith to submit our wills to His will, when pain and suffering continue. Faith is the mechanism that allows us to recognize the invisible Father and have a relationship with Him. It is this same faith that allows us to abide by the divine will, the divine nature in our interactions with our brothers and sisters, as we go through the vale of tears. This faith in the Father imparts divine righteousness to our souls when we choose good over evil. When this faith is exercised continuously it allows the divine nature to transform our thinking and change our attitudes. This faith makes possible the recognition of divine values and meanings, which gives reality to our spiritual transformation.
We can liken the acquirement of supreme faith to climbing a spiritual mountain--the Father’’s will. We must all climb the mountain of faith if we are to spiritually master the race of life. The mountain of faith is climbed through the experiences of life. The experiences of life constitute the difficulty involved in climbing the mountain of faith. We know when we first begin to climb because we cry out for help from the heavenly Father when we inevitably run into a situation that is greater than our personal resources to get through it successfully.
Either we can turn back or we can go forward.
If we turn back, never will we fulfill our spiritual destiny. If we go forward, we must go through the experience. If we are to succeed, we must have divine help. In response to this cry for help, the Father imparts His nature to us. No one goes through the experiences of life, acquiring the divine nature in the process, without the Father’’s help. No one remains increasingly loving and kind without the impartation of the ever-increasing qualities of spiritual perfection.
When we first begin to climb the mountain of faith, seeking to obey the Father’’s mandate to be perfect even as He is perfect, this goal seems impossible. And not realizing that this is the divine way to perfection, we pray to the Father to remove the obstacles that require our faith to overcome or if not remove it, to allow us to go around it. These obstacles contain the critical divine values and meanings required for spiritual perfection. This attitude of requesting essential obstacles to be removed or ameliorated shows the lack of wisdom and utter ignorance of the spiritual purpose of life. Emotional turmoil begins.
We pray earnestly and persistently and, almost without our knowing, we realize that we have begun to climb the mountain of faith because our prayers change from asking for challenges to be removed to asking for help with them. When we realize that the obstacles are not going to go anywhere, and that we must overcome them by going through them, we ask the heavenly Father for strength, courage, endurance, understanding, wisdom, patience, joy, peace, and any other divine qualities that we need for the climb. And when we ask for this help, these divine qualities come gushing forth. And though we may not be able to fully appreciate their meanings and values, we do appreciate the fact that they enable us to continue with the struggle. Emotional turmoil continues.
This goes on for quite a while, but sooner or later, we realize that God is providing us with all the help that we need. We still don’’t fully appreciate the value of acquiring the divine nature since we are still looking for material relief. But increasingly we display the fruits of the spirit as we climb the mountain of faith. We realize that obstacles have not done us any harm--in some way not fully understood just yet, they have made us better. They have made us stronger as our souls have wrestled with them. Soon this realization fills our hearts with thanksgiving, and we cross the benchmark on the mountain of faith.
We realize that we can do this! It is still a struggle, but we have caught a glimpse of something wonderful within our souls: the Father’’s spirit. We realize that there is something wonderful awaiting us at the end of this difficult climb. Something inside of us senses a mighty victory just ahead. We now thank the Father for helping us as we begin to show real enthusiasm for the climb of faith. We now recognize the divine values and meanings in all of this difficult uphill struggle, which we have now come to appreciate. We now begin to sense the divine nature that has become a part of us. As we struggled, the Father imparted more of himself to us. The willingness to believe and abide by the Father’’s will has made the transformation possible. Eventually we reach the top of the spiritual mountain and realize the reality of faith as well as the reality of the divine nature. Emotional turmoil subsides.
Now that we have climbed the mountain of the Father’’s will through our faith, we have fully recognized the divine nature because we have become like it. We recognize the reality of the Father’’s spirit in our souls, guiding and directing us. We recognize His overcare for our souls, and His priceless hope that keeps bubbling up like water coming from an seemingly endless spring. We recognize His divine nature because we have submitted our nature to the divine nature. Now we have become disappointment- proof. Nothing can shake our faith in the Father’’s goodness. So sure are we of the goodness of the Father that we have become one with Him. We worship Him. His will has become our will, and our will has become one with His. The Father now manifests himself to and through us without limitation. We have become His perfect representatives.
There can be no limitations placed on the power of the Father to reveal himself to and through us as we have become one with Him. And this ability and willingness is our chief delight. We know this to be true because in every situation of life--without the slightest hint of coercion--we always say, "not my will, but Your will be done.”” We have become spiritually perfect through the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Truth, even as the heavenly Father is perfect. And we show forth His glory. The first of the spiritual emotions arises, the emotion of spiritual joy.
This concludes today's message on understanding faith and the Father’’s will. 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; Your Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages of Light
By Dr. James Perry
Faith and the Father's Will Two
