Beyond Dispute

Think about this:
Let it take root,
That what Jesus lived
And taught to show us --
Things most glorious --
Apply specifically to you.
For it's a sin to doubt
That what the Son of God
Came to tell us is true,
And it deprives us of the good
We otherwise might have.
"Son, thou art ever with me",
(Words so very reassuring)
"And all that I have is thine"*
Ought to make you rejoice.
These wondrous words,
Among so many others,
Are meant just for you.
For you are God's, His very own,
And all the good to be found
Within the Father's house,
Right now belongs to YOU!


(Luke 15:31)

Our will -- or God's will?

In the Old Testament,
Daniel says confidently,
that God's will prevails;
that nothing prevents Him
having what He wants done, done.
These words speak to me;
I for sure am one
so glad that this is so.
Many the times I think
I've made up my mind
to not do what I should,
depriving some of mankind
of some needed good
(at least a bit),
and lo and behold, I get
completely turned around,
and end up doing it!
Thinking I was doing right,
He intervened and put
that notion to flight.
Not being willful,
I just wasn't skillful
in seeing the whole picture.
When we pray "Thy will be done",
and mean what we say,
it's good to know that
God always gets His way.
His will does trump ours,
and aren't we glad it does --
our Father who knows best,
our Father so glorious.

Our will -- or God's will?
That is the question before us.

Where our safety lies

People around the world are no doubt aware of the theater rampage that took place in my country, in Colorado.  And thinking about the issue of staying safe in today's potentially dangerous environment, I'd like to share something that helps me feel safe and protected when I'm out and about.

The Psalmist sang, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations."  (Ps. 90:1)  It is for this reason that in truth we are eternally exempt from harm of any kind.  I like to think about this: we are never actually apart from our divine source, God -- we never have been -- not even for a moment.  As His offspring, dwelling in Him, we are preserved by His unerring laws of order, safety, and exemption from violent circumstances.  Understanding that this is so, and claiming this divine protection for ourselves and our loved ones, and for other people as well, we can feel assured of being safe -- wherever we happen to be.

This is such a potent help in my everyday life, and I hope it brings comfort and a sense of well-being to you.

Jesus came

Jesus came
and the world could
never be the same.
How could it be,
with the Name above
every other Name
in its very midst,
the Son of God who
showed humanity what
a loving Father it has,
One who does wonders
for those who trust and obey.
And when Jesus comes
to one -- anyone -- in
the world today,
comes to one through
Christ's words sublime,
it is a life-changing time.
This I write,
not from hearing others say,
but because my Saviour came to me.
Reconcile yourself to what
Jesus said and taught,
and you will see
your Saviour come to you.

God be thanked that Jesus came!

Oh the freedom Christ brings us!

It has happened time and time again,

When desire to do what

our Father knows is best

Becomes paramount to us,

Things change for the good.

We're removed from places

Where we do not need to be,

And put in those places

Where we can better bless.

I do confess,

When Christ has been in charge

Of conditions need adjusting,

I have become oh so free.


"If the Son therefore shall make you free,
ye shall be free indeed."
(John 8:36)

Help right at hand

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble," the Bible teaches.  For centuries people have found comfort in this promise of God's loving cae and have turned to Him in times of danger and mental turmoil.  Today, there are those who rely solely on God for help in sickness -- and they find healing.

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes:  "To ignore God as of little use in sickness is a mistake.  Instead of thrusting Him aside in times of bodily trouble, and waiting for the hour of strength in which to acknowledge Him, we should learn that He can do all things for us in sickness as in health."  Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 166

I personally have experienced God's healing help in various physical difficulties, not to mention overcoming the effects of injuries from accidents -- some that were amazingly quick.  And more than once, what looked like an oncoming physical problem was completely averted through prayerful reliance on God's love and care.

Prayer in the highest sense is the discernment through spiritual understanding, of God's perfect universe and man.  Despite appearances, God's creation is ideal, expressing His nature.  Disease and suffering are inherent in a misconception, or false sense, of what God has created.

Acknowledging through prayer the truth of our unbreakable relationship to God, the one infinite Mind, brings out thought more into line with spiritual perfection.  Then harmony replaces discord both mentally and outwardly.

Many people have been taught to pray for God's help in difficulties, but few rely on Him to heal disease.  Christ Jesus, our Lord and Master, turning contantly to God, healed pain, disease, deformity, and restored life.  Jesus didn't turn to his Father and our Father in mere optimism, just hoping He would hear; he knew He would.  The Saviour's understanding of man's unit with the creator gave him absolute assurance that He answers every call.  This mighty exponent of God's omnipotence demonstrated beyond doubt, for all people and for all time, the divine help that is always at hand.

Christian Science, the Science of Christ, reveals through healing that man is actually spiritual, not material, not at the mercy of fear or pain.  He can never, for even an instant, be deprived of His Father's ever-present care.  When such truths are brought to bear on a particular trouble through the enlightened prayer Christ Jesus taught and practiced -- and even if the physical need seems pressing -- the result can be a swift and sure restoration of harmony.

Cultivating Closeness to God

Would you like to feel closer to your heavenly Father?  Becoming more conscious of God is an inexhaustible, eternally unfolding action.  But three concrete steps are illustrated for us in the life of our Master, Christ Jesus.

First, voluntary, fervent aloneness with God, divine Spirit. A keener awareness of His ever-presence has to be patiently cultivated, even as effort has to be expended to deepen a human relationship.  Only in woleheartedly reaching out to divine Mind can we hear what God is revealing about His infinitely loving and powerful nature.  From this we gain a priceless awareness of our unity with divine Principle, Love.

Once we've complied with the command in Psalms, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10", then what?  Again, observing our Master's example and how he was always glorifying his Father, we naturally think of using our solitude to the same holy end. The Scriptures abound with admonitions to give God the glory He is due, and as we advance spiritually, we find that praising Him is something we cannot do enough.

Christian Science shows that the ability to feel God's presence in our daily lives is unseparably interwoven with sanctification of thought.  Reflecting on the way Jesus conducted his life shows that purity was a "given" for him.  We can't afford to linger in the state of thought that acknowledges God but fails to progress in the demonstration of divine power over sin and evil.  Purification is a demand for anyone who would prove man's true spiritual sonship.  As Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart:  for they shall see God."  (Matthew 5:8) Since purity is the natural spiritual state and brithright of you, me, and all God's children, it can progressively predominate in our thoughts and our daily lives.

"In divine Science, the material man is shut out from the presence of God," states Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.  "The five corporeal senses cannot take cognizance of Spirit.  They cannot come into His presence, and must dwell in dreamland, until mortals arrive at the understanding that material life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illusion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare of extermination."  (page 543)

Allowing ourselves to be acted on by the five material senses is detrimental to our spiritual well-being.  It is a little like our putting an opaque covering in front of a window through which sunlight has been streaming.  We don't cause the sun to be any less near to us, nor do we stop it from shining.  But we do cut ourselves off temporarily from its invigorating warmth.

The influence of the carnal mind may seem to darken our thought, either through the more obvious channels of sin, sickness, anxiety, limitation, or by means of subtler suggestions such a preoccupation with past good, a surfeit of material possessions, or perhaps a too intense friendship.  Such distractions keep us from praising God, the sole source of all that makes life free, full, and worthwhile.  Nothing can really compete with God; our heavenly Father must be first in our affections.

One marvels at the fruitful relationship Jesus enjoyed with God, which resulted not only in unequaled peace and dominion for himself, but in wonderful "signs following" of physical, mental, and moral regenration for others.  As Nicodemus, "a ruler of the Jews," succinctly put it in a converation with the great Teacher:  "No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."  (See Mark 16: 17-20)

Communing with our loving Father, reverently praising Him, living as much as we can in Christly purity, will not only do wonders in our lives; it is the sure way to cultivate closeness to God.

God, Not Drugs

Where is she going with this, you may want to ask?  Just this.  The Bible states, "I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds saith the Lord".  And He does.  And the drugs I'm referring to are those used to treat bodily ills.  But is not God equal to the healing of our bodies?

You get a resounding "yes" from me, not because I've heard other people tell me so, nor my mere hope that God heals us, but after years of personal experience being the beneficiary of His superior healing power.

It is due to the teachings of Christian Science that this has occurred.  I have learned to seek God's help in sickness, not as a hit-or-miss proposition, but in confident expectation of healing.  Equipped with what this religion reveals of  God's eternal laws, it is a fact that we can turn to Him constantly and never exhaust His omnipotent care.

The teachings of Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, prove false the notion of an intermittently appearing, for the most part, inaccessible, Supreme Being.  She writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 596:  "Paganism and agnosticism may define Deity as "the great unknowable;' but Christian Science brings God much nearer to man, and makes Him better known as the All-in-all, forever near."

Since God is infinite good, this means that good is infinitely present and includes all that is grand, beautiful, permanent, and true.  The very allness of God assures the presence of the divine fact, regarding every situation, no matter what the material senses claim.  God is ever available to us, and we perceive Him through spiritual understanding.  The majesty and power of the Divine Being can never be relegated to a mere "there" and "was."  His presence must be eternally expressed in terms of "here," "now," "is."  The recognition and acknowledgement of this truth bring to us unimagined peace and health, whever we are.

Admitting to oneself that God is an ever-present, loving Father whose help is always available is a start.  But more than intellectual acceptance of this fact is called for.  God's healing presence needs to be felt, obviously.  Those with testimonies of healing published in the chapter of the book mentioned above entitled "Fruitage" went that indispensable further step.  Most took up Mrs. Eddy's book in hopes of finding relief from suffering and despair.  But they found much more than this.  They experienced -- to a greater or lesser degree -- that blessed state so essential to divine healing, which Paul describes as absence from the body and presence with the Lord.

One man badly sprained his ankle, and as he tell is:  "I took my copy of Science and Health and began reading.  Very soon I became so absorbed in the book that I forgot all about my ankle; it went entirely out of my thought, for I had a glimpse of all God's creation as spiritual, and for the time being lost sight of my material selfhood.  After two hours I laid the book down and walked into another room.  When next I thought of my ankle, I found it was not hurting me...it was perfectly well."  This is on page 603.

What this man experienced from his reliance upon God for healing, and not drugs, you too can experience.