How We Reach Supreme Levels of Faith

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. In today’’s broadcast, we share the technique for reaching supreme levels of faith.

And now, sit back and listen to today's message. 
How We Reach Supreme Levels of Faith

Jesus said, "The disciple is not above his master, not the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord." Matthew, Chapter 10, Verses 24-2

Brothers and sisters, when we reach supreme levels of faith, we will have reached our supreme relationship with the heavenly Father through his Son, Jesus. We will have obeyed the Father’’s mandate: To be perfect even as he is perfect. As Jesus said, "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord."

 
We would be like Jesus, who is our Master and Lord. To begin this process, we must accept Jesus first as our Lord and Master; if we do not there is no mechanism whereby we can become like he is. Since he is the way, the truth, and the life, the author and finisher of our faith, we must look to and follow him. And we know when we are following him because he has said that if we love one another as he loves us, then all men will know that we are his disciples and that he is our master.

 
Since the process of reaching supreme levels is also the mechanism by which we become more and more like the heavenly Father, we must follow Jesus because he has mastered this process. No one comes to the Father except by him. As our faith climbs, our souls become more and more like Jesus. With the Spirit of Truth, Jesus is able to envelop our souls and draw us closer and closer to him, until we become one with him. We start this magnificent journey of obeying the supreme command to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect by obeying Jesus’’ supreme command: to love each other as he loves us. And here we see the Thought of the Father interpreted by the Word that is the Son. The Son is the revelation of the Father. Obeying this command of Jesus is what identifies us as being his disciples and indicates that we take seriously the Father’’s command to be perfect even as he is perfect.

Let us contemplate how this love reaches supreme levels. "Those who first seek to enter the kingdom, thus beginning to strive for a nobility of character like that of my Father, shall presently possess all else that is needful. But I say to you in all sincerity: Unless you seek entrance into the kingdom with the faith and trusting dependence of a little child, you shall in no wise gain admission." So we see we must enter the kingdom of heaven with our faith and must leave outside all of our world wisdom in order to gain the wisdom of the kingdom. Worldly wisdom or the wisdom of the flesh becomes non-functional in the kingdom of heaven. Worldly wisdom operates on behalf of selfishness; kingdom wisdom operates on behalf of other selves. It is the wisdom derived from the spiritual knowledge of how to love our brothers and sisters as Jesus does. And since we don’’t know how to do this, we must be taught. This why we are required to trust the heavenly Father as a little child trusts his earthly parent.

 
We start out with simple steps at first by learning to love those whom we know, our immediate family. Since we know them and they know us, it is easier to understand them and thus to love them. After we master those simple steps of loving our immediate family, we then move to learn to know and understand our immediate neighbors. Now this is a more difficult step, for though we are socially familiar with them, we don’’t really know them, and thus it is more difficult to discern their motive for living. It takes some time to get to really know them. By doing little things for them, things that you have learned they want done, we get to know them. As this process continues, we gain a foothold into knowing them.

Then we go on to learn to love brothers and sisters in wider and wider circles, which requires greater skill and knowledge. We must become expert in discerning their true needs. We must grow morally and spiritually to maintain the ever-increasing structure of love we are erecting. As we grow, so does our faith by reaching higher and higher levels as we call on greater spiritual power and wisdom.

 
Ponder this: "In physical life the senses tell of the existence of things; mind discovers the reality of meanings; but the spiritual experience reveals to the individual the true values of life. These high levels of human living are attained in the supreme love of God and in the unselfish love of man. If you love your fellow men, you must have discovered their values. Jesus loved men so much because he placed such a high value upon them. You can best discover values in your associates by discovering their motivation. If someone irritates you, causes feelings of resentment, you should sympathetically seek to discern his viewpoint, his reasons for such objectionable conduct. If once you understand your neighbor, you will become tolerant, and this tolerance will grow into friendship and ripen into love."

And when we have climbed that ladder of faith, we will rest upon the supreme level of spiritual achievement. This is indicated by our ability and skill to love different brothers and sisters. We are now competent to love all and any brothers and sisters with whom we interact. We have become skilled in detecting their underlying motives and thus are able to understand them. We know just the right combination of love and mercy to apply to brothers and sisters who resist goodness. We have absolute confidence in the truth that the goodness of God causes true repentance. We have become like Jesus, who will not break a "bruised reed nor quench a smoking flax."


Our persistence and dedication to doing the Father’’s will has elevated our souls and our faith to supreme levels. We recognize the Father’’s spirit deep down in our souls, and we are joyful. We have received this divine love: even as we have given it, so have we received it. And when we realize what the Father has done for us by liberating us from selfishness and allowed us to escape into the liberation of unselfishness, the law of love. We are overwhelmed with joy, thanksgiving, and gratitude.

We are like children who in former days lacked appreciation for what our parents did for us. We are like children who strained at the bonds of discipline and security because of our immature desires, and lack of understanding. We are like children who were smothered with the blanket of resentment because our parents would not allow us to do a lot of the things that seemed so important to us then. We resisted our training being unable to discern its value. Having now become adults and having been successfully launched into the world of adulthood and responsibility, we are overjoyed with love, gratitude, and appreciation for our parents, especially for their love and wisdom. We now understand that their training and instruction to us was sound. We know this because it allows us now to take our place as a responsible adult in society.

Having reached supreme levels of faith, having mastered the instruction and the training, and are able to function at that level, we are overjoyed and full of appreciation and love for our heavenly Father, who has disciplined, trained, and instructed us in the divine ways of love and mercy. We are more than proud to be his sons and daughters, proud to represent him in the world. And we are so grateful, so thankful that our souls burst forth in spontaneous praise and worship.

This concludes today's message on understanding how we reach supreme levels of faith. 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. 
JHP 01/21/12
Your Kingdom Come;  Your Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages of Light
By Dr. James Perry
How We Reach Supreme Levels of Faith