The Father's Will and Human Requirements
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 relationship between the Father’’s will and human requirements.
Now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Father’’s Will and Human Requirements
"And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Matthew, Chapter 26, Verse 39
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast, we examine the truth that doing the Father’’s will equips us for all human requirements. Sometimes the problems of life can be so overwhelming, so distressing, and so emotionally upsetting and crippling, robbing life of much material joy that we are often tempted to doubt this great truth and are tempted to seek some other remedy. But if we yield to this human remedy, while we may find temporarily relief, we sacrifice that which is true, beautiful and good in our life. But nevertheless if we submit to the Father’’s will, we will experience this great truth.
Let us see if we can get a better understanding of the Father’’s will as it was revealed in His son, Jesus, when he sojourned in the flesh. The beauty of his life is that it was a really human life lived according to the Father’’s will. We know that the human Jesus had trouble in his life. But he always sought the Father’’s will rather than his own when facing these troubles. Even when confronted with the greatest trouble of his life, when he was crucified, he sought the Father’’s will. In this final supreme crises of his life, we may learn much about our human self and our divine self.
Here is the human Jesus who is aware that he is going to be betrayed by Judas, and is going to be crucified. He knows that the guards are coming for him tonight. This is a staggering thought to bear, knowing that he was going to be killed, and not only killed but killed through an excruciating method. We are told that sweat poured off of his body like great drops of blood, that he was in extreme emotional agony, and his human self wanted to find an acceptable way out of this intolerable predicament. He resorted to prayer, seeking to find a way out that was acceptable to his Father. On three occasions his human self sought to find an acceptable way out that was acceptable to his Father, but found none. But since he was dedicated to doing the Father’’s will and not his own, He ended each of those attempts to find an acceptable way out with the declaration of "Not my will but your will be done."
There has been much confusion over what transpired in the Garden of Gethsamine, and this confusion has robbed many of us of comfort when experiencing crises. As human beings, we can better weather a crisis if we know that someone else has gone through something similar, has gone through it, and has emerged intact. Let us see if we can clarify why no acceptable way could be found out of this dilemma. The Son of God, Jesus, had come into the world in the flesh to reveal the Father to mankind, to reveal the truth, beauty, and goodness of His love. He had come to reveal the Father’’s character to mankind and to the whole universe. He had come to bear witness to the Truth. That was his mission. The Father required that Jesus live a normal life, from birth to death, just as all of us have to live ours, with whatever vicissitudes we must confront. There are no provisions for avoiding the circumstances of life.
In the process of living his life dedicated to doing the Father’’s will, Jesus ran into religious authorities who were determined to destroy him if he would not abandon his mission. The clash was inevitable. The conflict between truth and error, between good and evil, was presented to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsamine. As Jesus prayed, as he sought to know the Father’’s will, he realized that there was no human way out of this conflict. He had to choose. And the choice of truth over error and good over evil caused him to become subject to the religious rulers who were determined to put a stop to his teaching. He chose the Father’’s will.
Most of the conflicts we face in our lives are not so supreme, but they are similar in that they require us to choose between truth and error, good and evil. Sometimes this choosing requires patience, while truth vanquishes error and goodness conquers evil. This is very hard on us and causes us quite a bit of emotional turmoil in our minds and souls.
To all of these problems, the victorious Jesus says, "In the world, you will have tribulations, but fear not, for I have overcome the world" and ““my grace is sufficient." Let us try to gain some insight into these twin truths of comfort. The victorious Jesus, having overcome the world, has invested our souls with this victorious spirit, the same spirit that he used in his struggle and ultimately in his mastery of the realities of human existence. And since this victorious spirit, the mighty Spirit of Truth, conquered human existence, it is the power, the help, given to us to do the same. And this is Jesus’’ grace, which is why he says, "My grace is sufficient."
When we desire to submit to the Father’’s will, this Spirit of Truth points our souls in the direction of truth, identifies the truth of the situation, and empowers us to choose it. This Spirit of Truth goes on to comfort us while the battle of truth over error and good over evil rages. In our personal experiences, when emotional turmoil threatens our peace of mind, we should seek to know the Father’’s will, and we should express our desire to trust the Father and our desire to exercise faith in Him, to exercise faith in the ultimate victory of truth over error and good over evil.
Sometimes we feel that our faith and trust is not up to the task of exerting truth in the face of error, goodness in the face of evil, especially when we feel directly threatened. Our emotions tell us that we should do something, anything to break the intolerable suspense. Out emotions tell us that we can’’t stand the strain. And the nights of interrupted sleep with the injection of the conflict into our minds seems to agree with the emotions that something other than what we are doing needs to be done. Day after day, our emotions rage. But even though our emotions cause us to feel that way, there is a vast difference between what we feel we can stand and what we actually can stand. Emotions do not make decisions. Our will is not within our emotions. The Spirit of Truth does not operate within our emotions but at the very foundation of our souls, giving eternal support to our stand for righteousness and goodness. And because of the Spirit of Truth empowering our souls, we can make righteous decisions despite the emotions urging us to do otherwise.
In the face of emotional turmoil, we should seek to know the Father’’s will, to know His character. This should always be our final decision in any contest between good and evil. We should reaffirm and rededicate our will to doing his will, and reaffirm our desire to trust and exercise faith in Him. Emotions are powerful psychic forces, but we should never make a decision based on emotions alone; rather our decisions should be based upon the highest level of wisdom and understanding that we posses. These decisions should be based on the character of the image of His Son that we have been able to obtain. And when those times occur in our lives, where events become so emotionally charged and we don’’t know which way to go, we should rest confidently that if our true desire is to do the Father’’s will, the Spirit of Truth will ensure that the decision we make will be the righteous decision--the Father’’s will.
Eventually our emotions will subside and support the decisions of righteousness. And as we continue to move into the perfections of the image of the Father’’s Son, Jesus, the emotions will become more and more easily subordinated to our righteous decisions, and peace will not only flood our souls but our minds as well.
This concludes today's message on understanding the Father’’s will and human requirements. 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!
The Father's Will and Human Requirements
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry.
