“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 gives place to light and sin to reformation.”
-Mary Baker Eddy
Effective prayer
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Prayer, to me, is not just asking God for something, but involves becoming more aware of ourselves as God actually made us, as He preserves us and knows us—as the Bible says, “in His image and likeness.” This kind of prayer brings about a wonderful change in our consciousness, revealing that we're the inherently good and entirely harmonious creation of the all-harmonious, all-good Creator. This mental change removes fear and suffering, restores calm, and we see everything resume normal action and function. I love the fact that God's care and love are infinite and impartial. No one is excluded from the benefits of His healing power and affection.
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Everyone, without exception, is included in God’s spiritual creation, as flawless, whole, loving, and harmonious. God and His creation are not ethereal, or simply philosophical, concepts but are very real, permanent, and tangible. My first healing as a child showed me that God's powerful truths and laws transcend age and experience. These truths are not just some sort of “pie-in-the-sky” future help; they are a present help. Like Paul in the Bible, I too, surely have felt the kind of gratitude that makes me say, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift,"
(II Cor. 9:15). |
Purchase the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
Today, more than at any time in history, the world is a place of incredible discovery and learning. Every week, we hear about new approaches to treating disease. Just think how much there is to learn about treatment and cure. You’ve maybe heard the saying, “The only things worth learning are the things you learn once you think you know it all.” It’s clear that we don’t know everything there is to know about anything!
In the last few years, one means of treatment that people are exploring more and more is in the area of the connection between health and thought. And people are making some significant discoveries! They are finding for themselves that their thoughts actually embrace their whole world. Previously, people believed that it was the world—the environment—in which we live that determined what we are. Yet, it turns out that it’s the other way around. What we think ourselves to be determines our world around us, including the state of our health.
Unlike human opinions, God is always present and doesn’t change. God is knowable. And your knowledge of God, even if it’s a brand new discovery to you, can help you heal both yourself and others.
Effective treatment starts, not with the opinions of either mortal man or the mortal senses, but with the perspective of God. These two quotes, one from the Bible and one from Mary Baker Eddy’s insightful book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, give the entire basis for these facts of being from God’s perspective:
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).
“The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, -- perfect God and perfect man, -- as the basis of thought and demonstration” (Science and Health, p. 259).
Through the lens of spiritual sense, it is in prayer that you can perceive that you and God are permanently beautiful and good. The true you is actually God’s self-expression. God’s goodness and perfection, and man’s concurrent expression of God’s goodness and perfection, are not, of course, creations of mankind’s religions. This state of things was already in place before a single stone or brick was placed on the ground for the purpose of building a church. What the Science of Christianity accomplishes for you and me is that it reveals in detail everything about true being. It gives us the tools and direction for understanding these facts of being and then applying them to thought and experience.
Effective prayer, then, uncovers the facts. Rather than exploring ideas about God’s status and our reflected goodness in the hopes that they will become facts, a better approach can be to think deeply and gratefully about the present goodness of perfect God and perfect man. This is not simply using the human mind to trick itself into believing that all is well. No, as the human mind becomes subordinate to the truth of how things exist, the power of God is brought to bear on your thought, and it determines everything in your experience. Then truly, as Jesus put it, this newfound understanding and knowledge of the truth makes you free.
In the last few years, one means of treatment that people are exploring more and more is in the area of the connection between health and thought. And people are making some significant discoveries! They are finding for themselves that their thoughts actually embrace their whole world. Previously, people believed that it was the world—the environment—in which we live that determined what we are. Yet, it turns out that it’s the other way around. What we think ourselves to be determines our world around us, including the state of our health.
Unlike human opinions, God is always present and doesn’t change. God is knowable. And your knowledge of God, even if it’s a brand new discovery to you, can help you heal both yourself and others.
Effective treatment starts, not with the opinions of either mortal man or the mortal senses, but with the perspective of God. These two quotes, one from the Bible and one from Mary Baker Eddy’s insightful book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, give the entire basis for these facts of being from God’s perspective:
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).
“The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, -- perfect God and perfect man, -- as the basis of thought and demonstration” (Science and Health, p. 259).
Through the lens of spiritual sense, it is in prayer that you can perceive that you and God are permanently beautiful and good. The true you is actually God’s self-expression. God’s goodness and perfection, and man’s concurrent expression of God’s goodness and perfection, are not, of course, creations of mankind’s religions. This state of things was already in place before a single stone or brick was placed on the ground for the purpose of building a church. What the Science of Christianity accomplishes for you and me is that it reveals in detail everything about true being. It gives us the tools and direction for understanding these facts of being and then applying them to thought and experience.
Effective prayer, then, uncovers the facts. Rather than exploring ideas about God’s status and our reflected goodness in the hopes that they will become facts, a better approach can be to think deeply and gratefully about the present goodness of perfect God and perfect man. This is not simply using the human mind to trick itself into believing that all is well. No, as the human mind becomes subordinate to the truth of how things exist, the power of God is brought to bear on your thought, and it determines everything in your experience. Then truly, as Jesus put it, this newfound understanding and knowledge of the truth makes you free.