A woman of faith was known for her efforts to convert everyone she spoke to. Whatever happened, she would say “Praise the Lord”.
Her neighbour was an atheist, who would answer, “There is no Lord”.
Come isolation, she ran short of groceries, and put a sign on her front verandah asking the Lord to bring her food.
Next morning, there was a box of groceries on her verandah, and she cried out “Praise the Lord!”.
Her neighbour called out, “it wasn’t the Lord that bought your groceries, it was me. There is no Lord.”
She then cried out, “Praise the Lord! He organised the groceries and made the devil pay for them!”
Matthew 17:20 quotes Jesus as saying: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you”.
Matthew 17:20
Jesus is issuing us a challenge: If we have faith the size of a tiny seed which can grow into a huge tree, our word will be fulfilled. Whats more, with faith, nothing will be impossible for us. Frankly I don’t have faith in my ability to move physical mountains, but I have moved a few metaphorical mountains. And there are many cases where a parent has done physically impossible feats to save a child, such as lifting up a car. So its our use of Faith that determines what we can or can’t do.
The Gospel of Mark makes it clearer:
“If you do not doubt in your heart, but believe what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.”
Mark 11:23
Spoken words are thoughts given extra energy, a stronger vibration, so speaking adds power to what we are thinking.
What are we believing will come to pass in our lives, in our world, right now? Be careful what you believe, what you are saying, because the universe hears that as being what we want, and it will be done.
Mark, chapter 9 makes this even clearer, in the story of the father of a boy who had frequent epileptic seizures.
The father asked Jesus for help, saying, “If you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.”
Jesus replied with an exclamation mark: “If YOU are able! All things can be done for the one who believes.”
The father understood that HE was the one who needed to have faith, not Jesus. He replied wisely, “I believe, help my unbelief”.
The truth is that we all have Faith – it is one of our Twelve Powers, our inner spiritual qualities that we can choose to use for good… or not.
Winifred Hausmann Your God-Given Potential:
“Faith is that quality in us which enables us to look past appearances of lack, limitation or difficulty, to take hold of the divine idea and believe in it, even though we do not see any evidence of it except in our mind.”
Winifred Hausmann Your God-Given Potential:
What does she mean by “Divine Ideas”? Charles Fillmore explains in Atom-Smashing Power they are our inheritance from Spirit, the foundation of all the good that is available to us. Divine Ideas are waiting for us to tune our minds to Spirit within, to receive inspiration for good in our lives, and the guidance to make it real. He writes they are “pregnant with all possibility”!
Divine Ideas include all our Twelve Powers, which combine together and express in wonderful ways in our lives. Divine Ideas are Good ideas that come from Spirit – we could call them “God Ideas”.
Paul Hasselbeck describes Divine Ideas in Heart-Centered Metaphysics:
“All possibilities that exist and could exist in the relative realm are enfolded in Divine Ideas.”
Paul Hasselbeck Heart-Centered Metaphysics:
Being willing to sit in the Silence, in meditation, is our opportunity to be open and receptive to these Divine Ideas of possibilities of greater good. Then as Winifred and Jesus both taught, we need to BELIEVE they are possible, and to accept them into our lives, and do whatever we can to bring them into expression in our lives.
So what stops us?
- Firstly, do we give ourselves the opportunity to be open to Divine Ideas of Good?
- Do we accept the possibility, or do we let old negative beliefs block the process?
- Do we let fear get in the way – fear of failure – or even fear of success?
Here’s what Robert Brumet said about fear and faith:
“Fear is faith turned inside out. Fear is faith in certain images created by the mind rather than having faith in the creative mind itself”.
Robert Brumet
Robert Brumet was one of my favourite teachers at Ministerial School, a man who had been through heartbreak and loss, and wrote the book Finding Yourself in Transition about how he learnt to overcome grief. He later wrote more books from a very deep level of spiritual consciousness, including Birthing a Greater Reality and The Quest for Wholeness.
“Fear is faith turned inside out.”
Wow, Bob, that’s a great reminder when we get caught up in the fear that is ruling the world at present. We need to hold to the Divine Idea of Life, Wellness, Wholeness, and focus on that, not live in fear.
To understand the effect that belief has on our health, we only need to look at the placebo effect – about 1/3 of people given a placebo that they believe is appropriate medication experience an end to their symptoms. So let’s believe in our body’s ability to be healthy, based on faith in the Divine Idea of Life,
Of course we also have a Power of Wisdom, which tells us to take necessary precautions to protect and look after ourselves, while keeping our focus on wholeness, not illness.
Or if it is the talk of recession that fills us with fear, we need to have faith in the Divine Idea of Substance, to know that our needs are met in divine order. “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you”. Move the mountain of fear of lack and limitation, and affirm substance, and nothing will be impossible for you. Let’s be open to creating images of substance coming to us easily and abundantly.
Let’s look for things to celebrate: the world around us, the sunshine, the trees, the birds. Let’s enjoy spending more time at home, and do the things we have neglected to take time for, like creativity, phone calls to distant friends, listening to music. I’ve been enjoying the wonderful concerts and operas available free on ABC IView (if you have a digital tv or smart phone).
I bought myself a Roland digital piano in February BC (before corona) before isolation started. It didn’t make sense at the time as I was planning to be away all of March on a long road trip to Victoria and Tasmania. How glad am I that I followed my intuition and bought it before we left, because we came back to a different world. So now I have the piano to play every day in my own home. Following my intuition reinforces my faith.
Friday’s Daily Word on Faith caught my attention:
“I keep my mind open to possibility thinking and envision all good things. I believe in the love, the activity, and the presence of [God] in all situations. I am continuously blessed with rightly directed faith.”
Daily Word Friday July 10, 2020
If we add an “o” to the word God it is even stronger:
“ I keep my mind open to possibility thinking and envision all good things. I believe in the love, the activity, and the presence of [Good] in all situations. I am continuously blessed with rightly directed faith.”
I like the idea of “rightly directed faith” – let’s be sure that we have our faith in what is for our highest good – and we will find that will also be be highest good for those around us
To quote the Daily Word affirmation:
“I am blessed with rightly directed faith.”
Remember: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you”
