The Relationship Between Faith and Worship
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 relationship between faith and worship.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Relationship Between Faith and Worship
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrew,
Chapter 11, Verse 1.
Brothers and sisters, there exists a distinct relationship between faith and worship. Faith is the
assurance of the soul. It is a quality of reality that compensates for incomplete growth. During the
lower stages of spiritual development, faith may be, and often is, associated with error. Faith acquires
its truest expression when it is associated with spiritual meanings and values. When faith becomes
associated with material facts, it loses its value of assurance. That is because faith is a spiritual quality
and its assurance is of a spiritual nature. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen." More accurately faith is the substance of spiritual values, the evidence of spiritual
meanings not seen.
To see why this is true, let's assume that the things that are hoped for are material. The substance of
material things is material, i.e., atoms and subatomic particles. The evidence of material things not
seen is energy, and they are related by the relationship E = MC2, where E stands for energy and MC2
stands for mass (material) times the speed of light squared.
Energy is energy and spirit is spirit. And while it is true that the two are coordinated by mind, they
are not the same. In the spiritual world, things come into being by desire, hope, and faith. So that the
quality, faith deals with the spiritual values that are potential, that is those values that are hoped for,
and become actual by the desire for them. Since faith stands for all those values that are not seen, faith
then becomes the evidence of those spiritual meanings that have not achieved conscious recognition.
Values are experienced in the soul-the substance of things hoped for--but the meaning of the value
is experienced in the consciousness of the mind--the evidence of things not seen. Faith then stands
for all that is knowable, but unknown.
While faith is the assurance of the soul, worship is the essence of the life of the soul. It is the intrinsic
urge of the soul that seeks to identify with the source of all life, even God the Father. Worship is the
unceasing urge of the soul to attain oneness with the Father. During worship the soul seeks to
conform to the configuration of the Father's image. It is during worship that the soul comes to realize
its true destiny. It realizes that it will sometime escape the fetters of incompleteness. Worship
destroys the sense of isolation and imparts a consciousness of fraternal cohesiveness.
Worship destroys the time strain on personality, the strain of striving for perfection. As the soul
seeks to overcome obstacle after obstacle that stands in its struggle to acquire the perfection of the
heavenly Father, it must grapple with the problem of evil. It must deal with the unsettling effect of
receiving evil (being the victim of evil as well as a cause of it). When evil is received, it creates a
negative emotional reaction in the mind and when responded to in kind causes it to penetrate the soul
causing the shadow of darkness that effectively blocks out the divine light. This creates the condition
of unhappiness.
But when good is returned for evil, the emotional reaction is temporary, and the effects do not
penetrate the soul. The soul retains its harmonious state. In the former state, forgiveness must be
sought after repentance to rid the mind and soul of disharmony, while in the latter state, the soul
enjoys the indescribable joy of goodness. Worship is essential to rid the mind and soul of the
inability to respond to evil with good.
Faith is essential during those times when spiritual activities, that is conscious spiritual activities are
interrupted. Always must the dual aspect of reality be manifested in the material state. When spiritual
activities are interrupted, it is because a certain material counterpart of the spiritual problem that the
soul is trying to solve must intervene in order to provide the experience from which the truth can be
extracted, the very truth that the soul needs to solve the problem that it is grappling with. And also
is the converse true. A soul that is constantly involved in material activities is in grave danger of
extinction. Therefore does mercy apply those spiritual interruptions from time to time to allow the
soul to taste the goodness of truth. No matter which case applies, faith is required to stabilize the soul
during these periods of trial and testing. Faith is also required to stabilize the soul during the long
period of worship required to achieve perfection of completeness.
This concludes today's message on understanding the relationship between faith and worship. 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.
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By Dr. James Perry
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The Relationship Between Faith and Worship
