Spiritual Satisfaction
Greetings, 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. In today’’s broadcast, we explore the meanings and values of spiritual satisfaction.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Spiritual Satisfaction
"And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul: in drought, and make fat thy bones and thou shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." Isaiah, Chapter 58, Verse 11
Brothers and sisters, "I can’’t get no satisfaction, though I try and I try, but I can’’t get no satisfaction," laments the lyricist, while the outsider seeks to know the secret behind the "green door." He knocks and knocks but is not admitted. He hears the music, laughter, and the good cheer but is unable to find admittance to the green door.
In the material life, satisfaction is a fleeting value. Even before it is over, we feel the shadow of its departing, as the fog of the sadness and the quiet desperation of our lives begin to roll in. We see people embarking on planes and trains and driving their automobiles on the interstate highways at a furious pass, heading for some unknown destination where they hope to find satisfaction, but the expressions on their faces are not of anticipated satisfaction but of strain, fatigue, anxiety, and even depression. We long for permanent satisfaction but cannot find it in our material activities. We wonder what is behind the green door.
In the spiritual life, we find the eternal satisfaction that we are seeking; we find the secret to the joy and goodwill behind the green door of spiritual living. No more must we sit in ashes and wear sack clothes over our sense of despair because material life has a dealt us a material blow that we cannot recover from materially. No more must we be like Rachel weeping for her children. No more must we long to find a safe haven where we can find rest for our exhausted souls. No more must we search and search until our eyes are bleary, looking for a land of pleasant cheer, where the sun never sets and the light never fades, where joy constantly increases until our souls become saturated and we cry, "Enough! My soul overflows."
We must recognize our two-fold nature--one material and the other spiritual. We can enjoy spiritual satisfaction even while we are dissatisfied materially. Spiritual satisfaction is of such a nature that it antidotes, even transcends, material dissatisfaction. It has the power to diffuse its values and meanings even into the material activities of our life, filling everything with a sense of high purpose and eclipsing emotions of spiritual joy. "It is the presence of the divine Spirit, the water of life, that prevents the consuming thirst of mortal discontent and that indescribable hunger of the unspiritualized human mind. Spirit-motivated beings ‘‘never thirst, for this spiritual water shall be in them a well of satisfaction springing up into life everlasting.’’ Such divinely watered souls are all but independent of the material environment as regards the joys of living and the satisfactions of earthly existence. They are spiritually illuminated and refreshed, morally strengthened and endowed."
So how do we become spiritually motivated such that we come into the harvest of the "joys of living and the satisfactions of earthly existence?" We know that we are going to have trials and tribulations in this earthly life; we know we are going to be afflicted. In fact "the greatest affliction in the cosmos is never to have been afflicted at all." "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." And throughout every trial and in the presence of every hardship, spirit-born souls are sustained by that hope which transcends all fear because the love of God is shed abroad in all hearts by the presence of the divine spirit."
We are experiencing beings, incomplete in all respects. But the laws governing our existence, physically, morally, and spiritually, are unchanging. Being experiencing beings and being part of the human race, we suffer from the consequences of unintentionally or intentionally violating these laws. Much of the pain and suffering we undergo is due to our violation of these laws. Being a part of the group, we benefit from good the group does; invariably, we suffer from the evil it does. Quite a bit of our suffering is due to our failure to abide by the Father’’s will in the material, moral, and spiritual domains of his laws. As we discover and abide by these laws, our children will suffer less and less from these infractions of unyielding law, until that far distant day, where there will be no suffering at all. We will have become perfect in the execution of the Father’’s law, materially, intellectually, morally, and spiritually.
Notwithstanding the delay in eradicating the consequences of violating the Father laws, by entering the kingdom of heaven, we escape the moral and spiritual consequences of violations. We enter the kingdom of heaven by making a decision to do the Father’’s will, and as long as we abide by the Father’’s will, we remain therein. When we enter the kingdom of heaven, we enter into a universe of divine values and meanings, where love is the supreme and only law of the realm. "……Love one another as Jesus loves us" is the only law of the spiritual kingdom. When we dedicate our lives to doing the Father’’s will, we experience the satisfaction of spiritual living all the time. It is the satisfaction of the spirit "that prevents the consuming thirst of mortal discontent and that indescribable hunger of the unspiritualized human mind."
By one leap of faith, we commit ourselves to doing the Father’’s will and immediately begin to experience the fruits of the spirit, "for the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance." We must allow our faith to do for us what no other resource can. By entering the kingdom of heaven, submitting to the Father’’s will, we become born again and unlock the secret to what’’s behind the green door of the kingdom. Not only can we observe the music, the laugher, and the sounds of joy, but we can actually enter this door of truth and righteousness and experience it for ourselves. No more will we cry that we cannot get any moral or spiritual satisfaction from our earthly life.
Now when we embark upon planes and trains and drive our automobiles, we have a new expression on our faces: wherever we are going or whatever we doing, we are going and doing it with love. We have escaped the moral slavery of duty and risen to new a level of existence, where the joy of loving service replaces moral mandates with profound spiritual satisfaction. The lyricist may lament that he can’’ find satisfaction, and the knocker on the green door may wonder what’’s behind it, but we who have become the sons and daughters of the heavenly Father know and know now what is behind the green door of truth and righteousness. We enjoy the eternal and spiritual satisfaction of doing the Father’’s will.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of spiritual satisfaction. 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
By Dr. James Perry
Spiritual Satisfaction
