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Prosperity
Chapter 3
[<- Go back to Chapter 2]
[Prosperity]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Lesson Three
Faith in the Invisible Substance, the Key to Demonstration
IN THIS LESSON we are considering the subject of faith
especially as it applies to the demonstration of
prosperity. In this study, as in all others, we must start
in the one Mind. God had faith when He imaged man and the
universe and through His faith brought all things into
being. Man, being like God, must also base his creations on
faith as the only foundation. Here then is our starting
point in building a prosperity consciousness and making our
world as we would have it. We all have faith, for it is
innate in every man. Our question is how we may put it to
work in our affairs.
Jesus gave us our best understanding of faith when He
described Peter as a "rock" and asserted that His church,
the ecclesia or "called-out ones," was to be built up with
this rock or faith as its sure foundation. In this sense
faith represents substance, the underlying, basic principle
of all manifestation. "Now faith is assurance of things
hoped for, a conviction of things not seen."
It is quite possible to possess a reality that cannot
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be seen, touched, or comprehended by any of the outer
senses. It is faith when we are fully conscious of "things
not seen" and have the "assurance of things" not yet
manifest. In other words, faith is that consciousness in us
of the reality of the invisible substance and of the
attributes of mind by which we lay hold of it. We must
realize that the mind makes real things. "Just a thought"
or "just a mere idea," we sometimes lightly say, little
thinking that these thoughts and ideas are the eternal
realities from which we build our life and our world.
Faith is the perceiving power of the mind linked with a
power to shape substance. You hear of a certain proposition
that appeals to you and you say, "I have faith in that
proposition." Some man whose character seems right is
described to you and you say, "I have faith in that man."
What do you mean by having faith? You mean that certain
characteristics of men or things appeal to you, and these
immediately begin a constructive work in your mind. What is
that work? It is the work of making the proposition or man
real to your consciousness. The character and attributes of
the things in your mind become substantial to you because
of your faith. The office of faith is to take abstract
ideas and give them definite form in substance. Ideas are
abstract and formless to us until they become substance,
the substance of faith.
A very important work in soul culture is the establishment
of a faith substance. Once we discern this law of soul
building by faith, we find the Hebrew
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Scriptures full of illustrations of it. The 1st chapter of
Luke's Gospel tells us how Elisabeth and Zacharias were
told by an angel that they would have a son and that his
name would be John. Zacharias was burning incense at the
altar in the exercise of his duties as a priest. This means
that when the mind is looking toward Spirit, even if it be
in a blind way, and is seeking spiritual things, it will
become spiritualized. The burning of incense typifies
spiritualization. Zacharias represents the perceptive and
Elisabeth the receptive qualities of the soul. When these
two work in conjunction in prayer, meditation, and
aspiration, the soul is open to the higher thoughts or
angels that bring the promise of a new and definite state
of consciousness. Zacharias doubted the promise of a son
because his wife was past the age of childbearing, and
because of his doubts he was stricken dumb. This means that
when we perceive spiritual Truth and doubt it, we retard
its outer expression; it cannot be spoken into
manifestation through us because of our doubt. All the
growth is then thrown upon the soul. Elisabeth "hid herself
five months," but when the soul begins to feel the presence
of the new ego or new state of consciousness, then we again
come into faith expression: the speech of Zacharias is
restored.
It was the same way in the bringing forth of Jesus. A
promise was first made to Mary, and Joseph was assured that
the child was the offspring of the Holy Spirit. This
represents a still higher step in the work of faith. The
bringing forth of John the Baptist
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is the intellectual perception of Truth. The intellect
grasps Truth first. The next step is the bringing forth of
substance and life in the subconsciousness. When we have
given ourselves entirely to Spirit, we may do things
without knowing exactly why. That is because faith is at
work in us, and even if we do not know the law and cannot
explain faith to the outer consciousness, it continues to
do its perfect work and eventually brings forth the
demonstration.
Do not fear the power that works out things in the
invisible. When you get a strong perception of something
that your inner mind tells you is true and good, act on it
and your demonstration will come. That is the way a living
faith works, and it is the law of your creative word.
Faith can also have understanding added to it. We call our
spiritual faculties out of our subconsciousness. When Jesus
did some of His most remarkable works He had with Him
Peter, James, and John; Peter represents faith, James
wisdom or judgment, and John love. These three faculties
when expressed together in mind accomplish apparent
miracles. You have called out faith in things spiritual,
you have faith in God, and you have cultivated your unity
with the one Mind; if you then use spiritual judgment and
do your work in love, you have become "a teacher in Israel."
In order to have understanding of the law through which we
gain or lose in the use of the invisible substance, we must
use discrimination or judgment. There is a guiding
intelligence always
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present that we can lay hold of and make our own. It is
ours. It belongs to us and it is our birthright both to
know it and to use it. Some metaphysicians mistakenly think
that they must have hard experiences in order to appreciate
the better things of life. They think poverty is a blessing
because it educates people to the appreciation of plenty
when they get it. They say that it is God's will for us to
have some hard times and some good times, feasts and
famines. This is not logically true when you consider God
as principle. If you think of God as a man who arbitrarily
gives or withholds by the exercise of His personal will,
you might reach such a conclusion. But God is changeless,
and if He gives one moment He will continue to give
eternally. It is His nature to give, and His nature is
eternally the same. When you talk of hard times, famines,
lack, you are talking of something that has no place in the
Mind of God. You are not acknowledging God in all your ways
but are acknowledging error and affirming that the world
has its source in outer things. You must turn around and
get into this consciousness, that in Mind, in Spirit, there
is abundance.
We often wonder how Jesus could multiply the five loaves
and two fishes to meet the hunger of five thousand persons.
It was done through a thorough understanding of this law.
The five loaves represent the five-sense application of
divine substance. The two fishes represent the yeast or
multiplying power put into the substance, the source of the
increase. We are told that if the yeast of a single setting
of
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bread were allowed to increase, it would fill a space
larger than this planet. This shows that there is no limit
to the increasing power of elemental substance. It is for
us to use as Jesus used this power. It was not a miracle
but something that we all have within us as an unawakened
ability and that we can learn to develop and use as Jesus
did.
Jesus entered into the silence; prayed and blessed the
substance at hand. If we would multiply and increase the
power, substance, and life in us and at our command, we
must get very still and realize that our resource is
Spirit, that it is God, and that it is here in all its
fullness. We must make contact with it in faith. Then we
shall find it welling up within us. Some of you have no
doubt had that experience. But if you just let it ooze away
without understanding it, you get no benefit. Here is the
key to this life and substance you feel when you sit in the
silence. You must begin to speak these words with power and
authority.
When there is world-wide belief in financial depression,
lack of circulation, stagnation, things do not go as we
expect and we develop fear, a belief in lack of circulation
of money. But if we know the law, we do not come under this
fear thought. At any time many persons make money; they use
this law and take advantage of opportunity. We should bless
everything that we have, for we can increase and multiply
what we have by speaking words. Jesus said that His words
were spirit and life. Did you ever think that your word is
charged with great
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spiritual life force? It is. Be careful of your words. Man
shall be held accountable for his lightest word. If you
talk about substance in a negative way, your finances will
be decreased, but if you talk about it in an appreciative,
large way, you will be prospered.
If we could release the energy in the atoms the scientists
tell us about, we could supply the world. This power lies
within every one of us. We can begin by freeing the little
ideas we have and making them fill the world with thoughts
of plenty. We must realize that all power is given to us in
heaven and in earth, as Jesus said. He told His apostles
that they should receive power when the Holy Spirit had
come upon them. They were told to go up into that upper
room, in the crown of the head, where spiritual forces
begin the formation of new ideas. After you get into the
spiritual consciousness and receive the quickening, speak
the word with authority and power, concentrating the
attention at the power center in the throat. We find it
effective to speak the words aloud and then sink back to
"the other side" (Galilee), as Jesus often did, to rest and
speak them again silently. You can send forth this
vibratory energy of Spirit and break down the inertia
caused by thoughts of fear and lack, carve out ways, open
new avenues to the demonstration of your good.
To bring forth these undeveloped spiritual qualities we
must believe in them. "For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is." Lord, keep us from unbelief, from
leaning on the things we see, from judging according to
appearances.
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You can conjure up in your mind a thousand imaginary things
that will seem real to you. This shows that the mind
creates by forming things according to its ideas. The world
is awakening in a wonderful way to the truth about the
creative power of the mind. Everywhere people are studying
psychology or soul culture. The imagination builds things
out of the one substance. If you will associate faith with
it in its creative work, the things you make will be just
as real as those that God makes. Whatever you make in mind
and really put faith in will become substantial. Then you
must be constantly on your guard as to what you believe, in
order that you may bring what is for your good into
manifestation.
In what do you have faith? In outer things? If so, you are
building shadows without substance, shadows that cease as
soon as your supporting thought is withdrawn from them,
forms that will pass away and leave you nothing. If you
would demonstrate true prosperity, you must turn from
things and, as Jesus told His disciples, "have faith in
God." Do not have faith in anything less than God, in
anything other than the one Mind, for when your faith is
centered there, you are building for eternity. Mind and the
ideas of Mind will never pass away. There will never be an
end to God. There will never be an end to Truth, which God
is. There will never be an end to substance, which God is.
Build with the divine substance, cultivate faith in
realities and "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."
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The foundation of every work is an idea. Faith is that
quality of mind which makes the idea stand out as real, not
only to ourselves but to others. When others have faith in
the thing you are doing, making, or selling, they see it as
real and worth while. Then your success and your prosperity
are assured. Only that exists in whose becoming really
visible or valuable you have great faith. If you say and
believe, "I have faith in the substance of God working in
and through me to increase and bring abundance into my
world," your faith will start to work mightily in the mind
substance and make you prosperous. Whatever you put into
substance along with faith will work out in manifestation
in your world. We have seen it done and we have proved the
law too many times to have any doubt.
The Scriptures are filled with illustrations of this
activity of bringing things to pass through faith in
substance. The characters of whom we read in the Scriptures
represent ideas carrying forward their work in human souls.
If we think that they existed only as people of thousands
of years ago, we put our faith back thousands of years,
instead of letting it work for us this minute in our
everyday affairs of life. To demonstrate as Jesus did we
must put our faith in the one substance and say, "I have
faith in God."
You demonstrate prosperity by an understanding of the
prosperity law and by having faith in it, not by appealing
to the sympathy of others, trying to get them to do
something for you or give you something.
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Faithfulness and earnestness in the application of the
prosperity law will assure you of success.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no
variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning."
"In all thy ways acknowledge him,
And he will direct thy paths."
Let us all know that just now we are in the very presence
of creative Mind, the Mind that made the universe and
everything in it. This Mind is here and at work right now
as much as it ever was or ever will be. When we fully
realize this, we increase the activity of Mind in us
immeasurably. You must realize that God is Spirit and that
Spirit is very real and powerful, and by far the most
substantial thing in all the world.
It may be hard for those who have become attached to
material things to realize that there is an invisible real
life and substance that is much more substantial and real
than the material. The men of science tell us that the
invisible forces have a power that is millions of times
more real and substantial than all the material world. When
we read statements about some of the recent discoveries of
science, which everyone accepts and talks about, we are
truly amazed. Such statements made by religionists would be
called preposterous and unbelievable. Yet religion has been
making the same statements in different ways for thousands
of years. Now science is helping religion by proving them.
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In comparing substance and matter as regards their relative
reality one scientific writer says that matter is merely a
crack in the universal substance. It is universal substance
that man is handling all the time with his spiritual mind.
Through your thoughts you deal with the wonderful spiritual
substance, and it takes form in your consciousness
according to your thought about it. That is why we must
hold the thought of divine wisdom and understanding: so
that we may use these creative mind powers righteously. We
use them all the time either consciously or unconsciously
and we should use them to our advantage and blessing.
Every time you say, "I am a little short of funds," "I
haven't as much money as I need," you are putting a limit
on the substance in your own consciousness. Is that wisdom?
You want a larger supply, not a limited supply of
substance. Therefore it is important to watch your thoughts
so that the larger supply may come through your mind and
into your affairs. Say to yourself, "I am God's offspring,
and I must think as God thinks. Therefore I cannot think of
any lack or limitation." It is impossible that in this
universal Mind that fills everything there can be any such
thing as absence. There is no lack of anything anywhere in
reality. The only lack is the fear of lack in the mind of
man. We do not need to overcome any lack, but we must
overcome the fear of lack.
This fear of lack led men to speculate in order to
accumulate substance and have a lot of it stored up. This
caused a still greater fear of lack in other
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men, and the situation grew worse and worse until it became
generally believed that we must pile up the material
symbols of substance for a possible lack in the future. We
have tried that system and found that it fails us every
time. We must learn to understand the divine law of supply
and the original plan, which is that we have each day our
daily bread. That is all we really want, just the amount of
things we need for today's use, plus the absolute assurance
that the supply for tomorrow's needs will be there when
tomorrow comes. This assurance cannot be found in hoarding
or piling up, as we have learned by experience. It can be
had if we have faith and understand the truth about
omnipresent, always available substance. Anything less than
today's needs is not enough. Anything more than we need for
today is a burden. Let us start with the fundamental
proposition that there is plenty for you and for me and
that the substance is here all the time, supplying us with
every needful thing, according to our thought and word.
In the morning, immediately upon awakening, take a quiet
meditative thought. A good foundation statement to hold in
the silence is:
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Jehovah, my rock, and my redeemer."
Think of the meaning of these words as you meditate on
them. The words of your mouth and the thoughts of your
heart are now and always molding
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the spiritual substance and bringing it into manifestation.
They will not be acceptable to the Lord unless they bring
into manifestation things that are true, lovely, and
altogether good. After your morning meditation, when you
have declared the omnipresence and the allness of the good,
receive it as true and go forth to the day's activities
with faith that all things needful are provided and your
good must come. The soil and substance omnipresent has many
names.
Jesus called it the kingdom of the heavens. Moses in
Genesis named it the Garden of Eden. Science says it is the
ether. We live in it as fishes live in the sea, and it
lives in us and supplies us with all things according to
our thoughts. When you start to your work, pause a moment
and declare: "I set God before me this day, to guide and
guard, to protect and prosper me." Or: "The Spirit of the
Lord goes before me this day and makes my way successful
and prosperous." Make this your proclamation for the day.
Decree it to be so, and the Lord will bring it to pass.
During the day, if a thought of lack or limitation should
for a moment disturb you, banish it at once with the
statement: "Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want."
When your mind comes around again to the subject of
prosperity, realize most strongly that your prosperity
comes from God. It came with you from God, from your
contact with God-Mind in your silence, and your prosperity
is right with you wherever you are. Supply may seem to come
through
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outer channels, but your real success depends on your inner
hold on the prosperity realization. Be thankful for supply
that comes through outer channels, but do not limit God's
giving to any one channel. Look unto Him and be prospered.
Some Prosperity Prayers
I am always provided for because I have faith in Thee as my
omnipresent abundance.
I have faith in Thee as my almighty resource and I trust
Thee to preserve me in my prosperity.
I trust the universal Spirit of prosperity in all my
affairs. I come to God because I believe that He is and
that He is a rewarder of them that seek alter Him.
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[Prosperity]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
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