Manifestation of the Divine Spirit
Your Kingdom Come; Your Will Be Done!
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 examine the manifestations of the divine Spirit as it functions within us, through us, with us and as us. These manifestations show us that the divine spirit is thoroughly apart of our lives.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Manifestations of the Divine Spirit
"Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John, Chapter 14, Verse 23
Brothers and sisters, the divine spirit is living love. It is the Father’’s presence within us, guiding us and directing us through this life through His Son Jesus, the Spirit of Truth. And though our material eyes cannot behold the divine spirit, like the wind we can observe his manifestations within us, through us, with us and as us. Faith is the agency through which we do this. We must exercise faith in order to realize these manifestations.
The divine spirit comes to live in us when we make our first moral decision. In fact, when we make our first moral decision, choosing of right over wrong, we are in effect choosing the divine spirit, who sponsors the values of goodness. And this is also the occasion of the creation of our souls, that reality that is designed to survive mortal death and to foster our oneness with the divine spirit, thus imparting eternal life. And now that the divine spirit has come to live within us, the stage is set for us to observe the manifestations of the divine spirit.
““Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from the Father of lights" and there "is no variableness neither shadow of changing." Before the Father’’s spirit comes to indwell our minds, we are of an animalistic nature. We have not developed a moral nature at this point. We cannot choose good from evil, and neither do we recognize good from evil. We see this in small children who will just as soon hit you as kiss you. While they’’re immature and before their moral consciousness develops, we have to constantly tell them about proper conduct. After reaching the age of choice, they begin to make moral judgments. We must not confuse the choices they make during their training with true moral choosing.
True moral choosing is not based on training but upon reflection and the ability to discern right choices from wrong choices, to choose good over evil. Thus there comes to be two sets of values in the human mind. One set is derived purely from the animal nature. These are the self-preservation values of the self and are selfish. This is the human will. The other set of values in the human mind is sponsored by the divine spirit, the divine will.
These are the values of righteousness that constitute correct conduct. Consider this quote: "The human mind does not create real values; human experience does not yield universe insight. Concerning insight, the recognition of moral values and the discernment of spiritual meanings, all that the human mind can do is to discover, recognize, interpret, and choose." It is the divine spirit that reveals these moral values and spiritual meanings to the mind. When such a mind chooses the values and meanings revealed by the divine spirit, moral and spiritual growth takes place. Thus we see the divine spirit is in reality recreating us spiritually.
The divine spirit creates the hunger for truth and the thirst for righteousness. "The indwelling divine spirit unfailingly arouses in man's soul a true and searching hunger for perfection, together with a far-reaching curiosity which can be adequately satisfied only by communion with God, the divine source of that spirit. The hungry soul of man refuses to be satisfied with anything less than the personal realization of the living God. Whatever more God may be than a high and perfect moral personality, he cannot, in our hungry and finite concept, be anything less." The divine spirit reveals the divine values and meanings of truth, beauty, and goodness, and all of these values and meanings are made personal by the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Jesus. The divine spirit is source of the urge to love unselfishly. It is the divine spirit that causes the outward pressure of these divine values and meanings such that we are moved to share them with our brothers and sisters.
And now since the divine spirit is living within us, it also lives through us. The whole process of the Father revealing himself is contingent upon our willingness to abide by his will in our moral and spiritual interactions. All of this truth, beauty, and goodness, all of this love is within us, waiting to be liberated. We are all familiar with human urges, such as hunger, sleep, elimination of waste products from our bodies. These urges are of such a nature that they increase until we satisfy them within a certain period of time. They have a valuable function and maintain the integrity and sense of well-being of our material bodies. When we satisfy them, we feel a sense of relief, as well as a sense of satisfaction and pleasure.
Spiritual urges also have a similar function, but the function is spiritual. Our spiritual natures are satisfied when we give vent to them. "Religious experience is the realization of the consciousness of having found God. And when a human being does find God, there is experienced within the soul of that being such an indescribable restlessness of triumph in discovery that he is impelled to seek loving service-contact with his less illuminated fellows, not to disclose that he has found God, but rather to allow the overflow of the welling-up of eternal goodness within his own soul to refresh and ennoble his fellows. Real religion leads to increased social service." There is the supreme sense of satisfaction and spiritual pleasure within the soul when these urges are released. As we bless our brothers and sisters with these acts of loving service and mercy, we thus qualify ourselves for the realization of the love and mercy of the Father.
As this exchange of divine values and meaning takes place in time and space, they become an experience in time and space. As we approach a moral and spiritual situation, the divine spirit selects the moral and spiritual values to be expressed in a given situation. When we choose and express these divine values and meanings, it becomes an experience within us. But whether we choose to them or not, the divine spirit chooses the values and they become a part of him. If we choose these divine values they become a part of our souls.
Finally, the divine spirit experiences life as us. As we choose these moral and spiritual decisions, they become a part of us and the divine spirit also becomes a part of us to that degree. "Every time man makes a reflective moral choice, he immediately experiences a new divine invasion of his soul. Moral choosing constitutes religion as the motive of inner response to outer conditions. But such a real religion is not a purely subjective experience. It signifies the whole of the subjectivity of the individual engaged in a meaningful and intelligent response to total objectivity--the universe and its Maker." It therefore follows that as the divine spirit intertwines or weaves itself into the very fabric of our souls, it becomes one with us, and effectively goes through the experience as us.
These four manifestations of the divine spirit within our minds and souls should inspire us, impart hope to our struggling souls, and help us to realize that the Father truly loves us, loves us so much that he goes through the very experiences in us, with us, through us, and as us. Just think: the infinite, eternal, and absolute Father’’s spirit lives and works within us, loving us, nurturing and nourishing us, gradually recreating us, and guiding and directing us to our Paradise home, where one day we will actually stand in his presence.
This concludes today's message on understanding the manifestations of the divine spirit. 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 of Light
By Dr. James Perry
Manifestation of the Divine Spirit
