The Relativity of God Consciousness
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 the relativity of God consciousness.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Relativity of God Consciousness
"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many be perfect, be thus minded." Phillipian, Chapter 3, Verses 14 and 15
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast, we shall explore the relativity of God consciousness. We have signaled at various times that sometimes it is as if the Father is far away. Feeling that the Father is far away is different from being conscious of the Father. We may feel that the Father is far away and yet at the same time be conscious of his presence. But we must acknowledge that at times the consciousness of the Father seems to dim somewhat. What is the explanation for this? How is it that one day we may be extremely conscious of the Father, and the next day that consciousness seems to have vanished like a wisp of smoke? What a difference a day makes.
Now we know that the degree of our spiritual performance in the face of material adversity depends on our God consciousness. And this God consciousness is attained by intelligent prayer and sincere worship, by dedicating our will to doing the Father’’s will. Let us consider this material analogy.
A man begins to climb a mountain. When he starts, the sky is clear, the sun is shining, and there is a nice southerly breeze blowing. He can see the top of the mountain. But as he continues to climb, the weather changes. There is first a thunderstorm that rains upon him and blows away his sunny disposition. But even though it is raining, he still can make out the landmarks of journey. He still can see the top of the mountain.
As he continues he meets with more adverse weather. This time he is hit with a snow storm, a blizzard. He has to hunker down and secure himself on the face of the mountain until it passes. But soon the storm blows over, and even though the mountain is now coated with snow, he can still see the top of the mountain, even though some of the landmarks have been covered by snow. He continues his journey and is soon met with a fog that covers everything. His visibility has been cut way down and he cannot see any farther than his hand in front of his face. All of the landmarks have been obscured and he cannot see the top of the mountain at all.
And now as he ponders his next move, a series of questions arise. How can he now objectively determine the progress that he made before the weather turned foul? Before the weather turned foul, he could look back and see from whence he had come. But now with this series of weather reversals, how can he objectively judge his progress? How can he tell how far he has come and how far he has to go? Before the weather reversals, he had a good idea of how long it would take him to get to the top, but how can he now determine how long it will take him to get there, since the fog covers everything and shows no sign of letting up?
Well he knows that he is still moving up the mountain, because he can feel the work of doing so in his body, particularly in his arms and legs, as they push and pull him. Also his internal sense tells him that he is moving upward rather than down or even sideways. So he knows that as long as he keeps struggling, climbing with his legs and arms, he is making progress up the mountain. But then he wonders how he’’ll know when he arrives at the top of the mountain since he can’’t see?
Again he begins to reason within himself. If it requires effort to climb the mountain, then my arms and legs will feel the strain of pushing and pulling myself up the mountain, and I still have the internal sense of knowing that I am ascending. Therefore when my arms and legs no longer feel the strain of pushing and pulling myself up the mountain, and when my internal sense tells me that I have stopped ascending, and I can stand on top of the mountain, then I will have completed the task of climbing the mountain. And all of this will be confirmed once the fog leaves, which will allow me to see for myself.
And now as we pursue the task of climbing the mountain of God consciousness, and as we confront the barriers to our growth, we also have similar questions. As we noticed in the earlier part of the broadcast, from time to time we have experienced what we perceive is a loss or a dimming of the God consciousness that we had enjoyed prior to the new experience. We had been more or less climbing the mountain of God consciousness without difficulty, and enjoying a refreshing period of communion with the Father, with the physical, intellectual, the moral, and the emotional factors in harmony with the spirit. And we could clearly see the top of the mountain, and could calculate how long it would take to get to the top of the mountain of God consciousness, but now we have run into barriers of thunderstorms, snow storms, and smothering fog.
The first barrier of doubt that raised its head had been a thunderstorm of an adverse emotional response that had raged in response to a temporary setback in their personal life, but still left the vision of the top of the mountain of God consciousness intact. There had been a brief period when this emotional thunderstorm had clouded the God consciousness but it had returned after the brief storm had subsided. They could still see the top of the mountain of God consciousness, and could still figure out how long it was going to take us to get to the top.
But then they ran into the second barrier of doubt, the snowstorm of physical disability. This barrier lasted longer than the emotional thunderstorm. This storm threw them for a loop and threatened to set them back, but ultimately forced them to readjust their concept of their relationship with the Father. But as soon as they made the physical adjustment, the snowstorm of physical disability relented and once more they could make out the top of the mountain of God consciousness, even though some of the landmarks were obscured. The doubt receded.
Then they ran into the final barrier: the fog of doubt. This barrier was not related to emotional cyclones or physical disabilities; rather the fog of doubt made them question the whole experience of climbing the mountain of God consciousness. This fog enveloped their whole being, encircled their souls, and made them question whether or not they were wasting time on such an adventure. There was no intellectual or emotional way out of this particular problem, not even moral means could get them through this particular fog of doubt. And they could not see the top of the mountain of God consciousness and began to doubt whether they had ever experienced God consciousness. They were tempted to doubt the genuineness of previous spiritual experiences. All bets were off. They could not count on anything; even their internal sense of ascent was clouded with this fog of doubt.
And as they pondered their predicament, something deep in side of them begin to emerge, a force strong enough to vanish all doubt. This force reinforced their legs of prayer and their arms of worship, propelling them up the mountain of God consciousness through the fog of doubt. This force was their reborn faith that began to instruct them as well. Do not doubt the goodness of God, it patiently instructed them. You can climb this mountain of God consciousness if only you will keep the faith. Do not confuse the progressive adventures that reveal greater God consciousness with the achieved God consciousness you have previously enjoyed. It is still there.
Each new progressive adventure requires a greater consciousness of God than previously. We will know when we have reached supreme consciousness because we will find rest for our souls. The thunderstorms of emotion, the snowstorms of physical disability, and the fog of doubt will be blown away. Moreover, nothing will be able to cloud our consciousness of God because we will have conquered all intervening barriers that stood in the way of and that stimulated the supreme reach for God consciousness. In essence, we will have obeyed that merciful command to be perfect even as the heavenly Father is perfect. And we will have accomplished all of this by intelligent prayer and sincere worship, the manifestation of our faith and our unswerving dedication to doing the Father’’s will.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the relativity of God consciousness. 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 Relativity of God Consciousness
