Be Encouraged

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 shared many revelations of spiritual truth with me, and I want to share them with you. In today’’s broadcast, we examine the comfort of truth.

And now, sit back and listen to today's message.

 
Be Encouraged

Jesus said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John, Chapter 16, Verse 33

Brothers and sisters, we know that truth is encouraging. Jesus said that "men ought to always pray and not faint.”” Rather than becoming discouraged, we should pray. The purpose of praying is not to change material reality but to reveal to us the truth of the experience. There is this significant quote: "You cannot perceive spiritual truth until you feelingly experience it, and many truths are not really felt except in adversity."

 
One of the major functions of adversity in imperfect creatures is that it strips them of all insincerity. When that which obscures the light of the Father’’s love is stripped away, the light of truth can shine brightly in the soul. Adversity, with its emotional reactions, causes us to desperately seek moral and spiritual help. Adversity tests our mettle of faith. It is like an acid that erodes. It erodes and exposes the true motive. If we seek to know the Father’’s will, rather than fainting, we receive the reinforcement of our moral resolve and spiritual power to maintain our course, to continue the struggle of the awesome process of achieving divine perfection.

 
Adversity paradoxically propels us towards divine perfection at a considerable speed when compared to ease. When immature creatures enjoy a life of ease, there is just no sustained motivation for seeking the very challenges needed for us to grow, to become perfect even as the heavenly Father is perfect. When living a life of ease, if we meet difficulty in our worthy but insincere efforts to advance, we will always retreat back into a life of ease. But when we get caught up in the net of adversity, we are caught--there is no going back. Now begins the struggle to maintain our moral and spiritual integrity. And having fallen upon the jagged rocks of desperation, we battle with all our might to get off of them.

When stranded, we soon discover that we are inadequate to get off of these rocks by ourselves. Our emotions run amok and we panic. We can’’t find a way out and yet the situation requires that we do. Under such pressure, we are in a situation where we are now wide awake and all of the forces within us are unified and mobilized for the challenge. On this field of moral and spiritual extremity, at our wit’’s end, if you will, we seek the truth——the Father’’s will.

And when we seek the truth of our experience, the Father reveals it to us. Traversing these difficult experiences makes it possible for us to really trust the Father. The soul emerges from these experiences unscathed. It is this personal experience with the Father that compels the soul to say, "God is good." And as the soul experiences, it gains capacity to comprehend greater and greater truth into its relationship with the Father. As it continues to dedicate itself to doing the Father’’s will, it becomes more and more like the Father.

There is a divine plan that makes use of all of these trials and tribulations. These experiences contain essential divine values and meanings that are necessary to obeying the Father’’s eternal command to be perfect even as he is perfect. And though the material mind may not be in a position to appreciate these essential values and meanings--being overwhelmed by the fog of material difficulty--the soul learns to trust the Father. We have observed that these experiences make us sympathetic and compassionate. Since we know from experience what it feels like to be in the cauldron of an unsympathetic and non-caring material environment, we can comfort others who are boiling away the extraneous impurities from their souls. The laws of nature know no mercy or grace. But the Father’’s grace and mercy shields the soul from all harm and danger.

 
So we should be encouraged. We should faint not but pray. And though the material mind may feel that praying does not alter its material state, it does wonders for the soul, for the soul receives an abundant amount of hope, trust, and faith. And as long as these values remain active in the soul, it shall not be moved by the tides of adversity. It shall remain standing. It realizes that the tides of adversity are just the preliminary cleansing of the impurities of loyalty from the soul so that it can receive the full impact of the Father’’s love and mercy.

 
We should be encouraged because these time-space afflictions will pass away. In short, "What is in front of us will soon be behind us." We should pray for the moral stamina and spiritual power to continue to run the race until all obstacles are overcome. And we should always remember that regardless of emotional reactions or intellectual confusion that we may experience, "His grace is sufficient." He knows our frame; he has not forsaken us. He is right here with us going through it with us. It is him who says we should be encouraged. This too shall pass but his promises will not. They are eternally present. We should continue to seek the Father’’s will. One day, we shall see the magnificent result of all this struggle with adversity, and we will be joyous souls.

Let us disallow the clouds of doubt to obscure or obliterate the sunshine of our faith. Let us keep our faith strong and pure and hope will remain strong, always submitting to the Father’’s will at every turn. Hope prevents despair by imparting to the consciousness that a better tomorrow awaits. It imparts patience to the present situation, while the wheels of times move the soul through the storms of life. We are not destined to always boil in a pot of trouble. It allows the soul to serenely stand as "seeing Him who is invisible." Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life. After all, the Father loves us. Be encouraged.

This concludes today's message on understanding the comfort of truth. 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
Be Encouraged