The Increase in the Spiritual Desire
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 shared many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This morning we seek to understand how the spiritual desire for the heavenly Father increases.
In today’’s broadcast, we discuss how the spiritual desire for the heavenly Father increases. We know that in our experience of becoming perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect, the only contributions that we make to the growth process are our desire and living faith. As we grow, our desire for spiritual perfection increases along with our faith. But how does this increase take place? We shall use a material analogy to help us grasp the concept of the increase in the spiritual desire.
The Increase in the Spiritual Desire
"Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." Psalms, Chapter 73, Verse 25
Brothers and sisters, it has often been said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. When two people fall in love, desire for each other erupts in their minds. Their thoughts are constantly upon each other, and they idealize each other. As time goes, on this desire for each other grows, and the more they interact with each other and the longer the consummation of this desire is prolonged, the more the desire increases. And if they happen to be separated, then the desire grows even stronger as they pine away for each other. Eventually the desire reaches such heights that it consumes both partners. And they consummate this desire in marriage. (At least this is how it is supposed to work.)
Now we see that the romantic desire was increased due to obstacles preventing its fulfillment. Resistance to the consummation of desire drives it to peak levels. If the desire is consummated as soon as it enters their minds, then the strength and force of the desire never reaches peak levels, and therefore the pleasure of consummating the desire is decreased. And we see that resistance in the form of obstacles appears to be the mechanism whereby desires increase.
We don’’t like to be frustrated in our plans when we want to achieve something, but unbeknownst to us, the resistance is the very thing that is needed for us to actualize a new potential. There has to be a certain amount of resistance to be overcome before we can break the inertia of the present status. Consider driving a car on the road. We take this for granted, and pay no attention to the resistance that is offered as we drive along the highway. But we become painfully aware of the need for resistance when we try to drive on ice. Ice is slippery and offers very little resistance to the tires, and therefore traction is slight or none at all.
When it comes to spiritual reality, similar effects prevail. Overcoming obstacles and resistance is part of the Father’’s time-space technique for our creation. Without time and space, our full development would be instantaneous. This would deprive us of the process of participating in our own creation, would deprive us of experience, and deprive the Father of experiencing our growth with us. Because of this technique and because of the need for us to mobilize all of our potentials in responding to the Father’’s command to be perfect even as he is perfect, our desire must reach supreme levels.
As we are confronted with obstacles (evil) standing in our way, the force of our desire increases. As our desire increases, the force and the size of our desire increases. In an analogous way, the process of our desire’’s growth towards supreme levels is like water being blocked by an obstacle in its path. As the water confronts the obstacle, it continues to increase in volume and pressure. Ultimately the water will overflow the obstacle. And if we could measure the volume and the force of the water as it overcame the obstacle, we would find that both the volume and the pressure had increased to a level necessary to overcome the obstacle.
But as our struggles increase, we run into the emotional hazards of impatience and a certain amount of frustration. This increasing size in our growth and the increasing force in our desire is recognized by the emotions of the material mind as frustration and impatience, and there is the temptation to try to short-circuit the whole process. But this will not work. It is like pulling the drain plug out of our desire, thus causing it to deflate and returning it back to its former levels, where there is a measure of comfort but no increase in growth. During this process of the growth our desire towards supreme level, the best way of dealing with these emotional reactions is to seek to know the Father’’s will. This practice will eventually tame the emotional response to the necessary work involved in expanding our desire.
As our supreme desire increases, our faith must also increase. Faith is the force that is actually fueling the desire for supreme levels. As this desire increases in force and size, faith must also increase in force and size. The need for the increase in faith is reflected in the increase in doubt as the desire moves further and further into the spiritual realm, creating greater and greater distance between selfish desires and unselfish desires. This increase in faith and its force is accomplished by seeking the Father’’s will in the face of the very doubt, by declaring "not my will but your will be done."
We define a desire as having reached supreme levels when there are no competing desires for the object of our desire——God--and when all other desires are below, are subordinated to the Father’’s will. As our desire ascends to supreme levels, we also abolish all other competing desires. This process reveals to us other competing desires on our way to reaching supreme levels. Often times we don’’t realize that there are other objects of desire standing in the way of our reaching the supreme desire to become perfect as the heavenly Father. We more or less assume that these desires have no effect upon our reaching the supreme desire for the Father. And it is only as we confront them, and attempt to overcome them, that we realize that they are blocking our attainment of the supreme desire for the Father.
Another problem that is resolved in overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of our desire of reaching supreme levels is the problem of insincerity. If we are not really sincere, it is highly unlikely, that we will make the effort to abolish all the other desires that stand in the way of the desire for the Father becoming supreme. "The keys of the kingdom of heaven are: sincerity, more sincerity, and more sincerity. All men have these keys. Men use them--advance in spirit status--by decisions, by more decisions, and by more decisions. The highest moral choice is the choice of the highest possible value, and always--in any sphere, in all of them--this is to choose to do the will of God."
During this process of the growth of the supreme desire, there follows the revelation of increasing divine values and meanings. These values and meanings are reflections of the growth of the supreme desire. Out of old meanings come new ones that are built upon each other. Like a stepladder, they lead to the supreme values and meanings. At the top of this ladder will also be found supreme faith and supreme desire. This process will have continued until the human will, will have gradually made many, many moral and spiritual decisions that will have allowed it to become the perfected expression of the divine will.
Once such a state is obtained, there will be no further need of the resistance and the obstacles to growth since the faith, the desire, and the soul will have reached supreme levels, signified by having becoming everlasting one with the Father, where the Father supremely manifests himself through this perfected soul without being blocked by desires below the supreme level. What the true son desires, and the Father wills, is.
This concludes today's message on understanding how the spiritual desire for the Father increases. 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!
Inspirational Messages of Light
By Dr, James Perry
The Increase in the Spiritual Desire
