The Transformation of the Material Mind
Geetings 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 spiritualization of the material mind.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Spiritualization of the Material Mind
Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God." John, Chapter 3, Verse 3.
Small minds focus on the thing itself.
Average minds focus on the thing as a means to an end.
Great minds focus on the end itself.
"As he thinketh in his heart so is he." Proverbs 23.7
Good morning brothers and sisters. Today's broadcast we shall share some insight in to
spiritualization of the material mind. There are three steps in this process, or rather three stages in
this process: The conception of the soul; the birth of the soul, and the growth of the soul. We shall
make use of material examples to help us to understand how this process works and to grasp the
spiritual meanings concealed within them. And then we shall move on to grasp the value that these
meanings convey. Let us begin.
With today's technology, we are able to take a gene from bacteria, and exchange a fragment of it for
different fragments of another gene. We are able to take the gene from a human cell that makes
insulin, and insert that gene into the bacteria and forthwith the bacteria begins to produce human
insulin, and this insulin is indistinguishable from that produced by the human body. Thus we see that
a change in a gene can bring about a new change that was not present before.
The first stage of the spiritualization of the material mind occurs with soul conception. This occurs
when the Father's spirit comes to live in the material mind. After this event, the material mind is
confronted with the necessity of choosing good over evil. This creates the first conflict in the
material mind. Prior to this time, there were no moral conflicts to resolve. And this conflict is always
between the urges of the self, the urges of selfishness, and the urges of the Father's spirit, the urges
of unselfishness. As the material mind resolves these moral conflicts in favor of the Father's spirit
by choosing good over evil, unselfishness over the selfishness, the material mind becomes more
unselfish than selfish. The character of its thoughts changes because the material mind has changed.
It is now something other than it was before the Father's spirit came to live within. At the end of this
stage, the material mind has developed a set of concepts that embraces other human beings but now
in a positive way. He is just a little less material and a little bit more spiritual. Prayer has now moved
away from purely selfish considerations to at least some altruistic considerations for others, though
still material in their expressions. Thus, this stage of the Father's spirit functions in the material mind
as a mind changer.
For a long time, when ships located on the east coast wanted to travel to the west coast, they had to
sail around the tip of South America to get to the western side of the country. This was a trip that was
long and fraught with much danger. For many years, shippers had dreamed of a way of shortening
this dangerous journey because many ships were lost. Finally someone conceived of the idea of
cutting a canal across that narrow junction between the two continents, the area called Panama.
Eventually the canal was completed. Pacific Ocean was higher than the Atlantic Ocean and some
mechanism has to be developed whereby the ships could be elevated to the level of the Pacific
Ocean. This was done by ingenious system of canals and locks. The ship would sail into the first
lock, and the lock would be filled with additional water causing the ship to move higher. And
through a series of locks as the ship traversed the canal, it eventually reached the level of the Pacific
Ocean and sailed into the ocean without incident. It was a marvelous feat of human engineering.
Likewise, the second stage of the spiritualization of the material mind occurs after the soul has
amassed a significant quantity of unselfish positive concepts. The soul is born again. It is now ready
to begin the process of having these thoughts elevated towards divine levels. This elevation is
characterized by the soul becoming increasingly filled with divine values and progressive spiritual
meanings of these values. Though the material mind is still confronted with moral choices, it now
enters another phase of growth. It is presented with spiritual choices. As he makes these spiritual
choices, the mind is elevated towards divine levels.
The prayer life during this period shifts from material concepts to spiritual concepts, where the
petitions are not only unselfish but spiritual as well. Thanksgiving looms large in this phase of
spiritual growth. The fruits of the spirit increasingly burn brighter and brighter in the life of the
mortal. During this stage of the growth of the soul, subsequent to being born again, the Father's spirit
functions as an elevator of thoughts. The thoughts are elevated to divine levels where they become
indistinguishable from the Father's thoughts. The soul is now ready to enter the final stage of growth
in the flesh.
How does a ship start out from one point on the globe and sail to distant parts of the globe so
unerringly? Basically a ship has a navigational device, which allows the ship to maintain the course
that is set. Using certain physical laws that have been discovered, it is able to direct the ship exactly
where the navigator directs. It remains constant in its direction. It can depart from New York and
travel to Australia without the slightest chance of getting lost as long as its navigational device is
working.
Likewise and after the spiritualizing mind has had all of its thoughts elevated to the divine level, it
now enters the final stage of its development in the flesh. During this period of growth, thoughts
have been improved, modified, adjusted, coordinated and packaged. They are now ready for the
stamp of the Spirit of Truth which maintains their integrity and prevents them from losing quality.
The Spirit of Truth keeps the mind stayed upon the Father where it experiences that peace that passes
all understanding. During the final stage of soul growth, the Father's spirit functions as a thought
maintainer, maintaining and spiritualizing those thoughts that have reached divine levels. It ensures
that the soul and the spiritualized mind stay focused on the Father. This is the stage of divine oneness
that Jesus encourages: to be one with Him, as He is one with the Father. It is during this stage that
the soul always maintains, not my will, but your will be done.
During this final stage of the soul's growth, prayer moves from the thanksgiving phase to pure
worship. Here the soul maintains its divine focus by worshiping the Father. Here are the perfection
patterns reflected from the Father onto the soul of the mortal. Prayer has now reached supreme levels
and takes on the attitudes of petitioning the Father for perfection even as He is perfect. Thus we see
that the mind that is focused on things perceives the needs; the mind that is focused on things as a
means to an end perceives the meaning, while the mind that focuses on the end discovers the value.
And it all occurs as a result of the free will thinking and choosing of the mortal mind, "for as he
thinketh in his heart so is he."
This concludes today's message on the spiritualization of the material mind. 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 Transformation of the Material Mind
