The Walk 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 will ponder our lives as we seek to understand the meaning of the walk of love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Walk of Love
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have
tribulation. Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John, Chapter 16, Verse 33.
The experience of living is greater than any one person. By ourselves, we are unable to master life;
there are too many factors and forces beyond our personal control. Our walk through life is truly a
humbling experience. The difference between going through life filled with fear, dread, anxiety, and
panic is the difference between doing our wills or subjecting our wills to doing the Father's will.
We begin to seek the better way when we realize the futility of our way, either through life's crises
or through the natural unfolding of our spiritual natures. We must learn to do the Father's will, and
we have definite ideas of what that is. Our spiritual ideals, however, are few. We naturally define
the Father's will in terms of what we want. There is a way that seems right to us, but that way often
times is the way of death. We must correct this conceptual error. The Father's will is not a
partnership wherein we propose and the divine will disposes. Rather, it is a partnership where we
voluntarily submit our wills to the Father will without any reservation. As we try to do the Father's
will, we recognize that the Father's will is usually the exact opposite of what we would naturally do.
We next recognize that doing the Father's will is not going to be easy. We painfully learn that doing
the Father's will does not deliver us from the facts of experience. We learn that there is only one
antidote for the facts of experience and that is the truth of spiritual experience: the Father's love. We
learn that we can expand our consciousness from the material to the spiritual. After this, we realize
that the problems of our material existence are the very material that the Father uses to perfect us,
to make us perfect even as his Son, Jesus, is perfect.
But how can we know the plans and ways of perfection? They can only be known as we experience
them. Often times, we wonder why we lose the things we value most. Why our deepest longings are
not fulfilled. Why we are unhappy when the goals we consider to be good fail to materialize. But the
Father knows that we are spiritual children and must learn to cherish and be loyal to Him above all
things, meanings, and values.
The Father knows what will increase our spiritual blindness, so He mercifully removes them. This
teaches us and allows us to eventually reach a state where our supreme loyalty resides with the
Father. And as we continue to experience the material harvest of disappointment after disappointment,
the desires of our hearts are elevated, transformed and spiritualized so that our supreme delight becomes
the doing of the Father's will. And as we continue to willingly submit to the painful and sorrowful experience
of life according to His will, we are humbled. We recognize our powerlessness and our helplessness to do good. We recognize our supreme dependence upon the Father.
And in the very breakdown of our resolve to do our will, in the very face of our weakness, the Father
manifests Himself through us. In our weakness, the Father is strong. The Father is able to manifest
His goodness through us, to manifest his love, patience, mercy, and forgiveness.
As we continue to submit our wills to the Father's will by deciding in every crisis, "Not my will, but
Your will be done," our desire to find the Father through his Son, Jesus, and to become like Him in
the process increases in intensity. Our increasing thirst for truth and righteousness can be resolved
in only one way and that is to make us like that whom we seek---the Heavenly Father. And as we
continue to humble ourselves, the Father exalts us higher and higher, even to the heights of spiritual
perfection.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the walk of 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!
The Walk of Love
