The Power of the Spiritual Desire
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 will ponder our lives as we seek to understand the power of spiritual desire.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Power of Spiritual Desire
"Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye who hope in the Lord."
Psalms, Chapter 31, Verse 24.
Brothers and sisters, hope is the essence of faith. The manifestation of faith is hope. Hope for better
times is the power that we use for getting through the difficult times of the present. Without hope
we cannot live. It does not matter how many times our hopes are disappointed. Hope always carries
out its purpose: to transfer present consciousness to the awareness of future existence. By a series
of extensions, hope carries us though this life. Hope is spiritual energy, and must be renewed. If we
do not maintain a living connection with the Father of hope, we will surely run out of hope.
Prayer is the process whereby we renew our hope. Prayer is the faith cry of our souls to the heavenly
Father for spiritual help. Persistent and consistent prayer is necessary in order for our souls to master
the unceasing trials and tribulation of life. We should not expect the soul to master the race of time
without prayer anymore than we would expect a laborer to carry out a full day's work in an
acceptable manner without proper nourishment. And for the soul that prays none at all, it is like a
marathon runner who attempts to run a long distance race without proper training. To pay lip service
to the necessity of prayer is the ultimate self deception, for who else can give us hope other than the
spirit Father?
The amount of hope that we receive from the heavenly Father is determined by our spiritual capacity,
which is further determined by the power of our desire, which is in turn determined by the
consistency and persistence of our prayers. If we pray on a regular basis, we are likely to have a
strong desire, and thus receive a greater amount of hope. But hope is not the only province of prayer,
for prayer is the province of all spiritual values; the heavenly Father is the source of all spiritual
values. In fact, He is the eternal, infinite, and absolute value.
Our material life requires that we manipulate material realty. Mind is the tool that we use to do this.
In order for our minds to successfully function, we must have knowledge of facts-things. The more
knowledge of facts that our minds have, the better they can function in their task of manipulating
material reality. The mind acquires knowledge of facts by its desire and through experience. As the
mind seeks to acquire these facts, they are discovered or revealed. The facts were there all the time,
but it required the desire and effort of the mind to discover them.
But how do we demonstrate that we have acquired material facts? How do we know if the
knowledge is valid? For example, if we would like to have knowledge of how a radio works, we
would seek out someone who has this particular knowledge, and by being taught, one we would
eventually acquire the knowledge of how a radio works. The proof that we have acquired the
knowledge is our demonstrated ability of showing how the radio works.
Our spiritual life requires in a like manner that we manipulate spiritual reality. Our souls are the
mechanism whereby we do this. Without spiritual knowledge, our souls cannot function in the
spiritual realm. Knowledge of spiritual reality is knowledge of values. The source of our knowledge
of values as well as the source of our knowledge of things, as well as our source of knowledge of
meanings is the same, being none other than the heavenly Father.
Again, it is the power of the desire that our souls use to acquire spiritual knowledge. The value
already exists, but our desire for the value causes it to be revealed to us. "Ask and you shall receive.
Knock and the door shall be opened." Prayer is where we receive knowledge of divine values and
meanings. In our prayer life, the heavenly Father reveals the divine values of love, and its derivative-
-truth, beauty, and goodness. As we pursue these divine values, the Father reveals more and more
of them to us.
We know that these values are real, and that we have acquired them by their inherent power to
change our character, to make us more like the source of values--the heavenly Father. Hope leads
to an increase in spiritual strength; that is, our will to do the Father's will increases. We become
perfect even as He is perfect.
This concludes today's message on understanding the power of spiritual desire. 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 Power of the Spiritual Desire
