Self Consciousness 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 seek to become self-conscious of the Father's spirit.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Self Consciousness of the Father's Spirit
"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done
unto you. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit." John, Chapter 15, Verses 7
and 8.
Brothers and sisters, we know that the divine spirit resides in the higher recesses of our minds and
in our souls. We also know that this divine spirit is the source as well as the activator of altruistic
urges, desires, and drives along with purely human urges, desires, and drives. Faith makes it possible
for us to realize the reality of these altruistic urges, desires, and drives originating in the divine spirit.
All these qualities of divine origin are the will of God; urges, desires and drives originating within
the purely human mind are the will of man. By submitting the human will to the divine will, we
allow the divine spirit to superimpose divine values over the human values.
Given the fact the Father's will resides within us, how do we get in contact with it? What attitude
would we display if we were in perfect communication with the Father's will? Most of us are
outwardly focused, and when we do turn inward it is usually for a selfish pursuit. We turn inward
to meditate on some problem that is causing us distress, seeking a way out of our difficulties or
because we are feeling sorry for ourselves. All selfish activity is not evil because we have to live in
the outer world. We have problems that must be solved. Because some of these problems are
difficult to solve, we turn inward to extract wisdom from past experiences to help us untangle some
thorny problem. Turning inward is reflection.
When we reflect, we are conscious of doing so (self-consciousness). Reflection neither augments nor
changes character. After a purely selfish survey of the conscious and the subconscious experience,
the self emerges with the same character reactions to stimuli. It has experience, but experience alone
does not translate into character growth. It has wisdom, lessons learned from past material struggles,
but this wisdom does not translate into divine character. Sometimes we reflect to admire ourselves.
Self-admiration is extremely dangerous and--if not checked--leads to self-destruction. Pride goes
before a fall.
Wholesome reflection focuses on the divine spirit and leads to self-consciousness of the divine spirit.
This is a spiritual process unlike the material one. Reflecting on the divine spirit serves to make us
perfect even as the heavenly Father is perfect. The divine spirit is concerned with translating the
personal values of the heavenly Father in the external life of the individual. In the material realm,
reflection is designed to solve some problem of the self. And so we see that the goals of material and
divine self-reflection are entirely different.
When we reflect upon the divine self, we want to infiltrate our material activities with spiritual
qualities. As human beings we have to respond to one another, and often this response is humanistic
or even animalistic. In our relationships quite a bit of disharmony prevails. This is because of the
self-seeking that is associated with them. When both people attempt to get the most it can for itself,
there is bound to be conflict. It stands to reason that if both participants are bent upon taking, there
is not much giving. They believe it is better to receive than to give. The human self simply does not
like to give. When progressive spiritualization of both parties is absent, the relationship soon
unravels, liberating two selfish persons back into the selfish pool to try once more to actualize their
selfish agendas.
By reflecting on the divine spirit, we can change the focus of a purely selfish relationship. We would
like to alter the relationship so that it becomes unselfish. We know that the self has rights also, but
we are aiming for a divinely, purposeful life. It is one thing to appropriately exhibit self-care, and
another thing to exist simply to satisfy ourselves. In addition to a superior relationship realized by
unselfish pursuits, there is a fundamental reason for making the shift from the human to the divine:
survival. To survive eternally, we must eternally submit our will to the divine will. And we know
that the divine will is unselfish in its nature and manifestation. When we reflect on the divine will,
then, we do so to identify the divine qualities that present themselves via our altruistic urges, desires,
and drives.
When we go within for the purpose of reflecting on the divine spirit--the Father's will--we do so to
discover what the Father's will is in regard to a given situation. What are the qualities that the Father
would have us use (rather than our own)? If we are in a relationship that irritates us, the natural
response is to withdraw from that person. It is easier to walk away from a situation that causes us
unhappiness than to stay in it and transform it and ourselves. Loving a selfish and unloving person
can only change our character to an unselfish and loving person. Being patient when we’d really like
to take the easy way out can only transform our character.
During this process, the emotional casualties of depression, anxiety, and feelings of powerlessness
and hopelessness often arise. These feelings are real and cause quite a bit of psychic stress. But when
we exert faith and hope during these emotional casualties, we can expect complete recovery. Until
we become emotionally mature, associating truth with our emotions, we can expect these casualties
to continue. But as we learn how to become more effective in doing the Father's will, as our character
changes, the emotional casualties steadily lose their ability to derail us.
The emotions have to be retrained since their positive and negative reactions are tied to selfishness.
When our selfish pursuits are frustrated, we experience negative emotions in the same way we
experience positive emotions when our selfish striving is realized. It takes time to develop spiritual
emotions that will transcend purely human emotions. We will always have human emotions, but they
will be tied to unselfish striving. When we achieve the divine goal of revealing the Father's love and
mercy to our brothers and sisters, we experience the positive aspects of human emotions; when we
temporarily fail in our unselfish ministry, we experience sorrow, though it is soon eclipsed by the
Father’’s continuous revelations of love and mercy to more receptive brothers and sisters. Reflection,
seeking the Father's will, acquiring divine wisdom, and learning how to execute the divine will is
the self-conscious recognition of the divine spirit. And when the attitude of the self is one of constant
love, patience, mercy, and forgiveness-goodness, then perfect two-way communication has been
established.
This concludes today's message on becoming self conscious 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!
Self Consciousness of the Father's Spirit
