The Power of Oneself. Charles Fillmore
for that future fulfillment which we have idealized. If we pray thinking that we do not deserve the things for which we ask, these untrue and indefinite thoughts carry themselves out, and we grow to look upon prayer with doubt and suspicion. This is called the prayer of blind faith, but it is not the kind that Jesus used, because His prayers were answered.
13. It should not be inferred that the will of Divine Mind is to be set aside in prayer; we are to pray that the will of God enter into us and become a moving factor in our life. "Not my will, but thine, be done," prayed Jesus. The Father does not take our will from us; rather, He gives us the utmost freedom in the exercise of the will faculty, and He also imparts an understanding of the law, through the operation of which we can make any condition that we desire. "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do," becomes our assurance.
14. One of the offices of spirituality is to aggregate divine ideas. Through this action man draws absolutely true ideas from the universal Mind. Thus prayer is cumulative. It accumulates spiritual substance, life, intelligence; it accumulates everything necessary to man's highest expression. When we pray in spiritual understanding, this highest realm of man's mind contacts universal, impersonal Mind; the very mind of God is joined to the mind of man. God answers our prayers in ideas, thoughts, words; these are translated into the outer realms, in time and condition. It is therefore important that we pray with understanding of the law, important that we always give thanks that our prayers have been answered and fulfilled, regardless of appearances. When Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, He prayed, blessed, and gave thanks. With understanding and realization of the relation between the idea and the fulfillment of the idea, He quickened the slow processes of nature, and the loaves and fishes were increased quickly. We may not be able to attain at once such speedy operation of the law, but we shall approximate it, and we shall accelerate natural processes as we hold our ideas nearer to the perfection of the realm of divine ideas.
15. Praise is closely related to prayer; it is one of the avenues through which spirituality expresses itself. Through an inherent law of mind, we increase whatever we praise. The whole creation responds to praise, and is glad. Animal trainers pet and reward their charges with delicacies for acts of obedience; children glow with joy and gladness when they are praised. Even vegetation grows best for those who praise it. We can praise our own abilities, and our very brain cells will expand and increase in capacity and intelligence when we speak words of encouragement and appreciation to them.
16. "What is seen hath not been made out of things which appear." There is an invisible thought-stuff on which the mind acts, making things through the operation of a law not yet fully understood by man. Every thought moves upon this invisible substance in increasing or diminishing degree. When we praise the richness and opulence of our God, this thought-stuff is tremendously increased in our mental atmosphere; it reflects into everything that our minds and our hands touch. When common things are impregnated with our consciousness of divine substance, they are transformed according to our ideals. Through persistent application of the Judah faculty, a failing business proposition can be praised into a successful one. Even inanimate things seem to receive the word of praise, responding in orderly obedience when, before, they have seemed unmanageable. A woman used the law on her sewing machine, which she had been affirming to be in bad order. It gave her no trouble afterward. A linotype operator received a certain spiritual treatment given him by a healer at a certain hour, and his linotype, which had been acting badly, immediately fell into harmonious ways. A woman living in a country town had a rag carpet on her parlor floor; she had for years hoped that this carpet might be replaced by a better one. She heard of the law and began praising the old carpet. Greatly to her surprise, inside of two weeks she was given a new carpet from an unexpected source. These are a few simple illustrations of the possibilities latent in praise. Whether the changes were in the inanimate things, or in the individuals dealing with them, does not matter so long as the desired end was attained.
17. Turn the power of praise upon whatever you wish to increase. Give thanks that it is now fulfilling your ideal. The faithful law, faithfully observed, will reward you. You can praise yourself from weakness to strength, from ignorance to intelligence, from poverty to affluence, from sickness to health. The little lad with a few loaves and fishes furnished the seed that, through the prayer and thanksgiving of Jesus, increased sufficiently to feed five thousand people.
18. If we do not receive answers to our prayers it is because we have not fully complied with the law. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss." This does not mean that we ask of the Lord things that we do not need; it means that we miss the mark in the method of asking, thatour relation to Divine Mind is not in harmony with the law; the failure is not in God, but in us. We should therefore never be discouraged, but, like Elijah praying for rain, we should persevere until our prayers are answered.
19. All causes that bring about permanent results originate in Spirit. Spirituality, faith, and love are God-given faculties, and when we are raised in consciousness to their plane they act naturally under a spiritual law that we may not comprehend. There is a law of prayer, which man will eventually recognize and apply as he now recognizes and applies the laws of mathematics and of music.
20. Jesus said, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do." We ask in His name when we pray in the Jesus consciousness of universal Spirit. He attained unity with Divine Mind, and realized that His thoughts and words were not from Himself, but from God. When we pray in His name we enter into His unity with the Father, and attain the same consciousness that He attained.
21. God is the always present, indwelling Mind. To realize God we must quiet our outer thoughts and enter into the stillness, peace, and harmony of Spirit. "When thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door [outer consciousness], pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee." If we make proper connection with Divine Mind in the kingdom of heaven within us, the Father will surely answer our prayers. No good thing will He withhold from us if we comply with the law of righteous asking. "Be still, and know that I am God."
Living Words To Quicken Spirituality
1. "It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing."
2. "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
3. "The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life."
4. "Ye must be born from above."
5. "I am the light of the world." "Ye are the light of the world."
6. "Let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
7. "I am the light" that "lighteth every man, coming into the world."
8. My understanding is illumined by Spirit. I am the light of my consciousness.
9. I acknowledge God at all times as the one source of my understanding.
10. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee."
11. The glory of the Lord is risen upon me, and I walk in the light of life.
12. My body is the temple of the living God, and the glory of the Lord fills the temple.
13. Christ within me is my glory. The brightness of His presence casts out all the darkness of error, and my whole body is full of light.
14. "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him."
15. "Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
16. "Then shall Thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily."
Establishing The Perfect Substance
(To be used in connection with Lesson Seven)
1. "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he