The Nature of Spiritual Assignments
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 nature of spiritual assignments.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Nature of Spiritual Assignments
"The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by
Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit." First
Corinthians, Chapter 12, Verse 8.
Brothers and sisters, in today's broadcast we shall take a look at the nature of spiritual assignments.
We know they are not arbitrarily made and that there must be some criteria involved to determine
them. We also know that some kind of training must be had to qualify an individual for a specific
assignment. It is the insight into these factors that we shall try to arrive at, with the goal to use this
enhanced insight to help us cooperate more fully with the plan of righteousness and to add some
conscious joy to the process of this training, along with the realization of the great work of service
that we are involved in.
In the material world we are all given talents. Now it is true that the full realization of these talents
may fail to actualize because of numerous factors, some of which we have control over and some
of which we don't. But it is the purpose of life to actualize these talents, and when they are the
individual becomes an expert in a given discipline. It is natural for this individual to seek the task
to which he has expertise. And this application of expertise to this task contributes enormously to
the gigantic task of us gaining mastery over our material environments.
Now prior to this assignment to his particular area of expertise, he will have spent years developing
his knowledge and skill and will be given progressively more difficult tasks to master until he
realizes and his peers realizes that he has become an expert at that particular endeavor. Such a one
even though he has actually achieved this level of expertise may not realize it until something
happens to trigger the realization. It may be internal or external or it may be a combination of both.
However the stimulus that causes him to realize it, he awakens to the reality that not only is he good
at what he does, but that he enjoys it, and all other things being equal would do this task without
material compensation. Such a one has begun to enjoy the delights of internal satisfactions.
Now there is very good friend of mine who traversed this path, who started out just wanting to and
I suspect insure that her child was being educated properly in the elementary grades. But her interest
soon drew her into the actual education process itself, not as an actual student, but as an
administrator and a helper of students. As time went on and her child left the public school system,
she found that she was deeply enmeshed in the educational process of tutoring, mentoring, providing
scholarships, serving on advisory boards, and doing this with no material compensation but the
flaming desire to serve, to help make a difference in the educational lives of our children. Her peers
have recognized her expertise in these areas and are constantly seeking to have her join these
advisory boards. Now I suspect that she may not quite realize the full trilogy of achievement: the
affinity, the expertise, and the pure joy of serving. But this is just a matter of time. Night can't delay
the sun from eventually coming up. At the proper time, the sunrise appears.
Having given these material examples, we would now like to climb the ladder a bit and take a look
at the spiritual component of material achievement. The preparation for spiritual performance is
similar in that experiences are needed to prepare for the assignment. For example, there is another
very good friend whom I have known since she was a baby. Her mother began early exposing her
to spiritual experiences and modeling this spiritual attitude so that the child grew up with the
influence of knowing God as a Father, and understanding that God is love, and that love was to be
manifested outward without regard to receiving. She learned early that it was better to give than to
receive. She understood that when you give, you receive the full impact of the Father's love because
it emanates from the center of your soul, basking it completely. When you receive this divine
affection, the impact may not be as great. Not only that, but you have to deal with the barrier of
mind, with its distortions and emotional tendencies. And this giving is not without its material
practical aspects. When everybody is giving, then everybody has their needs met. This is not the case
when giving is linked to receiving.
The years passed and eventually this child entered young adulthood and left home for college.
Almost immediately she discovered that she was different. She was special and blessed with the
living active revelation of God in her soul. This revelation to her classmates was made during a
discussion of love. Her classmates could not grasp the reality of divine love as a personal experience,
but she stood her ground, upholding the truth of the Father's love through His Son, Jesus.
The expertise coming out of this next example may not be self evident to the fear-tossed,
heartbroken, harassed mortal who wants to know "what else?" But it is both a fact and a truth that
we learn more from adversity than we do from success. When you suffer at the hand of these
adversities, whether they come from rejection, from a startling truth that may affect your material
status, or from disappointment, these experiences train you in a unique way. They uniquely qualify
us for a special spiritual assignment. Consider this quote by Paul: "Now concerning spiritual gifts,
brethren, I would not have you ignorant. . . .Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit, and
there are differences of administration, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations,
but it is the same God which worketh all in all."
And since God's mercy is always seeking to manifest itself, we become a specialized channel for this
quality of mercy to a certain select group of mortals. And as you might surmise, this group of mortals
have suffered at the hand of a similar adversity, but lack the spiritual insight or spiritual thirst to
drink the divine values and meanings from it. And this is where we come in, with our special
spiritual expertise. We are uniquely qualified to minister these specialized mercies in a way that
someone who has not had this kind of experience cannot do. We have acquired that definitive
expertness in this particular quality of mercy and have acquired that wisdom that makes it wise as
well as right. And in offering this specialized ministry, we realize the trilogy of spiritual experience:
affinity, expertise, and satisfaction. Such a one is well on the way to achieving that merciful
mandate: Be you perfect even as the heavenly Father is perfect.
This concludes today's message on understanding the nature of spiritual assignments. 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 Nature of Spiritual Assignments
