Spiritual Stream of Love
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 contemplate the meaning of the progressive spiritual stream of love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Progressive Spiritual Stream of Love
"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as
many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal
even this unto you. " Phillipians, Chapter 3, Verses 14 and 15.
Brothers and sisters, our experiences tell us that we either move forward in growth or retrogress. We
cannot stand still. Everything either moves forward or backwards, and yet sometimes it seems like
no progress is being made at all. Streams of reality that move forward continue on their journey of
obtaining intermittent goals, never obtaining final destiny; that which moves backwards is removed
from the progressive stream of love, having lost the momentum of the forward progressive current.
The spiritual stream is linked to our material journeys. We know that there is a correlation between
our material struggles and spiritual progress. In fact where ever there is a bonafide material reality,
there is a corresponding spiritual reality. Spiritual reality is the driving force used to turn the gears
of the material drive through the mind. We can find out how this works so to be able to use it on our
spiritual journeys. We must look to Jesus as the best example and source of inspiration because he
knows every step of the way, from the beginnings of human spiritual growth to the final stage of
human spiritual perfection.
Jesus learned how to bear responsibility, how to carry on in the face of disappointment. He exhibited
bravery when his plans were derailed and his purposes temporarily defeated. He learned how to
adjust his ideals to the practical demands of earthly living. He knew how to plan for the achievement
of a higher and distant goal of idealism while he toiled earnestly to attain a nearer and immediate
goal of necessity. He acquired the art of adjusting his aspirations to the commonplace demands of
the human occasion. He mastered the technique of using the energy of the spiritual drive to turn the
mechanism of material achievement. He slowly learned how to live the heavenly life while living
the earthly life. More and more he depended upon the ultimate guidance of his heavenly Father. He
became experienced in the skillful wresting of victory from the very jaws of defeat; he learned how
to transform the difficulties of time into the triumphs of eternity. By following Jesus’’ Spirit of
Truth, we can learn how to do this also.
Most of human life is filled with recurring themes such as birth, the growth cycle, marriage,
parenting, making a living, disappointments, failures, uncertainty, apparent road blocks to our paths
of progress, and finally death. All of these experiences yield divine values and meanings. And this
is why we are confronted repeatedly with the same trying and sometimes painful experiences. While
the actors may differ, the play is the same. Drinking from the well of bitter frustration and
disappointment leaves an unpleasant aftertaste of dissatisfaction and creates a painful predicament;
yet we are confronted with these kinds of predicaments all the time. There is a spiritual aspect to all
these sometimes unpleasant exchanges, even when we realize that our very best efforts fail to change
the material outcome of a given situation. There is always an outcome to a given situation, though
it may not be what we want. We must recast such experiences from the material to the spiritual.
The progressive stream often proceeds in ways we don’t like, and if we follow strictly material
meanings, we are left in an impasse. We are confronted with the realization that the progressive
spiritual stream does not proceed in a linear fashion. The final disposition of our best efforts lie in
the spiritual realm for interpretation. From a material perspective we must realize that many of our
sorrows come from the disappointment of our ambitions and the wounding of our pride. We should
do the best that we can to make the most of our lives on earth, but when we have done that, we
should cheerfully accept our lot, using imagination to make the most of what we have. All too many
of our troubles ““take origin in the fear soil of our own natural heart.””
We must realize that doing our best while experiencing a roadblock in the material realm has no
negative impact in the spiritual realm. We meet with the divine spirit when we do our best,
experiencing a value and a meaning that utterly transcends the material values of defeat. There are
no spiritual defeats, only successes. The progressive spiritual journey is just as real as its material
counterpart, even more so because the spiritual counterpart contains none of the evil and often sinful
meanings akin to the material experience. In interacting with free will brothers and sisters, we often
have to contend with stubbornness and lack of cooperation, for example.
Moreover, we may have to contend with insincerity and selfish pride or other evil attitudes that affect
us materially and emotionally. Sometimes we are faced with inherent handicaps and delays of time
in a given situation, and this often make us feel like no progress is being made, sometimes causing
us to doubt the effectiveness of our resolve. Sometimes when we are doing our best, we wonder if
there may be another way of resolving the difficulty, a way that is slightly out of sync with that
which is true, beautiful, and good. Just because we have run into a material roadblock does not mean
that some other attitude should be applied to the problem unless our attitude is not right to start with.
In the spiritual realm, we are not penalized by the lack of cooperation of others. Their attitude can
have no negative effect on our spiritual progress. Their willful stubbornness and cowardice in
embracing the problem at hand can have no effect on the spiritual values and meanings of such an
experience. These values and meanings come as the result of the personal decision of the courageous
person who refuses to shrink from the values and meanings in his inner life that are being applied
to the outer life in his attitude towards the problems of life. But we should always remember that
there are periods of growth and periods of rest--respite from the incessant struggle to attain spiritual
perfection.
During these periods of regeneration, it often appears that no progress is being made when, in reality,
we are experiencing time to enjoy the spiritual values and meanings that we have acquired. We must
seek these spiritual values and meanings while we are in recess and not look for them in the material
aspects of life. Soon the stimulus of new growth emerges. Sometimes this stimulus presents itself
in the way of human tragedy and disappointment, perhaps causing us to stumble.
We must always keep our supreme eye on the emerging divine values and meanings and not the
apparent values and meanings of material reality, which are temporal. We must follow the
progressive stream of spiritual values and meanings wherever they make their appearance, be that
in health, sickness, joy or sadness, disappointment or success. We must always allow spiritual hope
and faith to dominate our final attitude as we bask in the brilliant light of our Father's love and
mercy.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of progressive stream of the Father's
love. 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!
Spiritual Stream of Love
