The Push Back Phenomenon
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 spiritual meaning of the push back phenomenon.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message
The Push Back Phenomenon
"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." John, Chapter 16, Verse 24
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast we will discuss what we have labeled the push back phenomenon. In this discussion, we shall take a faith look at what happens when we seek to know the Father’’s will. "Ask and ye shall receive." Most of the time when we seek to know the Father’’s will, we are in fact seeking guidance, direction, and wisdom. We are in fact seeking an answer to a moral/spiritual problem. We must remember that in seeking to know the Father’’s will, the Father always reveals his nature. With this revelation of the Father’’s nature which is the revelation of divine values of truth, beauty, and goodness, there occurs a more subtle phenomenon. To help us grasp this subtlety, we shall give a material analogy. In this analogy, we shall resort to the laws of physics which shall help us to anticipate the grasp of the spiritual law involved in seeking to know the Father’’s will.
It is a well-known fact of those who have even a rudimentary knowledge of physics that for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. A good example of this is a rocket ship propelling through space. The rocket moves through space because of this law. The blast of force coming out of the back of the rocket creates an opposite force that pushes the rocket forward. If you are standing or sitting, an opposite and equal force is pushing up against you. If this were not case, you would sink down until you encountered an equal and opposite force to counteract the downward force.
There is also the law of accumulation. If you take an empty bucket for and allow drops of water to enter, eventually the bucket will fill up. This phenomenon is also seen when there is a leaky faucet. This leaky faucet can add hundreds of dollars to your water bill. Even though the accumulation may appear to be insignificant, time reveals that it is considerable.
Now we are ready to consider the push back phenomenon of the spiritual act of seeking to know the Father’’s will. When we seek to know the Father’’s will in a given crisis or situation, it often appears that no change takes place. But spiritual law states that for every spiritual action there is an equal and opposite spiritual reaction. So when we seek to know the Father’’s will, since there is a reaction, we must consider what kind of reaction there is. We are dealing with spiritual values, and we are seeking spiritual values. The situation that we are in requires spiritual values for its spiritual solution.
Now that we are clear as to what sort of request we are making, and what sort of answer we must receive, let’’s look at an example. Suppose you are in a very irritating personal situation, and you are just bursting at the seams to give the irritating person "the what for," but instead of doing that you seek the Father’’s will. You want to know how to react spiritually to this irritating person. You know that you are going to react because your entire being is primed to react, like a loaded gun only waiting for the trigger to be pulled.
We do not passively, slavishly, surrender our will to the Father’’s will. Rather do we actively, positively, and co-operatively choose to follow the Father’’s will when and as such that will consciously differs from the desires and impulses of our natural mortal mind. The Father never dominates our minds against our wills. In the scenario just given, where the human will is poised to act, there are several types of responses available. You can choose to act purely upon your human nature, or you can choose to act on your divine nature. Or you can choose a mixture of both. But how does he distinguish between the impulses and desires of the human nature and the divine nature? The impulses and desires of the human nature are inherent. He knows them.
In the scenario you may be poised to unleash the desires and impulses of your own nature onto the person who has plucked your last nerve but there is an opportunity to choose the Father’’s will instead. The impulses and desires of the divine nature stand in contrast to the impulses and desires of the human nature. The divine nature calls for restraint, for patience, tolerance, sympathy, and empathy. There is an impulse to seek the cause of the objectionable behavior, to find out what the irritating person’’s true motive is. And since this differs from the human nature, choosing this course of action, you have sought the divine will, and the revelation of these divine values have appeared in the mind and soul of the individual in response.
In each encounter with evil, when the Father’’s will is sought, the precise values of truth, beauty, and goodness are brought to the forefront of the mind, and all that is required is for the human will to choose them. What happens when you consciously seek the Father’’s will, and there is no deviation of the impulses and desires of the human nature from those of the divine nature. Well in this case one of two things have happened. Either you have lost capacity to discern the divine will or you have become one with that divine will. Becoming one with the divine will is the result of consistently choosing the divine will over the human will. One of the sure consequences of seeking the Father’’s will is the Father imparting his nature to your nature, transforming the human nature into the divine nature. This is the push back phenomena--when man acts, God reacts. And though the process is slow it is effective, like the continuous drop of water that slowly fills an empty bucket.
Every attempt to seek the divine nature results in the sure phenomenon of the divine nature being imparted to the human nature. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed three times to know the Father’’s will. "Each time he prayed in the garden, his humanity laid a firmer faith-hold upon his divinity; his human will more completely became one with the divine will of his Father." And as we continue to seek the Father’’s will, the push back phenomenon will surely make us one with the divine nature.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the push back phenomenon. 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!
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By Dr. James Perry
The Push Back Phenomenon
