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Christian Healing
Lesson 8
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[Christian Healing]
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Lesson Eight
Faith
1. Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction
of things not seen. . . . By faith we understand that the
worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is
seen hath not been made out of things which appear.
2. In the 11th chapter of Hebrews, we find the achievements
of faith piled mountain high:
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death.
. . . By Faith Noah . . . prepared an ark to the saving of
his house. . . . By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up
Isaac. . . . By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid
three months by his parents. . . . By faith the walls of
Jericho fell down. . . . And what shall I more say? for the
time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson,
Jephthah; of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were
made strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies
of aliens. Women received their dead by a resurrection.
3. The idea that faith is something that has to do only
with one's religious experience is incorrect. Faith is a
faculty of the mind that finds its most perfect expression
in the spiritual nature, but in order to bring out one's
whole character it should be developed in all its phases.
That it is a power is self-evident. People who have faith
in themselves achieve
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far more than those who do not believe in their own
ability. We call this self-faith innate confidence, but
confidence is only a form of faith. Belief is another of
the expressions of faith. Jesus apparently made no
distinction between faith and belief. He said, "Believe ye
that I am able to do this?" and "Whosoever . . . shall not
doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith
cometh to pass; he shall have it." In an analysis of the
constituent parts of man's consciousness, we locate belief
in the intellect, working in the thought realm without
contact with the more interior substance of Spirit, upon
which true faith is founded.
4. In Spirit, faith is related to omnipresent substance or
assurance. Jesus used the same illustration when He
referred to Peter, a type of faith, as a rock upon which He
would found His church. Here is proof that faith is closely
allied to the enduring, firm, unyielding forms of earth
substance. But free faith has power to do, and power to
bring about results in the affairs of those who cultivate
it.
5. Like the other faculties, faith has a center through
which it expresses outwardly its spiritual powers.
Physiologists call this center the pineal gland, and they
locate it in the upper brain. By meditation man lights up
the inner mind, and he receives more than he can put into
words. Only those who have strengthened their interior
faculties can appreciate the wonderful undeveloped
possibilities in man. The physiologist sees the faculties
as brain cells,
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the psychologist views them as thought combinations, but
the spiritual-minded beholds them as pure ideas, unrelated,
free, all-potential.
6. Faith can be extended in consciousness in every
direction. It will accomplish wonderful things if quickened
and allowed free expression in its native realm. When Jesus
said, "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," He referred to faith's working in spiritual
substance. Such results are possible only to the faith that
co-operates with creative law. Where faith is centered in
outer things, the results are not worthy of mention. Men
have named them luck, accident, chance, and the like. Such
charms seem to work for a little while, then suddenly
change, so it is evident that they are not under any
enduring law.
7. When faith is exercised in the intellectual realm, the
results are usually profitable to the man of brains. If he
has faith in his art, or his science, or his philosophy, it
answers his purpose, for a time at least, but it never gets
beyond the traditions and experiences of precedent.
Intellectual people do no miracles through faith, because
they always limit its scope to what the intellect says is
law. It is when faith is exercised deep in spiritual
consciousness that it finds its right place, and under
divine law, without variation or disappointment, it brings
results that are seemingly miraculous.
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8. Faith has always played a very large part in the
experiences of religious people because they have given it
free scope, expecting great things through it from the
Lord. But nearly all faith demonstrations have been the
result of a sort of blind confidence that God would carry
out whatever was asked of Him. Sometimes a petitioner has
been disappointed, and a series of disappointments has
usually led to doubt and to the conclusion that God has in
some way changed His law. The early Christians were taught
by Jesus and His disciples to have faith in God, and they
did wonderful, so-called miraculous, works. As time went on
and their attention was more and more drawn to worldly
things, the Christians of a later day became separated from
the spiritual forces within them, and their faith lost its
energy. Then they began teaching that miracles were no
longer necessary; that God had given them to the early
Christians because they did not have the Bible or an
organized church. They also taught that the miracles had
been given to prove that Jesus was the Son of God.
9. Now we have a fuller understanding of the law of God,
and know that whatever has been done once can be done again
under like conditions. If Jesus and His disciples and the
early Christians did marvelous things through the prayer of
faith, we can do likewise. All that is required is
perseverance in our use of faith until we make connection
with the higher realms of consciousness, where, as Jesus
said, though our faith be as small as the smallest of
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seeds, it will spring forth and demonstrate its power to
carry out every desire into which we infuse it. "Nothing
shall be impossible unto you," if your faith is in Spirit,
and if your work is in harmony with Divine Mind.
10. The Christian religion has been a great factor in the
development of faith in the inner realms of man's being.
"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed." The power to see in Spirit is peculiar to faith.
In its outer expression this power is sight; interiorly it
is that which perceives the reality of the substance of
Spirit. Mental seeing is knowing; when we perceive the
truth of a proposition, we say, "I see, I see," meaning
that we mentally discern.
11. Faith in the reality of things spiritual develops the
faith center in the brain, called the pineal gland. When
this mental eye is illuminated with spiritual faith, it
sheds a radiance that hovers like a halo around the head
and extends in lessening degree throughout the whole body.
"When thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of
light." The halo that the early artists painted around the
heads of saints was not imaginary, but real. This
illuminating power of faith covers the whole constitution
of man, making him master of all the forces centering about
spiritual consciousness. Faith and prayer go hand in hand.
12. "The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before
God. Happy is he that judgeth not himself
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in that which he approveth." Have faith in what you do, and
after it is done do not condemn yourself. We all are
seeking happiness, contentment, and we know by experience
that we are happy when we are in tune with our environment.
There is a great variety of ideas that cause us inharmony.
We think that if we have money and friends we can be happy;
but things do not make happiness. It is our mental attitude
toward things that fixes our relation to them, and the
better we understand the innate substance of the world
about us, the more do we appreciate it.
13. Faith is ever active, and it should be made the truth
substance of every idea. We should have faith in our own
power, capacity, and ability; if we are to have this faith
our thoughts must be centered in the great universal Mind.
Success lies in God. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin;
then whatsoever is of faith is not sin. This is the new
standard of righteousness for the man who would "put on
Christ." It is his breastplate, his protection, while he is
coming up into knowledge of the absolute good. Sin is a
missing of the mark, and we miss the mark by not having
faith.
14. Faith in the reality, power, and willingness of the
mental and spiritual forces is absolutely essential to
success in demonstrating the higher law. Jesus was the
herald of a set of laws that will revolutionize the
civilization of this world and will produce a new and
higher type of man. He spoke of a new condition for the
uplift of the race; He called it the
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"kingdom of heaven," and He said that it must be built upon
the foundation typified by Peter (a rock), which is faith.
The development of the faith faculty in the mind is as
necessary to the worker in spiritual principles as is the
development of the mathematical faculty in the worker in
mathematics. Neither of these faculties comes at a bound
fully formed into consciousness, but both grow by
cultivation. "Increase our faith," said the apostles, and
Jesus answered: "Have faith in God."
15. Nearly all readers of Scripture recognize Peter as a
type of faith. By studying his experiences we may get
suggestions on the development of that faculty in
ourselves. The fluctuating allegiance of Peter to Jesus
illustrates the growth of faith in one who has had no
development of that faculty. Faith and doubt contended for
supremacy in Peter, and we wonder why Jesus chose as His
chief disciple this vacillating, weak, and cowardly
fisherman. But we observe that Peter was enthusiastic, bold
at times, receptive and patient under reproof. He had never
walked on the water, but when Jesus said, "Come," he boldly
went out to meet Him. Doubt entered his mind, and he sank;
but the helping hand was extended to him and he was made
stronger by the experience. This and many other
illustrations in the history of Peter show how faith grows
in the mind, and we should not be discouraged if our first
efforts fall short of the desired end.
16. A very little faith often produces surprising
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results. The forces invisible are much closer than we
think, and when we turn our attention in their direction
the response is usually so pronounced and so swift that we
cannot but feel that a miracle has been performed. A more
intimate acquaintance with the divine law convinces us that
under it all things are possible if we only believe, and if
we at the same time conform our thoughts to its principle.
17. Peter (faith), James (judgment), and John (love) were
the three apostles who were very close to Jesus, and they
are more prominent in His history than any of the others.
This indicates that these three faculties are developed in
advance of the others, also that they are closely
associated. Understanding reveals to us that God is a
mind-principle whose foundation is ideas. When this
character of the creative principle dawns upon us, we see
how easy it is to commune with God. Through this communion
we almost unconsciously strengthen faith, and we find that
one faculty helps another to grow. But there must be room
in which to grow, and room is made by love. Selfishness is
limitation; it binds man in a little prison called
personality. The only way to enlarge one's character and
give play to all the faculties is through love. Love
enlarges the field of consciousness by leveling the
thoughts of enmity and opposition. Make friends with all
your adversaries quickly, whether they be persons,
thoughts, or things.
18. We are constantly making conditions
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through our thoughts. Some people declare that everything
is against them. If they miss a car, they say, "It is
always that way," and they build up a state of mind in
which everything seems contrary to them.
19. In all our experience we should condemn nothing that
comes to us and nothing that we do. We know the law; let us
keep it, and not set up any adverse conditions by our
thoughts of condemnation. Whatever you are doing, be happy
in it. If you are getting wrong results, do not believe in
an angry God. You are getting the results of your acts,
according to your faith. Be wise; pronounce nothing evil,
and only good will come. Shall we call everything good?
Yes. If the savage knew this law he could lift himself to a
higher consciousness by it. We get out of savagery by
idealizing the good.
20. Have faith in the innate goodness of all men and all
conditions. Do not condemn, no matter how great the
provocation. What you think, you create in your own
consciousness. Enlarge your range of vision, and you may
see good in what now seems evil. God is good and God is
all, hence there can be no real condition but the good. Why
should we waste our time fighting evil? If we build our
character upon faith, understanding, and love, with the
great I AM as the focal center, we shall become pillars in
the temple of God.
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Faith Affirmations
(To be used in connection with Lesson Eight)
1. "Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a
conviction of things not seen."
2. Holding continuously to the reality of things spiritual
establishes them in mind--they become mental substance.
3. I believe in the presence and power of the one Mind, and
it is to me substantial intelligence.
4. "According to your faith be it done unto you."
5. My doubts and fears are dissolved and dissipated; in
confidence and peace I rest in God's unchangeable law.
6. "Great is thy faith: be it done unto thee even as thou
wilt."
7. With my mind's eye I see more and more the reality of
the true ideas ever existing in divine principle.
8. "I believe; help thou mine unbelief."
9. Jesus said: "Have faith in God."
10. I am saved from pain and sorrow through my unswerving
faith in the protection and care of God.
11. "Lord, increase our faith."
12. My faith grows greater day by day, because it is
planted in Truth, and through it the mountains of mortal
error are moved into the sea of nothingness.
13. The understanding of Spirit clarifies my faith.
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14. "I know him whom I have believed." I am persuaded that
He is able, that He is willing, that He is eager, to give
me whatsoever I ask.
15. My faith comprehends the beauty of wholeness.
16. My faith is of God and in God.
17. "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole."
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