Living Faith
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 seek to understand the meaning of living faith.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Living Faith
"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: As it is written, the just shall
live by faith." Romans, Chapter 1 Verse 17.
Brothers and sisters, we know that we must use faith in our efforts to do the Father's will and to self-
actualize, to be perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect. Not long ago a question arose as to
whether it was possible to obtain perfection while still in the flesh. There were various debates and
the answers were somewhat perplexing. While we acknowledge that Jesus as a human being had
achieved divine perfection while living in the flesh, it is not at all certain that the example he set for
us can be met in this life time, although Jesus clearly tells us that we are to be perfect even as the
heavenly Father is perfect. Upon closer examination, we discovered that praying for perfection was
not a conscious act. Even though we had prayed that the Father's will be done in our lives, we didn’t
realize seeking to do the Father's will and praying for divine perfection were the same. We recognize
that doing the Father's will is the process of becoming like Him; but what eludes us is the critical
insight that doing the Father's will is the very process of becoming perfect as He is.
Why is there so much hesitation in embracing the true meaning of what it means to do the Father's
will? To those who say it is not possible to achieve divine perfection in the flesh in response to the
Father's mandate to be perfect even as He is perfect, we ask which part of your life is not subject to
the Father's will? Whatever it is, you should subject that part of your life to the Father's will
immediately, if not sooner. To those who say it is not possible to achieve spiritual perfection in this
life, what desires do you refuse to have replaced by the Father's desires? You should make this
exchange as soon as possible. In fact, make it right now. And to those of you who say that it is not
possible to obtain moral perfection in this life, to which duties are you not loyal? You should get
with the program.
We know that doing the Father's will has no direct power to change our material or psychological
environment. It does not provide unearned intellectual knowledge. It does not directly heal our
bodies, our aches, or our pains. Doing the Father’s will does not gives us power over other
individuals. It does not exempt us from the accidents of time, nor does it protect our loved ones from
material dangers. It is true that the pursuit of the divine will inspires us and empower us to tackle
these problems of a material and psychological nature, as it did in the life of Jesus.
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another; no man hath seen God at any time. If
we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”” "If God love is perfected
within us, then we are also perfected spiritually. And we have known and believed the love that God
hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dewelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our
love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement: because as he is, so are we
in this world.””
Even though Jesus told and showed us that God is love, we have still not fully accepted this great
and liberating truth. Many still hide in the shadow of fear, refusing to pray that the love of God be
perfected in us (that is, to be perfect even as the heavenly Father is). We must love the Father with
all our hearts, minds, and souls and love our neighbor as ourselves. This requires living faith, which
is alive as God is. We define living faith as the ability to recognize truth in the experiences that the
divine spirit selects for us, insisting that there is good in them, persistently looking for the beauty of
the divine values and meanings that are evolving, and absolutely insisting that the Father's hand of
love is guiding and sustaining us through the experiences of life and that the traversal of these
experiences subject to the Father's will, will eventuate in divine perfection while still living in the
flesh.
We must allow faith to grow in us until it becomes perfect, and in the process perfect us. We must
not be satisfied with just being saved. To grow up, we have to mature--become morally and
spiritually perfected. After all, it is the Father's will that this be, and what the Father wills and his
true sons and daughters desire will surely come to pass.
This concludes today's message on understanding meaning of living 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
Living Faith
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
