The Truth of the Father's Love-Two
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 truth of the Father’’s love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Truth of the Father’’s Love
"Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘‘if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.’’" John, Chapter 14, Verse 23
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast we share some further insight into the truth of the Father’’s love. There are five aspects of truth of the Father’’s love that we wish to share to day. They are as follows: (1) the presence of the Father along with His Son, Jesus; (2) sonship with the Father--"Behold what manner of love that Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God””; (3) the assurance of the Father; (4) the security of the Father; and (5) the peace of the Father.
Jesus rightly said that no one comes to the Father except through him. (1) He is the Father’’s presence made aware to us. This awareness is a spiritual awareness and not material. Thus to be aware of the presence of the Father is to be aware of His Son. The Father is present in the Son. And even though the Father is present in the Son, this does not mean that He is not present. Indeed it is His presence in the Son that allows us to recognize Him. The Son is the personal revelation of the Father, so when we want to pursue our personal relationship with Him, we do so through His Son.
While the full explanation has been explored in other broadcasts, suffice it to say that the Son, being the personal revelation of the Father, becomes necessary as the technique of the Father’’s escape from the all-encompassing prison of infinity, eternity, and absoluteness. This arrangement allows Him to have personal relationships with all of His children, high and low. But always remember that the Father is still present. There could be no Son without the Father.
Grasping the Father’’s presence within our souls involves faith- acknowledgment that He is present. This acknowledgment forthwith makes this an actual spiritual reality that we can discern and establishes the basis for (2) sonship with this same Father.
It is the nature of all sons high and low to reveal the Father’’s moral and spiritual character through his Son, Jesus. The reason we reveal the Father through His Son, Jesus, is because Jesus is the personal revelation of the Father to us. Even though we are sons, we would not have any basis for the revelation of His moral and spiritual character were it not for the revelation of that character through His Son, Jesus. This was shown by the performance of His children prior to Jesus’’ coming. They were aware of the Father’’s presence but did not know his moral and spiritual character.
Not knowing his moral and spiritual character, they bestowed their own imperfect moral and spiritual characters on Him and proceeded to act on the basis of a Father made in man’’s image, rather than man being made in the Father’’s image. It is the majestic spirit of the divine Son, Jesus, the Spirit of Truth, that surrounds our souls and literally configures our souls into the moral and spiritual character of the Father. When we accept our sonship with the Father, we begin to show forth his moral and spiritual character. And this revelation of the Father through His Son, Jesus, is shown in the display of the fruits of the spirit. And the fruits of the spirit are love, faith, goodness, gentleness, temperance, meekness, long suffering, peace and joy. This is the technique of the Father for revealing Himself through all of his children.
Being sons and daughters of the heavenly Father provides us with privileges as well as responsibilities. It is a serious but joyful responsibility to enjoy the honor of revealing the Father through His Son, Jesus. It is a liberating experience that has the effect of making us eternal like the Father and provides the technique whereby the Father further extends his merciful reign of love. But if these spiritual fruits don’’t flow through our souls, then we have not spiritually accepted our sonship of the heavenly Father.
When the spiritual fruits flow intermittently, that means that we are still in the process of evaluating whether to become true sons and daughters of the Father. The intention of this intermittent state is that since we have not fully spiritually accepted being sons and daughters of the heavenly Father and eternal salvation, the door is still open in our souls and minds to reject it altogether. And this is true because the very fact of not fully committing ourselves means that we are not sure as of yet, whether we want to be an eternal channel of the revelation of the Father’’s moral and spiritual character through His Son, Jesus.
When a baby is born into the world, even though the baby is not mature, we recognize right away that he is human. So it is when and if we are born of the spirit--in effect making an eternal declaration to forever abide by the Father’’s will--we show forth the spiritual characteristics a moral and spiritual character. This signals that we are sons and daughters of the heavenly Father through His son Jesus. "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth" and accepts true salvation.
That we are sons and daughters of the Father is clear to all spiritual beings, just as the fact that a baby is human is clear to all other humans. We should not confuse the perfection of the quality of the spiritual fruits that flow through us with the intermittent flow of the fruits of the spirit just as we must distinguish the performance of a human baby from the performance of an older child or an adult. What is perfected is the quality of the fruits of the spirit that flow through us, not the flow itself. As we approach divine perfection (of our souls), the quality of the fruits of the spirit deepen. In the true son or daughter, there is never any interruption of this flow.
(3) The assurance that we have accepted our status of being sons and daughters of the Father which he has so lovingly and mercifully offered us is the continuous flow of spiritual fruits through our souls to our brothers and sisters. Our assurance that we are indeed sons and daughters of the Father, and thus entitled to all the privileges and responsibilities, is based on the Father’’s goodness. We cannot conceive of our heavenly Father withholding His favor and acceptance. The spirit within us prevents that attitude from arising within our souls. We may be His immature children, but we are still His children. Having created us, His absolute moral character prevents any such negative attitudes towards us, His sons and daughters. We can judge whether this is true by the spiritual fruits that are produced when we accept our spiritual birthright. "By their fruit shall you know them." The Spirit of Truth bears witness to our spirit that we are the sons and daughters of God.
““And what father among you who is a worthy and kindhearted father would keep his sons and daughters in anxiety or suspense regarding their status in the family or their place of security in the affections of his father's heart? Do earth fathers take pleasure in torturing their children with uncertainty about their place of abiding love in their human hearts? No ! And neither does our Father in heaven leave His faith children of the spirit in doubtful uncertainty as to their position in the kingdom. If we receive God as our Father, then indeed and in truth are we the sons and daughters of God. And if we are sons and daughters, then are we secure in the position and standing of all that concerns eternal and divine sonship. If you believe the words of Jesus, you thereby believe in the Father who sent him, and by thus believing in the Father, we make our status in heavenly citizenship sure. If you do the will of the Father in heaven, you shall never fail in the attainment of the eternal life of progress in the divine kingdom."
(4) The security of our souls is based upon the presence of the Father in our minds and souls. His presence guarantees that nothing can hurt us spiritually, no matter what we experience in this life. The Father’’s presence is the power, will, love, mercy, and security that absolutely guarantees our safety as we move through this life. We should never confuse anxiety, suffering, foreboding, and the fear associated with some distressful experience that we are about to enter or are actually traversing, nor the confusional conflicts that are often associated with difficult new and painful experiences, with His ever-present presence. Rather should we maintain the attitude that despite this emotional reaction, the Father is present. And not only is He present, but he is going through each experience with us, as us.
We should faith-realize that the Father is providing us with everything that we need to successfully meet our challenges. We should rest with confidence knowing that no experience is too difficult for us to reveal His loving and merciful character. In fact, the more difficult the experience, the greater the quality of the fruits of the spirit that flow in and through us.
(5) The peace that we enjoy is the wholehearted acceptance of the preceding factors of the truth of the Father’’s love. Consider this: "Salvation is by the regeneration of the spirit and not by the self-righteous deeds of the flesh. You are justified by faith and fellowshipped by grace, not by fear and the self-denial of the flesh, albeit the Father's children who have been born of the spirit are ever and always masters of the self and all that pertains to the desires of the flesh. When you know that you are saved by faith, you have real peace with God." This peace runs so deep into our souls and infiltrates it so thoroughly that not even the cruelest or hardest experience can uproot it. This peace was demonstrated by Jesus, and it suppresses all soul.
"Happy are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." Jesus' hearers were longing for military deliverance, not for peacemakers. But Jesus' peace is not of the pacific and negative kind. In the face of trials and persecutions, he said, "My peace I leave with you." "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." “This is the peace that prevents ruinous conflicts. Personal peace integrates personality. Social peace prevents fear, greed, and anger. Political peace prevents race antagonisms, national suspicions, and war. Peacemaking is the cure of distrust and suspicion.”
Finally the sons and daughters of the Father enjoy peace because standing in the presence of their all-powerful, loving, and merciful Father, they realize that they are spiritually invincible. They have the full force of His power to conquer any and all things that may interfere with the revelation of His moral and spiritual character through them.
This concludes today's message on understanding the truth of the Father’’s love. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come; Your Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages of Light
By Dr. James Perry
The Truth of the Father's Love-Two
