The Father's Way
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 Father's way.
Now, sit back and enjoy the message for today.
The Father's Way
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." John, Chapter 14, Verse 6
Through prayer and worship we discover that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light. Doing the Father's will is nothing more or less than thinking and acting according to the Father's way. We start off living this life according to our way. We must gradually move away from this trial and error method by asking Jesus to show us His way, which always points to increased fruit bearing. When we learn to live according to Jesus' way, we eliminate the confusion and error that result from doing things our way, like being inpatient. Since Jesus has personally traversed this very road and knows every step of the way, it is far better to ask Him to show us how to live according to the Father's way.
This approach increases our accuracy in doing the Father's will since it eliminates the error of our immature personal choosing while at the same time shows us exactly how the Father wants us to behave in any given situation. For example, we learn to stop procrastinating when we know we have to accomplish a task. Instead we learn how to use our time wisely and thus eliminate our own frustrations and potentials for error.
The Father knows the future and does not reveal it to his children. In fact the very nature of our lives is to be uncertain about the future while simultaneously experiencing spiritual security. Not knowing is the secret to peaceful progress in this life, though it may not appear to be so when viewed from material eyes that wish to see and see right now. In His infinite and eternal wisdom the Father has ordained it to be this way. Not knowing what the future holds is necessary for several reasons. First, we learn to develop our creative problem-solving abilities, which in turn helps us to spiritually grow.
This same uncertainty of the future is necessary for us to develop a robust character like Jesus' character. Uncertainty with security is essential to our lives because specific and definite knowledge of future events might cause us to anticipate prematurely what we think is good and retard behavior we consider bad. In short, if we think some future event will be good for us we rush in with fast feet; conversely, if we think the event will be displeasing, we fail to act. When we live according to the Father's way, we learn spiritual maturity and wisdom. For instance, the event we think might be displeasing may be the very opportunity we need to learn tolerance, say, or tender-heartedness.
Using our own understanding, then, we are not always able to judge perfectly whether an experience has true spiritual meaning and value. We must learn to accept the twin truths of progress: spiritual success consists in not knowing the future, and no matter hard how this is to believe all things work together for good for those who love the Father and desire to do His will.
We rest fully and completely within the hands of Jesus. We should not fail to exercise the faith and trust that makes real our consciousness of spiritual security while wrestling with the unknown future. Accepting these truths allows us to realize that what we are focused on right now is of supreme importance to God--not what we may be doing tomorrow. While it is not wrong for us to plan wisely for the future, we should waste no time in planning for that which lies beyond the boundaries of our control. Our spiritual destinies are essentially fixed. Our greatest challenge lies in accepting the truth that not knowing what the future holds is best for us spiritually.
This concludes today's message on the Father's way. 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 Father's Way
