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 seek to understand the meaning of spiritual perfection.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Spiritual Perfection
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 48
If you take one step, God will take two,
Because there is no limit what God can do.
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast, we shall build on our previous broadcast, The Liberation of Spiritual Faith. In particular, we shall explore how to use faith in our spiritual walk. Faith, having being liberated from the chains of doubt, is chaffing at the bit so to speak. The powerful engines of faith are waiting to be released to launch the soul on the endless journey of exploring the universe of truth. And even though this faith is powerful, it remains under our control and thus can only take us where we want to go. Once we set the destination through our desire and will its release, it launches forward. This faith has the power to take us to all the universe stops of meanings and values that are a part of the relationship between the Father and his children. And the first stop of our journey is to lay the foundation for the meanings and values of divine sonship: perfection in the spirit.
God is our Father, and we are his children. Since our relationship with God is personal, we call him Father, a name designative of our true relationship with him. We shall henceforth use the name Father when we are referring to our relationship with him since this name allows us to develop true meanings and prevents us from embracing some errors that result from trying to relate to God as God. (Though in practice, the name God can be used if it is understood that we are talking about our personal relationship with him as children of this God.)
If we are children of the Father, then must his essence be part of us, and therefore are we entitled to consider ourselves divine sons of the Father in spirit. So the first step towards perfection attainment to accept divine sonship with the Father. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we shall be called the sons of God." At this stage of development, we must rely on our faith to grasp this status, as our minds are not able to grasp the actual reality of this state unaided. But we can grasp the reality of the Father through his Son, Jesus. Jesus is the personal revelation of the Father. Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father.
Jesus, the divine Son, took on the form of the human being about two thousand years ago and demonstrated the technique whereby all his children can become perfect as he is perfect. Now the Father has commanded his children to be perfect even as he is perfect, and this Spirit of the Son, the Spirit of Truth, now enshrouds the souls of all of his children and allows them to claim this spirit perfection. This is the Spirit of Truth and allows all souls to function spiritually perfect on any level they happen to be traversing. And even though time must pass before this state actually becomes factual, the meanings and values of this state can be faith-grasped now, and the soul functions spiritually just as it would when it has mastered the intellectual and experiential values of the level on which it is sojourning.
Being dual origin creatures, we can grasp this truth. We know that we function in the flesh with the urges of self perpetuation, self maintenance, and self gratification. We are material beings and we function in the material state all of the time. In the material sense we know that we are not perfect. Being spiritual children of the Father, we can function in the spirit as well. When we submit our wills to the Father’’s will, we function in the spirit.
We know that when we choose the Father’’s will, for that particular decision we choose the Father’’s will in perfection. The Father’’s will may not function through his children all the time, due to lack of cooperation; but when it does function, it functions perfectly. None of the divine qualities are attenuated when they flow through the soul. And if we can choose the Father’’s will on one occasion, then have we demonstrated the truth that we have the power to choose his will all the time. And this functioning in the Spirit is made possible by the enshrouding presence of the Spirit of Truth around our souls.
Know that when we choose the Father’’s will, we are making a decision to become like the Father’’s character, which Jesus demonstrated. And this decision to become like the Father is the choosing of his divine values and meanings. The perfection of the Spirit refers to the display of spiritual values, and the appreciation of those values in terms of meaning. And these values are love, faith, goodness, gentleness, temperance, meekness, long suffering, peace, and joy. And these qualities must not be confused with their human counterparts, which are displayed when the human is not under adversity. But the fruits of the spirit are displayed all of the time, especially during adversity. Indeed it is during adversity that they stand out, silhouetted against the normal reactions to adversity. It is during adversity that the demonstration of perfection in the spirit becomes apparent. This choosing of the Father’’s will and thus choosing perfection in the spirit is characterized by certain attitudes under trying situations.
And in prospect and in retrospect, we all know that perfection in the spirit is a matter of choice, for when we look back at those times when we have not chosen the Father’’s will in a given situation we realize that our will was more important than choosing the Father’’s will--it was not a question of having the power to choose the Father’’s will, but a purely personal desire to choose our will.
And now brothers and sisters, we have the spiritual power of faith so all that remains is for us to acquire the supreme desire to do the Father’’s will, that desire when no other desire is above, and all other desires are below, for what the true son supremely desires, and the Father’’s will, is. Let us release the brake on our liberated faith and allow it to transport us into the spirit, whereby we enjoy perfection and operate from those divine values and meanings as the supreme purpose of life as opposed to remaining in the flesh, or even intermittently operating in the spirit. Let’’s operate continually in the spirit at all times, under all conditions and all circumstances. Let’’s allow our spirit to soar in the heavenly realm even as our material feet must tread the valley of toil and tears. And by doing this we shall prove not only to the world that we are the Father’’s children, but shall prove it to ourselves as we continually feast off of the divine values and drink the divine meanings of divine sonship.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of spiritual perfection. 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.
Spiritual Perfection
Your Kingdom Come; Thy Will Be Done!
Spiritual Perfection
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
