More on the Recognition of the Father's Spirit
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 discuss further the recognition of the Father's spirit.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
More on the Recognition of the Father's Spirit
Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God" John Chapter 3, Verse 3.
Brothers and sisters, sometime ago I had the opportunity to work in a federal prison. Now this was
a very unique experience, different from any previous experience that I had. Upon my immersion
into this experience, it was at first a shock. There was so much that was unfamiliar, so many different
rules, so many new different immediate dangers. But as the process began and I began to function
in that environment, adjusting to being in it, asking questions and acquiring knowledge, wisdom and
learning how to operate in that environment at least to a certain degree of competence, it became
familiar.
As the movement of time progressed, I began to realize that I was successfully working in this
environment. Now the experience itself was constantly moving, and the realization of it was also
constantly moving as opposed to the fact of recognizing that I was working in a new experience. This
experience had a beginning and it had an end. That is, I could clearly discern when it began and
when it ended. It began when I entered the prison for employment, and it ended when I left the prison
at the end of my employment. Now this experience is a bonafide acquirement. I have complete
memory of it, though I don't remember all of the day-to-day details of it. I remember it as something
that I experienced, and something that had an impact upon my life, and changed me in ways that I
could not anticipate at the beginning of it.
"What is human experience? It is simply any interplay between an active and questioning self and
any other active and external reality. The mass of experience is determined by depth of concept plus
totality of recognition of the reality of the external. The motion of experience equals the force of
expectant imagination plus the keenness of the sensory discovery of the external qualities of
contacted reality. The fact of experience is found in self-consciousness plus other-existences--other-
thingness, other-mindness, and other-spiritness." Now we know that the experience of God is a
personal experience in our souls and minds. And like any experience, it meets the criteria given. As
we interact with God, and as the movement of time progresses, we develop a mass of experience
with Him which equals knowledge of Him, in so far as our experience has taken us. And though we
are dealing with a spiritual experience rather than a material experience, the process is basically the
same.
Now in the experience with God, the experience starts with the arrival of the Father's spirit. This new
reality in the mind and soul of the individual is tantamount to a new experience. It has a beginning
but does not have an end. It is an ongoing experience. This is an experience between the heavenly
Father and his child. It is like the parent-child relationship, except it is spiritual. And like the human
child, the spiritual child has much to learn. From the spiritual child's point of view there are many
rules to learn, but from the Father's point of view, there is only one rule, and that is the rule of love.
The child begins to interact with this spirit right away as the divine impulses, urges, and desires
make their appearance in his mind. He must develop some kind of attitude towards them. Either he
must ignore them or respond to them. If he ignores them, this still is a living experience with the
Father, though not particularly rewarding.
The nonresponder is like the individual who goes to work in a prison and ignores all the rules
governing his being there. If he responds to the divine lure, he must find a way to execute them into
his outer environment. His particular response to the impulses, urges, desires, and the spirit is the
consciousness of the experience, while the intellectual consciousness of the experience is merely the
acknowledgment that it is occurring. The intellectual recognition allows the self to recognize what
kind of experience it is, in general the facts of the experience. But the facts of the experience are not
the same as the experience itself. The facts of the experience allow one to consciously appreciate the
experience, but the experience itself is soul changing.
Now let us consider this interaction between the heavenly Father and man. Man becomes aware of
this experience as we have said by the changes occurring in his mind and soul even as he would
become aware of changes occurring in his body. He learns how to interact with this spirit through
experience and through intellectual functioning-instruction. As he begins to communicate with this
divine spirit through prayer, he begins to make requests. For example, he may be having some
material difficulty in his life like being involved in a difficult relationship that is very irritating and
frustrating. He may begin to pray to God to change the situation, to move the person out of his life.
The Father responds by urging him and empowering him to be patient. He acquires facts about this
relationship, and wisdom soon begins to acts on these facts, modifying and conditioning the timing
of decisions. As he continues to pray, he eventually realizes that his attitude towards the person has
gradually changed. He gains insights into the person's motive. Now this has also been an adjustment
within himself. He has learned to be patient and wise, even though that was not the intent of his
prayers. Now he can realize this accomplishment in two ways: his own insight discovered upon
reflection of the experience tells him what has happened, or someone else who recognizes what has
happened can and may tell him.
Another example comes to mind. A situation may develop that is full of uncertainty, and the
individual is not sure how to proceed. He does not know what to expect from day to day and is full
of anxiety and foreboding. His morbid predisposition played havoc with his sense of well being. He
begins to pray, asking God to deliver him from such an awful state. He prays and the Father responds
by increasing his faith in the goodness of God and in the security of his mercy. The Father responds
by revealing the truth of the experience. His uncertainty may continue, but the certainty of God's love
for him also continues. As his faith continues to increase and his trust in the Father's goodness
continues to increase, his recognition of the divine spirit increases. The Father is love, faith and truth,
and the revelations of truth, beauty, and goodness are the revelations of the Father love.
The recognition of this experience is the recognition of the spiritual experience of the Father while
the intellectual facts of this experience which occurs when a certain segment of the experience is
stopped and focused upon is the intellectual consciousness of this experience. And so it is, the Father
is an experience in the soul of man, and the facts of that experience are the intellectual consciousness
of God. The consciousness of the experience of the Father in the soul is the consciousness of
constantly responding to this experience, this interplay between the divine and the human. The
experience of the Father is an experience of acquiring divine values and meanings. And so it
becomes that the experience of the Father is spiritual, the experience of values; intellectually the
experience of the meanings of values, and experiential the interplay of divine values and meanings.
And as this experience continues the individual is changed in the process, becoming like the Father
who is love. After all in its final analysis the experience of Father is the experience of love.
This concludes today's message on the further recognition of the Father's 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
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
More on the Recognitioon of the Father's Spirit
