More on Learning to Trust the Father
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. This morning we share some further insights into how we learn to trust the heavenly Father.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
More on Learning to Trust the Father
"Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”” Psalms, Chapter 2, Verse 12
Brothers and sisters, spiritual trust is very much a manifestation of faith. Our trust in the heavenly Father who we perceive by our faith is the result of our perception of his divine goodness.
We are born into the world devoid of faith and trust materially and spiritually and so we have to develop these values. One of the most precious things to observe is an infant taking his first step. As he stands, he stretches his hand out this mother. She smiles and beckons him to come to her. And the infant boldly rushes into the arms of his mother. This is a real benchmark and from this point on the child makes rapid progress in his efforts to learn to walk. We can see faith exhibited here, faith that the infant can traverse the distance between himself and his mother and trust that the mother’’s outstretched hands will catch him if he falls.
In our spiritual journey, we have a tremendous amount of progress to make; and if we want to progress safely and quickly we must rely on faith, which unfolds the growth potentials of our souls, and trust that the heavenly Father is right there with us every step of the way.
We begin our first step when we make our first moral decision. This decision must be a manifestation of faith as well as trust. The idea of choosing one set of conduct over another set, the ability to see the rightness of a decision and choose that right decision, must come from the ability to discern the Father’’s spirit. Our faith tells us that choosing the higher decision in the face of choosing a lower one is right. Having chosen the decision of faith and trust, we are now prepared to make even higher moral choices.
Why should we be able to choose one set of conduct over another? Why should it make a difference? Experience of course tells us that it does make a difference whether we choose right or wrong. But the whole concept of right and wrong is testimony of differing realities, one temporal and the other eternal. In choosing right over wrong, even relatively speaking we are choosing the values of the heavenly Father. And as we choose so are we progressively transformed into the image of his Son. We become one step closer to being able to see with the eye of the spirit as opposed to seeing with the eye of faith.
As we proceed through this life, choosing good over evil, truth over error, we are vindicated morally and spiritually. It is this perception of ever-increasing goodness in our souls that validates our choosing good over evil. In our souls we perceive that good is real and that wrong though enjoying a temporal existence does nothing for our moral status. Our moral status separates us from the animals and qualifies us to become sons and daughters of the heavenly Father. As we perceive truth over error, we more and more realize that our relationship with the heavenly Father is based on love and mercy. Ponder this: ". . . love is the greatest relationship in the world--in the universe--just as truth is the greatest pronouncement of the observation of these divine relationships."
So as we continue our spiritual journey trusting in the goodness and the truth of the Father’’s love, we gain experience. As we gain experience we gain increased knowledge of the Father by becoming like him. Then we can say truly, "You can’’t make me doubt him, because I know too much about him." No matter the trials and tribulations, always will the soul that is becoming increasingly like the Father trust him, for it is extremely difficult to distrust someone whom you admire and worship and whom you are becoming so much like. Each experience requires a greater trust in the Father’’s goodness and his love for us. By persistently choosing the Father’’s will in every situation involving a choice of our way or the Father’’s way, we also make the decision to trust him. Always will we know him because we trust him. Knowledge of the Father is gained only by trusting him, for without trusting him, we will not choose his way.
So in summary, we learn how to trust the Father in a similar way the infant learns to trust his mother when he takes his first steps towards her outstretched arms. By a leap of faith our souls move towards the Father’’s outstretched arms, demonstrating our trust in him. With each experience we have, we choose his way over our way. And since our trust is rewarded by the preservation of our deepest and highest values, we are motivated and inspired to trust even more. We know that the Father loves us, and we are safe in his arms, even though it may not appear to be so to the material mind. In the final analysis, we trust the Father because we choose to, and we choose to because we have faith in his great love for us.
This concludes today's message on more understanding of learning to trust the Father. 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
More on Learning to Trust the Father
