Spiritual Power
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 will ponder our lives as we seek to understand spiritual power.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Spiritual Power
“But you shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you: And you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts, Chapter 1, Verse 8.
Brothers and sisters in today’s broadcast, we examine spiritual power. In order for us to do the work of the spirit, we must be empowered by the spirit. There is material power, and there is spiritual power. Material power is the force that allows us to do work in the material arena; spiritual power is the force that allows us to do work in the spiritual arena. God is the source of both material and spiritual power. God as force is the source of material power while God as spirit is the source of spiritual power.
We have a two fold nature, one material and the other potentially spiritual. We are therefore related to God in a two-fold manner. Our material natures are subject to the material laws of God while our spiritual natures are subject to spiritual laws of God. The material laws limit; the spiritual laws liberates. Since we are free will moral beings, we can choose which nature that we will be supremely loyal. While our material natures are subject to the material laws, we do not have to supremely identify with this nature. We can subject it to our spiritual nature. The material nature is subject to the metamorphosis of decay. The limited life that is associated with the material nature perishes with the death of our material bodies.
If we supremely identify with our material natures we must experience all the ups and downs of our material nature as a permanent experience. We must unceasingly watch as our misplaced hopes are constantly disappointed. And as we watch the slow but relentless ebbing of life from our material bodies, we experience a nameless despair. If we supremely identify with our material nature, we can never escape the harsh consequences of evil. We must watch ever and anon as our resolve never to react to our moral environment in an evil manner is dashed again and again against the shoals of evil. We are defeated before we even start. We are slow to learn that a materially identified will must go the way of evil.
On the other hand, if we supremely identify with our spiritual nature, even while living in the flesh, we can transcend our material nature. No! We can not escape the life in the flesh, but we can increasingly subject it to the ideals and controls of the spirit. We can utilize spiritual power to submit the material nature to the spiritual nature. In spite of what the material self experiences, the spirit identified will can respond accordingly to the direction of the spirit, and this in and of itself is a demonstration of spiritual power.
The Father rules with the power of love. We are built to respond to the power of love. Only a headstrong will bent upon self seeking and vainglorious achievements, a will bent on self destruction can defy the power of love. And even this is so because the Father has ordained that the free will shall be sovereign in its moral and spiritual decisions. To live eternally is to respond to the urge of love.
Spiritual power is available to all who seek to attain the divinity of the heavenly Father. All who seek to know the Father through the Son have the spiritual resources of the Spirit of Truth to become like the Father. The spiritual power of the Spirit is disclosed in the experience of long suffering, joy, and peace-righteousness. In these experiences are to be found knowledge of the Father. The power of long suffering is evident in one who waits. This power is born of the consciousness of one who is absolutely sure of the march of truth.
Error can not persist in the face of truth. The transient reality sponsored by error is inherent in the delays of time and the handicaps of space. This transient waiting period allows for the functioning of mercy and the recognition of error. Error is disclosed in ever increasing valueless experiences, and ever heightening disappointments.
The power of long suffering is the ability and demonstration of faith in truth. The spiritual power of joy is disclosed in the consciousness of happiness, the feeling of being gratified. It is a consciousness of pleasure. The power of joy is self re-enforcing. It is a reward. The reward of pleasure supplies the incentive to do other rewarding acts. The power of peace is disclosed in a sense of well being. It signifies that one has satisfactorily complied with all the requirements expected of one. The consciousness that the Father is pleased with one creates a consciousness of peace that passes all understanding. Nothing can disturb this kind of peace.
The spiritual power of the Son is disclosed in the power to find the Father. The Father is to be found in the character traits of the Son which are gentleness, meekness, and temperance. The power of gentleness is shown in the display of kindness, tender heartedness. There is power, a transforming power in being kind and gentle. Contact with this kind of power is sure to change the one on the receiving end. This gentleness effectively disarms the rough and the tough.
The power of meekness is shown in the display of humility. There is a certain power in one who refuses to use force-that is material force to advance his righteous causes. There is a certain power in one who humbles himself before the Father, for has not the Father said that those who are low shall be raised high, and those who are high shall be brought low? One who truly humbles himself to the Father's will, will never use material force to advance even a righteous cause. The proud can never be taught or led, for they are dull of hearing and blind of sight.
The power of temperance is displayed in the exquisite balance of a spiritual character. Love is perfectly balanced by patience, while mercy is perfectly balanced by forgiveness while all four are united in goodness. Temperance contains the motive for life-love, the necessary difference between the actual and the potential-patience, the desire for the spiritual rather than the material-mercy, and the transition between the material and the spiritual-forgiveness.
The spiritual power of the Father is disclosed in the power to make the us like Him. This power is shown in the urges of love, faith, and goodness. Love is the source of all spiritual values, that is whenever any divine urge, trait or state functions, then love functions. Love is the absolute function, the function that includes all other functions. Its primary divisions are truth, beauty, and goodness. Faith is the force that converts potential spiritual values into actual spiritual values in the spiritual universe. Faith is the assurance of the divine goodness, that quality that is responsible for the moral character of the Son.
This concludes today’s message on understanding spiritual power. 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
Spiritual Power
