Prayer That Heals

        An acquaintance once told me that she often wondered when she was growing up and plagued with so many physical ailments, "Why doesn't God hear my prayers?"  She was very religious and would plead for deliverance from her suffering.  But healing still seemed elusive.


        God does answer prayer.  But perhaps one's prayers need to embody less fearful pleading and more understanding trust in His care for man.  I Corinthians states:  "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also."  (14:15)


        Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:  "The prayer of faith shall save the sick', says the Scripture. What is this healing prayer?  A mere request that God will heal the sick has no power to gain more of the divine presence than is always at hand."  And she continues further along, referring to God as divine Truth and Love, "It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, -- of man's likeness to God and of man's unity with Truth and Love."  (p. 12)


        Christ Jesus' assurance "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" takes on new meaning for the person who begins the study of Christian Science.  He begins to see that an understanding of God makes free because the fact is that everyone's real selfhood is God's likeness, therefore eternally free, spiritually whole and safe at this moment.  The spiritual laws underlying the Master's words and deeds, their changeless Principle, become clearer to the individual who gains some practical understanding of the Christ-power that Jesus expressed so fully.  And this imbues his prayers for himself and others with power and efficacy.


        The law of God is available for everyone to learn and benefit from.  When the spiritual truth of God and man is specifically brought to bear on a particular trouble through prayer and purified living, healing takes place.  And it doesn't matter whether the difficulty is of long duration or is acute.


        The spiritual concept of man is basic to the teachings of Christian Science, and this is why adherents of this Science find it essential to pray from the Biblical standpoint that man is made in God's own image. (See Genesis 1:27)  Accepting the premise that God is perfect Spirit, as the Bible teaches, they realize that the creations of Spirit can only be spiritual, perfect.  And this is the reality of man's being, despite appearances to the contrary.  It must be, because God couldn't have created man subject to discord and destruction.


        In the measure that we express out true nature as this spiritual likeness, we are following the example of Jesus, who healed sin, disease, and all discord through spiritual means alone.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness give place to light, and sin to reformation.  Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural." (Science and Health, p. xi)


        The last one hundred pages of Science and Health are devoted to healings that resulted from studying this book.  Among those wonderful experiences are healings of cataract, rheumatism, cancer, deafness, kidney disease, stomach trouble, and many other conditions.  Christian Science has lifted countless thousands out of painful and physical problems.


        Jesus promised us, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also."  (John 14:12)  Humbly striving to follow our Master's teachings through an absolute faith in God and a growing discernment of our true nature as His perfect likeness, you and I can begin to fulfill that promise and find healing.

Early Morning Walk

(While out with our Australian Shepherd earlier today, this poem came to thought)








                                                            Cathedral of the Trees






                                                             I've had my share


                                                             Of inspired, holy moments


                                                             Worshiping in a church


                                                              Made of wood and stone.






                                                               But I do believe,


                                                               On a bench on the edge


                                                               Of a still and lovely forest


                                                               I am quite near the divine,


                                                               I sit here uplifted, all alone --


                                                               Except for our dog,


                                                               (And for the One


                                                               Who made all this,


                                                                      Of course.)






                                           "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof;
                                                      the world, and they that
                                                            dwell therein."


                                                              Psalms 24:l
  




  

Watch That Disturbed Thinking!

        Last month I quoted something from Psalms to the effect of keeping our thoughts in God.  "God is not in all his thoughts", to be precise.  (Psalms 10:4) 


        Expanding on this, it is clear to me that God being Love, and love all the time without exception, if we're to have our thoughts in God, they have to be loving also, have to be what Jesus lived and commanded his followers to embody above all else. 


        Having allowed myself to get disturbed over this or that mundane glitch more times than I care to admit ,and paying for it (naturally), I can see that our thinking has to pattern that of Christ, that Christlike love, no matter how trying day-to-day situations may sometimes seem, is paramount.


        Jesus said, "The prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me", that is, nothing of its own unloving, disturbed, resentful, etc. nature.  Opening the door to un-Christlikeness will cause us to undergo experiences we do not have to have.  And hopefully, you and I are learning through hard experience, if need be, to not play host to the prince of this world through disturbed thinking..

A Joy and Privilege

        This is what it is to be blogging for Christ Jesus and Christian Science.  To think that people in parts of the world I may never see are reading and being helped by what I hold dear, well, does it get any better than this?  Not to me, it doesn't.


        And beginning my 9th year blogging, having this way to spread God's Word is a continuing pleasure for me.

VIctory to Christ, Always

        Why do people who should know better disbelieve Christ Jesus' teachings, this among them, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom", and accept the very opposite information the devil puts out?


        For professing Christians to do this seems inexplicable given all the Holy Bible reveals.


        How to account for this?  It can only be that one is allowing himself to be deceived by what Jesus, never one to waste words, disposed of this way:  "he is a liar and the father of it."  This evil is a marauder on your well-being, a beast of prey that wants to kill off the infinite good God has for you, to keep you down and miserable.  It is all lies that have been deceiving you.  And you can stop this detrimental practice right now.  There's nothing to stop anyone from doing this. As the New Testament states:  "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  And he does.


        Understand that you may feel you're in a battle at times.  And so you will be, in a sense.  But you're not alone in this.  Most, if not all, the shining lights that have gone before you who named the Name of Christ, went through the same thing.  But they stayed in the fight, and came out on top.  So will you, if you accept what your Saviour says, and stop believing what the father of lies is telling you is you.


        We set ourselves up for problems, you and I, when worldly considerations are crowding God out of daily life.  As Psalms puts it, "God is not in all his thoughts.  (Ps. 10:4)  Too much attention is being given to the former and not enough to the latter.  But this can be remedied.  All it takes is the desire to do right by God's Word.  Then doing it.  If we do our part, God will do the rest.


        Say to God, I will trust the words You gave your dear Son to give the world.  I will not doubt that what Jesus said is true.  Stay with this until the resistance ceases.  As it always does, and always will. The blessings this brings are beyond most of us to imagine.


        Then we will find ourselves saying, "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."


        


       

Take Jesus At His Word

Christ Jesus was not a man
Who went around saying things
Because He had nothing better to do!
This being so, we need to
Take Him at His every word --
Not do like some people do
Who pick and choose
Among His teachings,
People who only use
What they consider
Easier things to do,
Ignoring all the rest.
Let us believe that all
Our Master said is true.
Are we not admonished
To go forth, teaching others
"To observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you."*
All things.
Let one then acquaint himself
With all our Saviour said,
(If he hasn't already)
Love these sublime sayings,
Trust them, live them.
The heavenly fallout
Will be forever lasting.


*Matthew 28:20)

Ohio Man: Lifted Up From Invalidism

        As a young man in Ohio, this man was seriously ill, too weak to even get out of bed and take a ride in his parents' car.  For many months, he was completely bedridden.


        Then something wonderful happened, he told us, when we met him after we had both moved to New England, and become good friends for many years.  A neighbor mentioned a book to him he might find of interest and help.  This was Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. This book was obtained for him and he began reading and thinking about what it pointed out.  This man's healing was not quick, he told us.  But little by little, his physical symptoms disappeared, and his strength came back. Complete freedom came eventually.  He decided to give the rest of his life to the public practice of Christian Science to help others find the freedom he had found.


        So marked was this man's full recovery from ill  health, his energy and full life was an inspiration to all who knew him.  He later learned to fly, got a small plane, flew all over Massachusetts and even to Ohio to visit to visit relatives.  He learned to ski, got a book from the local library, studied carpentry and added an addition to their house. He hiked miles each day, when he could take time from his healing work.  And one Sunday while at the church we all attended, we were in the parking lot after the service when someone we were talking to said, "Who is that college kid?  Is he a new member?"  Our friend's posture, his springy step, his expression of agelessness and energy was remarkable.  We didn't know his age, and this didn't matter at all. He seemed to transcend aging more than anyone I knew.  His shining example of relying on God for everything he did will continue to uplift all those who knew and loved him.


     All this from Mary Baker Eddy's great discovery of the divine truths that underlay the words and works of Christ Jesus.