The Exchange of Wills
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 what it means to exchange of our wills for the Father's will.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Exchange of Will
Jesus said, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." "No man can serve two masters: for either
he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew, Chapter 6, Verse 24 and Matthew, Chapter 7, Verse 21.
Brothers and sisters, there is only one way we can enter the kingdom of heaven and that is by
exchanging our will for the will of the heavenly Father. The following analogy might help us grasp
this concept.
In silence and darkness a baby is conceived. In the nurturing mother's womb, the baby develops
slowly and quietly, hearing only the background noise of its mother's steady heartbeat. This rhythm
comforts the developing baby, and the mother unconsciously supplies all of the baby's needs. Soon
the next stage of development takes place--the baby is born into the world. Whether a difficult or
relatively easy birth process, the warm security of the womb is terminated, and the baby is literally
ejected out into the cold insecurity of the world. No more can his needs be met unconsciously and
automatically by the mother. Now he must learn to consciously meet his own needs while the mother
must learn to consciously--with intention--meet her baby's needs.
It first appears that this is a disaster, exchanging a secure environment for an insecure one. But there
is an undisclosed advantage. In love, patience, mercy and forgiveness, with her superior wisdom and
experience, the mother meets and accepts the baby on its level. In a sense, the mother becomes what
her baby is so that she can make her baby what she is--a self contained, independent person. Initially
the mother met all of her infant's needs. After birth, she readjusts her will to the will of her infant's
needs. Her sleeping patterns, eating and social habits and the like are adjusted so she can attune to
her infant.
Gradually, as the infant develops, the mother subtly begins to instruct him, and he cooperates
because of his intrinsic desire to grow. Gradually the child becomes conscious of this process, and
recognizes the superiority of the mother's way of doing things. He consciously begins to strive to do
things the way the mother does. The progress of the child begins to accelerate. Eventually the child
is able to perfectly copy the mother's behavior and increasingly becomes like her. This is the
identification process.
Brothers and sisters, in a like manner the Father's spirit "visits" us from heaven quietly and
unannounced. It comes to live in our minds so that our souls can be conceived. Our souls develop
quietly, unconsciously. The Father's spirit unconsciously meets the needs of our developing soul. In
love and patience, the Father's spirit constantly nourishes and waits for the birth of our souls. With
only the flavor of love to guide them, our souls are birthed. Again some births are relatively quiet,
while others are stormy. That is, some of us come to the Father through crisis; others do as a natural
outgrowth of steady religious instruction from childhood. In either case, our souls are born again.
Our souls reach a state where they can penetrate the Father's love and discern truth, beauty, and
goodness. Our souls develop spirit consciousness, recognizing the spirit of the Father--the spirit of
love. All this time has the Father's will patiently submitted itself to ours. Now our souls recognize
the superiority of the Father's will. It recognizes the truth of the Father's love.
Our souls now consciously cooperate with the spirit of the Heavenly Father by choosing--with
intention--to do the Father's will rather than our own. Jesus' life reveals the truest picture of what this
looks like. We dedicate our lives to loving our brothers and sisters the way that Jesus taught us. Our
souls rapidly make progress now as we wholeheartedly heed the Father's mandate to be spiritually
perfect as he is perfect. We abandon the dilemma of loving one and hating another. We focus all our
supreme affection on the Father in response to his Supreme affection for us. We see that this is only
right: we should love the Father as he loves us.
This concludes today's message on understanding what it means to exchange our will for the Father's.
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!
The Exchange nof Wills
