The Patience of 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 patience of faith. And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Patience of Faith
"Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James, Chapter 1, Verses 3 and 4
"Impatience is a spirit poison."
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast, we shall examine the truth about the patience of faith. For the purpose of our discussion, we shall assume that all of us desire to follow the divine plan for our lives. We also assume that as a consequence of this desire we also have faith in the divine plan for our lives. In recognition of this commitment, we should reflect on the role that patience and faith play in this essential plan and on some ways of knowing when we are complying with the patience of faith. To help us grasp the feel for the guidance and direction needed to follow the divine plan and the role of patience and faith in cooperating with it, we offer this material analogy, which is designed to show the order and importance of carrying out spiritual functions, and consequently exercising the patience of faith.
When a house is to be built, first the plans are drawn up for the house, and after these plans are drawn up, a suitable plot of land is selected. The quality of the land must be adequate to support the house. Various contractors and sub-contractors are then selected. The subcontractors have specific functions to complete, and they must be completed in a specific order. First the foundation for the house is laid. This is the structure that will support the house and it must be of adequate quality. After the foundation is laid, then the supporting structures for the wall and the roof are erected. At this point, pipes for water, heating and cooling ducts and toilet operations are installed.
Then comes the electrician who connects the electrical system that will operate the various electrical appliances that are used in the house. When this infrastructure work is completed, the sheet rock, the material that comprises the walls and ceiling, are laid. Then the sheet rock is painted or wall paper is placed upon it, and the ceiling is sprayed and painted. After this is done, the various rooms are furnished such as the living room, the bedroom, the den, the kitchen, and so forth with the appropriate furniture and appliances. Driveways are then paved, and finally the landscaping is done to beautify the dwelling.
Now in analyzing this analogy, we see immediately that there is a certain order in successfully building a house. If this order is not followed, then at best, things will not be coordinated properly, and at worst the whole thing will be a disaster. Each of the subcontractors must begin work at the appropriate time, and the other cannot begin work until the previous one has completed his. We begin to see immediately the need for patience and faith. We must exercise faith and patience in the plan for constructing the house because if we don’’t, we will not follow the plan, even bypassing some of the necessary steps. Almost every day we read in the paper or watch on the news the devastating results when this process is not followed correctly. Now this is the patience of material faith. Now we move to the patience of spiritual faith.
Now in building (growing) the structure of the soul, there is also a (divine) plan that is flawless if followed. This plan is for the creation of our souls, the growth of our souls, and finally the perfection of our souls. Similar to building a material house, there are certain steps of order that must be followed, in reality certain experiences that the soul must traverse. For maximum efficiency, these experiences have a certain order to be pursued, even though the divine plan provides for substitution of experiences should the soul deviate from the original plan. These substitutions in no way shorten the process. In fact it makes the process longer.
All of us growing in time and space must accept delays in our growth process——thus, the need for patience. It requires time to complete experiences. Since the growth of the soul is reflected by acquiring divine values and meanings, it must have experiences that provide for these divine values and meanings. In other words, experiences are designed to make the divine values and meanings comprehensible. Thus the experiences are progressive, the completion of the previous ones being necessary in order to complete the current one.
Our instructors, our angels, are responsible for our training and education. They must select the experiences that contain suitable values and meanings for our stage of growth and development. We understand immediately what happens when we skip or prematurely shorten an experience or when we function in that experience with insincerity, procrastination, or equivocation. It also takes time for our instructors to arrange the circumstances and personnel who will be participants in the experience designed to reveal divine values and meanings for our particular need at this particular time.
By not completing the correct sequences of the program, we find ourselves in an experience that is quite meaningless and valueless to us, and we become confused and disoriented. The values and meanings are there but we have not experientially developed the capacity for comprehending them. We must remember that stagnation is certain death, but that over rapid growth is equally suicidal. When we follow the divine plan, the growth of our souls proceeds in the manner that it should, just at the right speed. We must exercise patience and faith in our journey through life. We must resist the temptations of the ease seeking animal nature. We must have faith in the experiences that we are given, must believe that they contain the necessary divine values and meanings for our growth, and we must be willing to go through the experience with the right spirit.
How do we tell whether an experience has come to an end, or if we are prematurely ending the experience? From the material prospective, there are many ways of knowing when an experience has come to an end. If you are a parent, and your daughter or son, reaches a certain age, and starts a separate life from you, then that aspect of parental experience has come to an end. Contrast that to prematurely booting the child out before the child is mature enough to be on her own. If you have job and you get laid off, that experience has come to an end. Compare that to quitting the job because you don’’t want to comply with its requirements. If you are working in a job, and you have mastered all the elements of the job, and the job holds no further challenges or opportunities for growth, and you move on to a more progressive challenge, then the initial job experience has come to an end. Compare that to moving on because you lack the stamina and fortitude to master the job and you quit the job, looking for something more easier and less stressful.
Finally from the spiritual perspective, the experience has come to an end when all the divine values and meanings that were forthcoming at the beginning of the experience have been exhausted and are no longer forthcoming. Compare that to ending the experience before the divine values and meanings have begun or have run out. These divine values and meanings are usually coincident with the legitimate beginning and ending of material experiences which conceal and ultimately reveal them. And when we comply with these simple rules of living, we identify with the divine plan for our lives and become full partners with the Father in carrying out this growth plan, and the divine values and meaning continue to flow. The soul continues to grow as we continue to fully embrace the patience of faith by serving in the experiences selected for us.
This concludes today's message on understanding the patience of 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.
Your Kingdom Come;Thy Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
The Patience of Faith
