Closing the Book on Spiritual Error
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. This morning we will ponder our lives as we seek to understand how we close the book on spiritual error.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Closing the Book on Spiritual Error
Jesus said, “ How be it, when he, the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.” John Chapter 16 Verse 13.
Brothers and sisters, in today’s broadcast, we show how we close the book on spiritual error. We are sons and daughters of the heavenly Father, and therefore we have a Father child relationship with him. And like all children our concept of this relationship is immature, imperfect. And since we are immature, we need a guide to guide us into this relationship. “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.” His Spirit of Truth guides us into the true relationship with the Father. Until we are willing to follow this Spirit of Truth, we are destined for much unhappiness. It is the Father’s great love for us that he denies certain requests from us. Jesus makes this clear when he says, “What man is there of you, whom if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” The child who asks unwisely of his earthly father, is destined to be disappointed, not because his father does not love him, but precisely because he does love him. The heavenly Father wants us to grow up spiritually.
A true relationship with the Father brings happiness because it can be experienced. An erroneous relationship with the Father on the other hand does not bring happiness because it can not be experienced, but leads to pain, sorrow, and disappointment. The Spirit of Truth not only guides us into true relationships, but also empowers us to live the truth of the relationship. The Spirit of Truth always cries, “Love one another as Jesus loves you.” This Spirit of Truth causes us to be born again, where our souls are able to hear this voice of Truth, and to comprehend the meanings of it. Our relationships with the Father is constantly changing as is our relationships with each other. Divine love is never static but is always changing to meet the ever increasing demands and requirements of it. Divine love has to be interpreted for each relationship that we enter, and it is this Spirit of Truth that defines and regulates the relationships that we have with the Father and with each other.
In our relationships with the Father and with each other, we set moral and spiritual goals that we wish to actualize in our relationships. These are certain spiritual qualities that we are desirous of having as a part of the relationship. The setting and achievement of these goals is natural for our spirit born souls. And it is also only natural that the goals that we set should be reflective of the changing relationships that we have with the Father and with each other. When we set moral and spirituals goals, if either the means for achieving the goal or the goal itself is erroneous, then the end result of our striving to reach that goal is pain, sorrow, and disappointment. The means to an end are just as important as the end itself.
We can not advance our relationship with the Father or we each other by the use of evil. Ignoring the Spirit of Truth in our relationships, and proceeding with a selfish and a self aggrandizement agenda is bound to bring a harvest of unhappiness as the state of martial relationships in our society bear witness. Our divorce rate is now well over 50 percent and climbing. And to think the couples started off with such high hopes, such fond affection for each other, such elaborate ceremony to seal their union. But the seal was not evil proof; it leaked. These relationships were not true relationships, and thus they came unglued. They were unwittingly devoid of the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth requires an unselfish affection for each other; and it also requires mercy and forgiveness when required. When these qualities are absent from a relationship, there can only be pain, suffering and disappointments.
If we want to have happy and harmonious relationships, we must remember that we do not live by bread alone. We are not created to live without the heavenly Father. Nothing can fill that space that he has reserved for himself, and unless we allow him to fill that space, nothing good can come out of relationships. Since the Father has given us free will, it is our choice to allow him to function in our lives. Do we want to be happy? Do we want to know the Truth? Do we want to be delivered from spiritual error? If the answer is yes, then we must cultivate our relationship with the heavenly Father, and reflect that relationship back into our relationships with each other. By praying to the Father, in reality communing with him, we come under his spiritual influence, and begin to view relationships as he does, filled with love, patience, mercy, and forgiveness. When we pray for each other, not only do we display the Father to each other, and receive that display of qualities that we may be deficient in, but we display a genuine desire to do good to each other, to really want to help each other. And as we continue to commune with the Father and pray for and with each other, we become grounded in the truth where we experience true happiness and close the book upon spiritual error.
Such thankful sons and daughters of such true relationships are restrained in their hearts to rejoice for evermore, and to spontaneously worship the Father for his goodness and for his Son, Jesus, who has led them out of moral and spiritual darkness into the brilliant light of the Father’s love.
This concludes today's message on understanding how we close the book on spiritual error. 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
Closing the Book on Spiritual Error
