The Faith of Spiritual Realities
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 the faith of spiritual realities.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Faith of Spiritual Realities
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews, Chapter 11, Verse 1
I am who I am. I can be no one else.
But who are you, really?
I am a son of God, aren’’t you?
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast, we share some further insights into faith. On this occasion, we will examine it from the mirror image of the previous discussion and see what new insights emerge from this approach. We call faith the quality, power, and force--when embraced wholeheartedly--that is able to render spiritual values and meanings to the soul and mind. To assist us in grasping this new insight into faith, we shall use a material analogy.
After some time, a driveway has accumulated lots of impurities on its surface. Its beautiful bleached look of former years has slowly faded under the accumulations of time. And to add further insult to this concrete driveway, it has developed cracks in it, and weeds and grass have found a home in them. But the gravest defect of all is that one of the concrete pipes that allows water to flow under it has become damaged and the whole structure stands in danger of collapse. After surveying this damage and the general disrepair of the driveway, a decision is made to replace the whole driveway. Work began on the new driveway almost immediately, and though there were a few days of inconvenience when the driveway could not be used, it soon was replaced, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. It had regained its bleached look, and there were no cracks in which weeks and grass could grow.
Jesus says that if we keep his commandment to love one another as he has loved us, that he and the Father will come and live in our souls and minds. This relationship being established, we begin that never-ending relationship of divine communion, of increasingly learning how to do the Father’’s will. This relationship may be only discerned with the eyes of the mind, with the eyes of faith. "Without holiness no man may see the Lord.””
The first act of this faith is to make real to consciousness the reality of our kinship with the Father. The meanings of this value become available in the mind as sonship with God: God as our Father, and we as his sons and daughters. Now this statement of sonship with God in the mind must be activated by faith in the soul. When this faith is activated, wholeheartedly accepted, the value becomes a part of the soul, and the conscious mind begins to flourish in the divine relationship.
But prior to this, the mind must have a change of heart, must have a change of mind, must be born again. This act of faith when embraced endows the conscious mind with a new life purpose, a new standard for living. It projects a new attitude. It still lives the material life, but it also lives the spiritual life while living the material life. It now has two realities that it is aware of: one material, one spiritual. Thus this new self renders to Caesar the things of Caesar and renders to God the things that are of God. The material values belong to Caesar--man; the spiritual values belong to spirit--God. Material values are concerned with things, while spiritual values are concerned with qualities.
Therefore there cannot be any conflict between the requirements of Caesar and the requirements of God unless Caesar should presume to invade the realm of spiritual values. A quick survey of this truth clearly shows that since spiritual reality is qualitative rather than quantitative, as long as an intact mind is functioning spiritual values can be experienced. That is to say meanings can be comprehended in any physical state. The son remains the son of his Father. When a mind becomes defective, the active relationship is suspended until a new mind can be had (as in the case of mortal death).
This is a dynamic relationship, ever changing, not subject to precise interpretation. To try to define the relationship precisely would mean killing it. But we do know that the relationship is characterized by infinite love and endless mercy. There are no limitations that the Father puts on his love and his mercy for his son. But to ensure that this infinite love and endless mercy of spiritual values and meanings continue to flow, the son of God must keep the channels of communication open. He must not allow any grass of evil or weeds of sin to clog up the communication channel. He must maintain constant communication with the heavenly Father through prayer and worship. Prayer is the technique whereby the grass of evil and the weeds of sin are inhibited from growing in the channels of communication, while worship is the technique that polishes the channel of communication so that it remains flawless.
What flows through this pipeline of communication is the values and meanings of spiritual reality. It is the flow of divine love and mercy. And we know that in order to discern these precious values and meanings, this new spiritualized mind must remain pure. Therefore it is our privilege to keep the lines of communication open. We must not allow any evil or sin to come near the communication channel, much less enter into it. We must not harbor any concepts of unrighteousness in our souls and minds. If we value these precious communications, we will seek forgiveness quickly and forthrightly when we mar the communication channel. And we know when we mar the communication channel because the divine values and meanings cease flowing.
Brothers and sisters, if divine values and meanings are not flowing through our souls and minds, it is because our minds have become blocked by impurities. We simply cannot experience the ever-changing meanings of divine values that are lodged in our soul. It is the experience with divine values that constantly changes the divine meanings that we comprehend. It is a fascinating and liberating faith experience to ride the roller coaster of constantly changing divine meanings. It is exciting and inspiring to experience the ever-changing meanings of the relationship of divine sonship.
Stated another way, as we experience the value of love in different situations, the meaning of the values changes. But remember though we use the value of love to illustrate how the meaning of the value changes in response to experience, all values are linked together. That is, we cannot experience the meanings of divine love if we do not hold fast to the values of faith and goodness. And neither can we experience the meanings of the value of joy if we do not hold fast to the value of long-suffering. And this holds for all spiritual values. As one goes so go the others. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the faith of spiritual realities. 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!
The Faith of Spiritual Realities
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
