Often breathe this prayer: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." Ps. 19:14. Add these words to the evening and morning repetition of affirmations and denials given in the previous lessons.
That prayer may be natural let it be free from ritualistic forms. Constancy in prayer precludes the necessity of certain external attitudes, such as kneeling, and reveals that a life filled with God-desires and God-works is more acceptable to Deity than much prostration and the recitation of many formal orisons.
"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy [able] to escape all these things that shall come to pass [every calamity, disaster, disease, and death], and to stand before the Son of man" [the realization of your own sublime Divinity]. Luke 21:36.
LESSON IV. FAITH.
ONCE when the disciples of Jesus Christ were unsuccessful in healing a case that was brought to them they asked the Master what was the reason of their failure. His answer was brief, but in it lies the clue to all inability to solve the problems of life when one knows the great principles of Being, and ought to understand their application. "Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Matt. 17 :20.
What is the unbelief that seems to prevent the disciples of Truth from accomplishing the works? It is unbelief in one's self, in the divine power to work through one, in the presence and power of Good, of Health, and Life, and Love. It is belief in the opposites of God, in disease, death, failure, and evil generally.
The young student beginning to learn the principles of the science of God is like one who takes up the study of mathematics or music. He believes heartily in the cause which he has espoused and applies himself with assiduity to understanding and remembering its rules, but he does not expect to do well, or to be a master in his science, but by determined, faithful practice.
Nothing is promised to half-hearted service, or to a faith that is divided between Good and evil, or between Mind and matter. "He that doubteth is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." Jas. 1 :6, 7 (Revised Version).
The faith that wins is that which is placed wholly in God, Spirit, Mind, as the only real substance and power. In the proportion that the student turns from believing in the reality of evil, disease, pain, and sorrow, and from believing in the power of sin, death, and materiality, he will be able to prove the healing, freeing efficacy of divine Mind.
Whoever begins to work out life's problems by divine rule is a pioneer in his own mental realm, and indeed, at the present stage of human unfoldment, he is a pioneer in the race-mind, and will need to advance with the same bravery and fidelity that distinguished those men and women who have been the first settlers and reclaimers of unknown lands in the physical sphere. The race-thoughts concerning the reality of evil are like the rocks and wild growth upon uncultivated ground the unbelieving, bigoted, malicious resistance of ignorance like the heathen Amorites and Hittites who were in possession of the fair land that was to be developed by the race obedient to God.
Steadfastness to Principle, especially in the face of the oppositions of sense and material belief, will meet the false suppositions of the race-mind, as the persistent shining of the sun upon a block of ice at last overcomes its coldness and hardness.
All your faith must be placed in God, and God alone. It will not do to have faith in the power of Good and, at the same time, believe there is some power in evil. It will not do to look to the word of God for our healing and at the same time lean upon some material aid. Continually the word of the Lord is coming to us, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve" that is, what ye will acknowledge as the power, Good or evil, God or devil, Mind or matter, and continually we choose.
"Ye cannot serve two masters." Ye cannot serve both God and mammon. So, taking the uncompromising stand that God the Spirit is all-sufficient, the one healer, the one support and supply, the one defender and deliverer, you establish your faith, and then, no matter what comes to you, you are carried through it all-victorious.
True faith is a firm, persistent, determined belief in Almighty Good changeless, deathless, substantial Spirit as the All in All. Faith is the substance of everything that you desire. Out of your own believing is formed, that is, brought into manifestation, that which you are wishing to have. Jesus understood this law of mind, so all his teachings were to have faith, or, as he often expressed it, to believe. "Have faith in God" he said. The better translation is "Have the faith of God" Mark 11:22 (see the margin).
"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea ; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Mark 11:23.
"All things are possible to him that believeth." And what is this believing? Is it believing in the historical character, Jesus of Nazareth? Is it believing in a creed ? No. It is believing in your own divinity, even as Jesus believed in his. It is believing in your own words it is believing in God in you, just as Jesus believed in the Father, our God, in him.
He who would see the mountains move at his word, who would see loaves and fishes increase, and waters firm under his feet, and winds obey him, diseases fly away, sins dissolve, death succumb to his word, must not have one doubt in his heart of his divine power, must see himself one with God, so that when he speaks he sees that it is God speaking. Then indeed shall he believe that those things that he saith shall come to pass, because he lets God speak the word in him he does not look at the personality as himself and true indeed is it of him that he shall have whatsoever he saith.
What is God's faith? It is faith in Himself, because He knows there is none else in whom to have faith. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in God in you. God is your own true Self. God, the Son, and God, the Father, are one and the same. God in you is the only power and presence. God in all is the Reality of all. God is the only one in your neighbor. God is the only one you trust.
There are times in the on-going of the spiritual student when he is brought face to face with hard problems and strange situations. Then it may be that evil seems more real to you than usual, that here is a place where the Word does not seem to act with its customary effect, and doubts begin to creep in, and you feel that you are being forsaken. Then is the time when you show your steadfastness, then you prove yourself to yourself, then, just at such times, you show your faith in Good as the only real presence and divine Mind as the all-sufficient power. Such times in the Truthseeker's experience have been described as a clashing of Truth and error, the error trying to hold its ground while the Truth steadily and firmly establishes itself. It is the warring of the flesh against the Spirit, and the Spirit overcoming. The Truth does not fight, neither does the Spirit, but it is error apparently struggling as though it feels that its time is short, and the student must keep still and see the bloodless, silent, sure victory of the Good, of Health, of Life, of Truth.
It has always been in the history of the world that whenever a great truth has been given to it, the world fights it; but those who do not let themselves be influenced by fear or doubt, but have the courage of their convictions and stand by their principles, no matter who wars against them, finally find themselves upon the victorious side.
Even in what are called material truths