Executing the Father's Will
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 seek to understand the meaning of executing the Father's will.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Executing the Father's Will
Jesus said, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another." John, Chapter 13, Verse 34.
Brothers and sisters, the human mind and body are integrated seamlessly. The mind carries out
perfectly the subconscious and conscious urges of the body. When there is a subconscious urge for
sleep, the conscious mind accurately interprets this and makes those adjustments necessary for sleep
to occur safely. When there are urges of hunger, elimination, and other stimuli, the mind perfectly
interprets these urges and disposes of them accordingly. But before the mind can reach this stage of
accurately interpreting material urges, growth and development must occur. For example, control
over bladder and bowel functions requires a certain muscular development and coordination before
these urges can be addressed in a socially acceptable manner. As growth and development takes
place, the day arrives when a growing child, for example, gains perfect control over these functions.
There are spiritual urges that likewise find their way into our conscious minds. These urges are of
the divine spirit that dwells within our minds and souls. And like the material example, the urges that
originate from the divine spirit are not at first fully under the control of our minds. As our minds try
initially to respond to these spiritual urges, they respond imperfectly (that is, we act unwisely based
on flawed choices and decisions which stem from our mind set--our thinking). The result is evil: the
unintended violation of the Father's law of love.
These spiritual urges are divine values, urges of quality. When faith recognizes and embraces these
values with wisdom, the Father's will becomes a reality in our lives. But what is the nature of these
urges? They are of an unselfish nature. They inspire us to relate ourselves to others so that they
become better for having interacted with us. The divine urges of love appear in our minds and souls,
and as we attempt to execute these urges based on our highest level of understanding, training,
preconceived attitudes, keenness of intellect, and degree of wisdom, not to mention the degree of
dedication to executing these divine urges, our minds and souls are transformed as these spiritual
qualities flow through them. As a stream of water moves across the earth and eventually wears down
the surface, so is the soul and mind changed from its gross animalistic nature to an increasingly
spiritual one.
As we watch the disharmony that occurs when we strive to do the Father's will incorrectly, we often
wonder what is happening. We can think of countless episodes of decisions made by sincere
individuals, supposedly made on behalf of God but which we recognize as evil. Very few of us
recognize that these same imperfect and unwise decisions are attempts of the self to execute the
Father's will. Particularly erroneous is the error that translates the Father's will into something
material. And though the Father's will is manifested on this material level, it does not follow that it
is material. The Father's will is manifested to the material creature's soul but still remains spiritual.
How are we to know what the Father's will is given our level of maturity? There is help for us, and
this help shows us the correct way of interpreting the Father's will. The Spirit of Truth--which is the
spirit of Jesus who lived this mortal life just as you and I are required to do so-- portrays the perfect
and acceptable way of executing the Father's will. If we pay attention to what this Spirit of Truth is
revealing, our error rate will decrease, for the Spirit instructs us on the correct behaviors and attitudes
we must display to our brothers and sisters. As we gain wisdom, our tendencies to unintentionally
violate the Father's law of love will diminish.
How do we acquire wisdom? There is only one way, and that is from reflecting and reacting when
we realize that error and evil may have been perpetuated. We may not know beforehand that what
we are thinking about doing is error and evil, but we surely know after we have done the deed. Evil
and error bring about confusion, conflict, disharmony, pain, suffering and disappointment, all of
which we are acutely aware. It is in the cruel arms of pain and suffering where we are induced to
reflect on what went wrong. This leads to that wisdom gained from experience that allows us to
make a course adjustment in the intriguing effort to discern and execute the Father's will.
There are no special methods for correcting error and evil other than these inherent penalties (pain
and conflict, for example). Until we mature to the point where we are able to perfectly interpret the
urges of the Father's will and gain skill in its execution, there will always be these episodes of error
and evil. The Father reveals himself by nature, and as our souls grow, they acquire more and more
of the nature of the Father. Under the tutelage of the Spirit of Truth, the accuracy of recognizing and
executing the Father's will gradually reaches that high plateau where relative maturity reigns.
Subsequent to achieving this maturity, the Father, through his Son, Jesus, has produced a supreme
channel through which he can manifest Himself.
This concludes today's message on understanding meaning of executing the Father's will. 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!
Executing the Father's Willl
