Chapter 1
What Faith Is
Did you ever contemplate the things that happen through faith—not the things that could happen, or the things that might happen, but the things that do happen, the things that are happening now?
Where Did Faith Come From?
You were born with the characteristic of Faith, for it is inherent in man. Protected from the moment of your conception, you emerged into the world with the expectation of continued security. You accepted the loving care of your parents—food, shelter, guidance—without question.
You not only accepted but demanded in a loud imperious voice the things that gave you emotional and physical comfort.
You took your first steps in confidence in the loving hand that held you, and you were not too discouraged by a few bumps and tumbles. You smiled and expected a smile in return.
Today you walk to your work or drive or take a bus, expecting to arrive at your destination all in one piece. You accept a job, expressing faith in your potential. You marry with faith in the one you have chosen and faith in your power to provide for your family.
In other words, you have faith in yourself, and that is actually faith in the God within you. You eat food prepared by countless hands that you never see and wear clothing made by persons you will never know. You trust the taxi driver to take you to your destination, the barber to shave your face, and the cook to prepare your meals.
How do you know that the taxi driver won’t take you to some out-of-the-way place and hold you up? Or that the barber will not cut your throat? ... See more
Chapter 1
What Faith Is
Did you ever contemplate the things that happen through faith—not the things that could happen, or the things that might happen, but the things that do happen, the things that are happening now?
Where Did Faith Come From?
You were born with the characteristic of Faith, for it is inherent in man. Protected from the moment of your conception, you emerged into the world with the expectation of continued security. You accepted the loving care of your parents—food, shelter, guidance—without question.
You not only accepted but demanded in a loud imperious voice the things that gave you emotional and physical comfort.
You took your first steps in confidence in the loving hand that held you, and you were not too discouraged by a few bumps and tumbles. You smiled and expected a smile in return.
Today you walk to your work or drive or take a bus, expecting to arrive at your destination all in one piece. You accept a job, expressing faith in your potential. You marry with faith in the one you have chosen and faith in your power to provide for your family.
In other words, you have faith in yourself, and that is actually faith in the God within you. You eat food prepared by countless hands that you never see and wear clothing made by persons you will never know. You trust the taxi driver to take you to your destination, the barber to shave your face, and the cook to prepare your meals.
How do you know that the taxi driver won’t take you to some out-of-the-way place and hold you up? Or that the barber will not cut your throat? Or that the cook will not poison your food? Because of your faith in your fellow-man and that too is faith in the one God, who according to St. Paul, is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Three Gifts Are Yours.—When man walked out from God’s finished thought, he bore three gifts:
• Life—(energy, animation) by which to Live
• Mind—(the power to reason, select, understand, and know) by which to become aware of God, of himself and his environment
• Faith—(trust, confidence, assurance) by which to penetrate the invisible and to hold God’s promises until they are realized in him and for him
What is Faith?
The St. James version of the Bible says Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Moffatt translates the words in this way: Now faith means that we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see. What comforting words: evidence, assurance, conviction, substance!
Faith is the belief that you have the power to do all things. It is a magnetic power that attracts the answer to your prayer. Results do not come by chance, accident, or fate. They are molded by your faith in your power through God.
Faith is the glass under the faucet; it is the water wheel under the fall; it is the windmill adjusted to the wind; it is the sunflower facing the sun; it is the ear at the telephone. Success reduced to its lowest and simplest terms is faith expressed in action.
Faith is a mental attitude against which there is no possibility of contradiction. If that attitude is directed toward God, it becomes your ability to do anything. When you pray or treat, you have a right to expect an answer to that prayer or treatment, providing your conviction is in line with the nature of God.
Your mind, however, must be so convinced of its idea, it must so completely accept it, that contradiction or denial is impossible. When you have absolute faith, there is nothing left in you to contradict your treatment.
Faith is the bridge between the physical and spiritual world. You have the privilege of crossing on it at will.
Faith not only makes old things new, but it is the point of contact between God and man. It is the means by which we identify ourselves with the Allness of God. Through our faith, God fulfills His promises. Through our faith, His Good becomes visible and usable. Desire is impressed upon the subconscious mind through feeling. Faith holds the idea of desire in Substance until it takes form.
Faith is the most dynamic and transforming force in man. To become mighty in the individual, it needs only a chance to exercise itself. As students of Truth, we must work for the highest and most complete state of faith, for faith is the wire along which Omnipotence moves. In that state, there is no longer anything in us to deny, doubt, or divide the Truth that we affirm.
We shall never perfect our faith, however, by talking about it, reading about it, waiting for it or wishing for it; we perfect it by applying it to every phase of our living, to the little as well as to the big problems in our lives.
Faith is not just a stirring—up of the imagination. It is an actual power which acts upon our words. It enables us to see things as God sees them, without blur or distortion.
Faith not only leads man into a definite course of action but opens the way for the Power to flow along the uncongested circuits of his thought. No longer hampered by doubts, fears, and worries, man becomes, as Emerson says, the “inlet and the outlet for all that there is in God.” The highest faith is whole, continuous, triumphant, and victorious. It admits no contrary evidence, no fear, no opposition, no separation, and no limitation.
Hope says that it could happen or it might happen. Faith says that it will happen. It is the moving force in all creative processes. It is the agent of healing, of prayer, and of demonstration. It is the power to accomplish all things through Christ. All things are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. The man of faith experiences Wholeness. Thy faith hath made the whole, said Jesus to the woman who touched His garment in search of healing, to the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, and to the leper who returned to give glory to God.
Faith Is an Individual Power. Why did Jesus pin-point thy faith? Why not the faith of someone better trained or better equipped spiritually than you recognize yourself to be? He was showing us that the whole process takes place within the individual consciousness, within my consciousness if I am seeking the rewards of faith, within yours if you wish to experience Wholeness.
Why do we ask for another’s help? Why do we have practitioners? When the evidence of the senses seems to overpower us, when we cannot see Reality through the cloud of false evidence, we are often impelled to seek the help of one whose vision is not obscured by our problem. But unless we meet the faith of the helper with one-hundred percent agreement, we are no better off than we were. Our faith is still essential.
The Answer Precedes the Problem.
Do you remember the place in which Jesus could do no mighty works because of their unbelief? Could healing not have taken place in Nazareth? The Truth is that the works were already done spiritually in that place as they are in all other places, but they had to await the recognition of the people concerned before they became visible on the material plane.
Do you see now why it is your faith that makes you whole? It makes you whole because in reality you are whole already. Your faith simply acts to reveal that which already is. The works come automatically to the heart that believes.
We do not see the Law of Faith, but we know its power by what it does. Our task is fourfold:
1. To become aware of that which eternally is—the Omnipresence of God
2. To claim the good we desire through faith, recognition, and realization
3. To accept the desire as fulfilled
4. To realize our Oneness with God until the feeling of fulfillment comes to us Faith is the realization that All Good Is In Instant Manifestation.
If our prayers were not answered, if our needs were not met before we prayed, there would be no point in praying. Jesus said, ‘Before ye call I will answer and while ye are yet speaking I will hear’. Whatever needs to be done is already done. Whatever is needed is already supplied. There is no Life apart from God, there is no Power apart from God, there is no Substance apart from God, there is no Health apart from God, there is no Being apart from God. There is only ONE Mind, Life, Power, Substance, and Love in which we live and move and have our being. When we get the realization of this Truth, the whole outer world changes. Discordant factors are harmonized, problems are solved, difficult tasks are made easier, and diseases are healed. The tenor of our lives becomes harmonious.
Faith Acts on the Level of Our Consciousness—Life is a state of consciousness. Nothing can come to us except as consciousness. It is all that we are, all that we are aware of, all that we believe. We add to it or take from it with every experience. The level of our consciousness determines our faith and that level is of our own making. Faith is the starting point of every affirmation, prayer, and treatment; but without recognition of it as evidence of the Father Within without awareness of the closeness of our relationship to Him, without acceptance of His promises, without the realization of the Omnipresence of God, it is likely to end as wishful thinking, daydreaming, or mere desire.
As you rise in consciousness to the awareness of your Oneness with God, you will discover that there is no place for negation. It is not person, place, or thing. Therefore, it has no reason for being. Disease is a negative faith operating through man, but it isn’t the man and therefore does not belong to him. That is why you must separate the belief from the believer in your own mind. If evil had as much power as good, the universe could not exist for a second.
According to Jesus, you must empty the mind therefore you can reach a heavenly state. He that loseth his life shall find it. When you lose your sense of personal power, the God Power awaits your use. If God is, He is all there is, and all things are possible to you because of your faith or conscious Oneness with Him. Now don’t tell the world how wonderful it is until you have proved it for yourself. Faith without works is dead.
The primary purpose of spiritual therapy is not to make unhappy people happy, or sick people well, or poor people rich. It is not to solve problems or to establish better and healthier living conditions. These are results. The primary object is to help people realize the Presence of God.
Get Acquainted with God.—Eliphaz told Job in the midst of his suffering, Acquaint now thyself with Him [God] and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
To most Christians, God is a name rather than a warm and living Presence. We talk about Him, sing about Him, read about Him, preach about Him, and pray to Him; but very few of us take the time or trouble to get acquainted with Him. How, then, can we know Him as a very present help in trouble? When will we learn that faith cannot lift us any higher or take us any further than the level of consciousness on which we function? That it cannot take out of consciousness something which is not already there? Or that it cannot give us anything that is not already given?
If I want to know about electricity, how to use it and how to direct it, I associate myself with electricians who are experts with dynamos, motors, copper wires, switches and transformers; through them I come to the realization of electricity.
If I want to know about music, I associate myself with outstanding musicians, with musical instruments and compositions; through them I come to a realization of music.
If I want to know about painting and how to paint, I engage the best teacher I can find, I associate myself with artists, with paints, brushes, and canvas. I study the masterpieces of the world, and through all these, I come to a realization of painting.
If I want to get acquainted with you, I must identify myself with you. I must associate with you and be a companion to you. I must give you my thought and time. I must study your mind and your nature. If I am to understand you, I must know all about you. I must surrender to you.
How does one get acquainted with God? How does one get to know Him? Only by practicing His Presence. God must become to us a living, pulsating Presence. He must become as real as our friends or the members of our family are to us. We must know Him, not as a cold and lifeless name, not as a vague and misty personality, but as an actual, living Partner.
The first function of faith is to make God real—to make Him as real to us as He was to Jesus, John, and Paul. Where is God? Within each one of us. Not within us in the sense that He is within our body, our solar plexus, or our brain, but within our consciousness.
I and the Father are one.—When you realize that God is not in one place and you in another, when you understand your Oneness with Him and can say and believe I and the Father are one, your word will accomplish that whereunto it is sent, according to the promise. When you believe that your desire is already fulfilled, believe that what you are asking for is already yours, you have put your faith to work and what you seek will be manifested in your experience. You have the word of Jesus that this is so, for He said, ‘What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them… And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive… Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear’.
There is nothing on earth you cannot have, nothing you cannot heal, nothing you cannot be if you have faith enough to accept the fact that what you are seeking is already yours. The fact that you can visualize a changed condition is proof of the Spiritual Reality of it. By your faith in the God with whom all things are possible, the desired condition materializes. I can of mine own self do nothing... The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works... He that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he do also... All things are delivered unto me of my Father.
In this Oneness all things are yours. The ears of the deaf are unstopped, blind eyes are opened, diseases are healed—not by using the spiritual to heal the physical, not by using will power to force others to conform to your way of thinking, not by the application of brute force, but by the uncovering of the Perfection that is already there.
Too long have we had God in one place and man in another. Too long have we kept apart that which God hath joined together.
Do you understand? You who are reading these lines? You do not have to acquire any-thing, buy anything, or create anything. You have only to accept your Oneness with Him through faith.
Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me?... I and my Father are one... The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Could there be a stronger statement of Oneness, of Integration? God is all Life; He is your Life. God is Mind; He is your Mind. God is Power; He is your Power.
Why is the consciousness of Oneness so necessary to the perfect outworking of faith? Because it supplies the inner forces of faith. It acts as a magnet to draw to itself everything it needs for expression. Solomon said, ‘With all thy getting, get understanding’. Without this inner force, the consciousness of the Allness-of-God and our Oneness with Him, faith is partial, limited, and incomplete. It becomes what some teachers refer to as “blind faith” in contrast to understanding faith.
Did you ever try to demonstrate over a problem while keeping your attention on the problem? What happened? You still had the problem but in a magnified form.
How Big Is Big? Jesus’ one and only formula for meeting trouble was Have faith in God. With faith you can solve the apparently irreducible problems and remove the presumably insurmountable obstacles in your life. You can dominate every circumstance, you can open every door. It doesn’t matter what the circum-stance, condition, or problem may be, 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 to you.
Jesus likens human problems and troubles to mountains, but He says that if you have faith, you can remove these mountains. You can cause them to be swallowed up and lost sight of for-ever. All your sickness and troubles can be re-versed when you have a radical belief in God and an unqualified and unquestioning acceptance of the fulfillment of your desires. But you must trust your faith in the same way that the air-borne infantryman trusts the parachute that is bringing him to earth.
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed... nothing shall be impossible to you. Jesus did not say that fulfillment depends upon argument, reason, theology, logic, or a particular concept of God, but upon faith. Faith the size of a mustard seed is not a lot of faith, but note the power Jesus assigned to it. Of course, the mustard seed has an amazing potential for growth. So does the small faith that you plant in the subjective mind if you tend it carefully. Perhaps the faith you have now is just enough faith to let you try faith. Tend the seed with love and confidence. Water it with persistency and tenacity. Shelter the tiny growth from the cold winds of negative thought.
Visualize the effect in your life of faith in action. See yourself using it, living in it, expressing it. Accept the promises made to those who believe as made to you personally. Know that any desire you hold in faith is a Reality in Spirit, existing from the moment you conceived it and eagerly awaiting its manifestation in your life. Put your faith to the test. Exercise it. Let it grow.
Why did Jesus use the mustard seed as a symbol of faith? To show the infinite power of even a little faith. The mustard seed is not only one of the smallest of seeds, but it is one of the most powerful and productive of creative things. And so it is with the little bit of faith.
With Jesus, the lesser faith was always the promise of the greater faith. It doesn’t matter how small your faith is, if you believe in it, if you have faith in it, if you keep it alive, if you keep it in motion, it has to grow.
Never allow yourself to minimize your “mustard seed” of faith. Never allow yourself to think of it as inadequate. Know that you have it and that you couldn’t lose it if you wanted to. Praise it. Let it grow. It will do wonders for you; nothing shall be impossible to you.
Let us think of it in this way. In the “mustard seed” stage, my faith is like a little candle in the mind. It gives forth a certain amount of light. But it is governed by impersonal law; it works the way I use it. If it works slowly for me at first, that is because my expectations and mental equivalents are small. I need to step them up. I know that a little steam will lift the lid of a tea kettle but a lot of steam will lift tons. The Law of Faith is just that simple:
With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. The manifestation of my faith is not measured by the size of my faith but by the acceptance, belief, or mental equivalent which I hold. If I want a 500 candle power light, I must have a 500 watt bulb. If I want the good measure, pressed down, and shaken together and running over, I must present a large measure.
Thousands of people go every year to Shrines and Blessed Pools believing that they have some magic power to heal. Hundreds who have faith are healed through contact with these places. But thousands return unhealed because they do not have the necessary faith.
The Law of Faith
According to your faith—your faith in God, your faith in yourself, your faith in your goal, your faith in your ability, you get results. The man of little faith gets small results; the man of big faith gets large results.
According to your faith, be it unto you. That is just like saying that a gallon jug will hold only a gallon of water. We can never go beyond the realization of our mental equivalents. We shall never experience a good which is beyond our capacity to conceive and to receive. This whole problem of belief and realization is just like using the muscles. Today we can lift twenty pounds; tomorrow we can lift twenty-five. But there is no limitation to our capacity for spiritual growth. We always express what we are. As much goodness as we can accept, that much we can demonstrate. Sickness doesn’t have to be, but until we know it doesn’t have to be, it will be. When we know that limitation doesn’t have to be, there will be nothing to be limited.
All that I have is thine.—Are you a beggar sitting on a bag of gold? Are you slumbering on the brink of the Infinite power? Behold! You stand this day at the entrance to a land of tremendous possibilities. Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. This all is yours if you have the faith to accept it, if you believe that you already have it, if you let it manifest AS YOU, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is near. When is He near? When you accept your Oneness with Him, when you know that you have no Mind, Life, Substance, or Power apart from Him.
What a light would come into our lives, what invincible power would come into our minds, what a cleansing of the soul and body would result if we made use of this inner force of faith. New wine, Jesus called it—wine that bursts old wine skins of limited patterns and demands a new consciousness to hold it. We don’t need new faith or more faith to be transformed. We need only to renew our faith in the faith we al-ready have.
Come, my friend. Make your contact with God through faith. The way of attainment is wonderfully simple and accurate. It is not the way of the conscious mind, of human thinking, or the way of teachers. It is the way of Spirit. I am that I am. I am the way. In all thy ways acknowledge him. In all thy ways acknowledge His Presence, and It will guide you into all truth.
In him we live and move and have our being. Can God be any closer to us than our consciousness of Omnipresent Good? Can He be any closer than here? Then rest from your anxious labors; release your tensions and your fears. In the consciousness of Oneness is your salvation.
When you pass from belief to realization, when you live and move and have your being in Omnipresent Good, Omnipresent Good lives and moves and has its being in you.
How much longer are you going to wait before you release this tremendous power within yourself? Have faith in God.
