The Exercise of Faith
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. This
morning we seek to understand the importance of exercising faith.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Exercise of Faith
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that
he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Hebrews, Chapter 11, Verse
6.
Brothers and sisters, to help us grasp an important lesson on the absolute necessity of exercising faith
when it comes to spiritual matters, we discuss first how a child learns to ride a bicycle.
A child has been riding a tricycle for sometime. His parents have been watching him and have
arrived at the conclusion that he is ready to learn how to ride a bicycle. They purchase a bicycle with
training wheels. They observe him riding the bicycle with the training wheels and they observe as
time goes on, that he is using the training wheels very little in balancing himself while he rides. This
observations signals that it is time for the training wheels to come off. They take the training wheels
off the bicycle and help the child by pushing him and holding on to the back of the seat until the
child reaches a certain speed, the speed that is necessary to balance the bicycle. His parents remove
their hands. At first the child is confused. He does not know how to counterbalance himself without
the training wheels. But as he keeps practicing, he gradually masters riding the bicycle without
training wheels.
To do this, the child had to exercise faith that he could do it. Otherwise, the child would not try. He
would be so afraid of falling. This faith that the child had in his potential ability was demonstrated
by persistently making the effort (practicing), which ended with success. The child's parents knew
his potentials. They knew the child would learn to ride the bicycle if he kept trying. They understood
his growing body and mind and understood when he was ready to accept a new challenge. The true
parent relates to a child based on the child's potentials. They do not relate to him solely on the child's
present status. If they did, they would not invest any time or energy in helping him to develop--there
would be no reason to. All parents have at one time been children themselves and they know from
experience the developmental cycles of children. They are therefore willing to assist in developing
the child because they understand his potentials.
In an analogous sense the Father relates to his spiritual children based not upon their present status
but their potential for growth. As a true Father, He understands the potentials of his spiritual children
and stands ready to reveal new truth to them as soon as they are ready to acquire it. And He
recognizes that it may take time for His children to completely comprehend new truth. The exercise
of faith is essential to obtain new truth because without it, it is impossible to attain the revelation of
the Father. Faith is the inspiration of the soul.
In the process of growth and development, in the acquirement of new values and meanings of our
relationship with the Father, spiritual imagination is essential, for it is through spiritual imagination
that new truth is discovered/revealed, and we will never use this imagination unless we have the faith
to make the effort, to attempt to grasp new truth. The bicycle rider of truth may not be able to live
up to the newly revealed truth at first; but as time passes, this truth becomes incorporated into his
very being.
While the Father rewards the efforts of the bicycle rider of truth, He also rewards the faith of the
truth seeker. As the bicycler continues to ride, his skill increases and he is able to do many things
while riding the bicycle which once he could not do. The truth seeker likewise is able to derive
greater meanings from his grasp of truth. As he gains experience in this truth, he more skillfully
acquires new truth and the ability to live it. His capacity for experiencing new truth increases
proportionately to his growing faith.
The exercise of faith is essential for growth. It is the one thing that the Father has given us to
compensate for our imperfection. And like the training wheels on the bicycle, faith serves to balance
and keep us upright during the stages of our spiritual development. But in the eternal and infinite
exploration of truth, never will there be a time when we will not need to exercise faith in
comprehending ever-increasing divine values and meanings of truth. There simply is no end to
growth and development, no end to exercising faith. So those of us who are waiting for growth to
occur first in order to exercise the faith necessary to acquire spiritual values have it all wrong. We
acquire divine values and meanings (grow) by exercising our faith first.
Once we have faith-acquired these divine values and meanings of truth, we realize it by sharing them
as we interact with our brothers and sisters. The realization of truth is the sharing of it. Truth can
always be experienced because it is meaningful, worthwhile. Truth makes life much richer, fuller,
and joyful. Finally the continuous faith grasp of truth values and meanings lead to divine perfection,
thus obeying the Father's eternal command: be you perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This concludes today's message on understanding the importance of exercising faith. 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 Exercise of Faith
