Precious

"Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.”¹
“My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;”²
“My people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bringeth good tidings, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”³
“Since thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even everyone that is called by name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”⁴

God has created Man, is speaking to Man, and views Man as very precious. We must publish this wonderful Love, by listening, seeing, and treating each other as the precious Creation of God. It is our duty to our Father-Mother, God. We are Father-Mother, God’s children. We not only must do this, we get to do this.

HOW? Start by treating our family, friends and those we come into contact as Precious Children of Love. Then think of anyone that comes to our view, our thoughts, our experience as the Precious People of God’s Creation. Then pray, love, and have sincere hearts to those around the world in the same way. One by one, if each of us view the other as God sees us, and as God has created us, we will see what Christ Jesus spoke of when he stated, ‘Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’⁵ truly means.

Having that consciousness that rejoices in Her babes. Having that view of Love for all His creation by cherishing and loving one another, we will begin to see true Peace. It begins in our thoughts and hearts and then spreads to all mankind through love without condemnation and without judgment.

We are the precious creation of the One Altogether Lovely. Let us love one another in honor to this Precious Parent and Creator of Her Precious People. We are His, ‘my people’. Let us rejoice in this and love one another!

Gentle hugs

1 The King James Version of The Holy Bible Psalms 78 vs. 1
2 ibid Isaiah 32 vs. 18 (my)
3 ibid Isaiah 52 vss. 6 (my), 7
4 ibid Isaiah 43 vss. 4-7
5 ibid Matthew 19 vs. 19

What is a shadow?

What is a shadow? Isn’t it just a blockage of light?

Does a shadow have life, a creator, a purpose, thinking? No. It is just the obstruction of light. It is just a dark spot, a blockage of light.

How do we get rid of shadows? Light!

In The Epistle of James we read, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”¹

Would the ‘Father of lights’, who begat us, give us darkness? Wouldn’t that be impossible as the Light that has no ‘shadow of turning’?

Then where do these shadows of thought, darkness come from? And are they a part of us? NO!  They are only misconceptions, errors in thought. These shadows of thought are doubt, fear, depression, even sickness. They are dark spots in our thought, the shadows of misconception.

How can we get rid of these shadows of thought, these errors, misconceptions? They are removed ‘with the word of truth’. This Truth is God and His Creation, Man. The perfect Man of God’s creation, His image and likeness, as spoken of in the very first book of the Holy Bible, Genesis, in the very first Chapter.  It states, “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them…”²

We are the image and likeness of this ‘Father of lights’. As the image and likeness of God, we are that ‘firstfruits of His creatures’, spoken of in James.

Therefore we, as the blessed of God cannot be in a shadow, create a shadow, or believe in shadow thinking. We can only be the image and likeness of the Light that has no shadow of turning. We cannot be fooled by fear, doubt, even sickness! Why? Because God cannot be sick and we are His image and likeness, therefore we cannot be sick. Sickness is another shadow of belief, a belief of life in matter instead of an immortal image and likeness of Life, God.

How do we get a better understanding of this and remove these shadows of thought?

By turning to our Holy Bible we further gain knowledge of the Who and What that we are as His image and likeness. We gain a better understanding through prayer, watching, working, gratitude, rejoicing, and loving that we are the children of this ‘Father of lights’. This removes all the shadow thinking and dark illusions.

By learning more about this ‘Father of lights’; by learning more about What God is and then thereby Who and What we are as His image and likeness. This work breaks forward in a higher Light of understanding. This work brings with it a brighter view of God and Who we are. This work heals us from all the darkness and reveals Life as God, as the Light, Life, Truth, and Love, the Creator of all Being, and that Divine.

If our lives seem to be filled with dark shadows, depression, sickness, lack, what we need more of is Light. The light of better understanding, clearer views, deeper consecrated lives.

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, states in her main works, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “As light destroys darkness and in the place of darkness all is light, so [in absolute Science] Soul , or God is the only truth-giver to man.”³ 

Remember the ‘perfect gifts’? Those perfect gifts told to us in James? They are God’s Love for us and the Truth that He gives to us. These truths are what reveal to us a better understanding of our relationship to God, with God, and the What and Who that we are as God’s image and likeness. This line of light, Truth, destroys the darkness of the fear shadows, sick shadow thoughts, doubting and depressed shadows. With this Light of Truth the darkness gives place to the Light. We become free from these dark shadows and feel God’s healing presence, His Light of Love.

This work reveals to us that the Light is the permanent FIXTURE and the shadows are the dim, fleeting phantoms of misconception.

Let us turn to our Light and see all of the shadows disappear. We will be able to see the Who and What that we are as the children of the ‘Father of lights’ better if we look to the Light and turn from all the darkness of doubt, fear, and even sin.

This is a gift to us. ‘…the perfect gift’ to us, His ‘firstfruits.

Gentle hugs


1 The King James Version of the Holy Bible James 1vss. 17, 18
2 ibid Genesis 1 vss. 26-28
3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 72 line 10

Invisible Spirit ever available

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even the eternal power and Godhead;¹

God, Spirit, is invisible to the material mortal view point. But this invisibility doesn’t stop His constant ever-presence in all of man’s lives. He is more clearly seen as we love Him and His offspring. The more we truly love the Spirit, the more we see His Hand, Power, in every part of our lives.

How did Christ Jesus feed the multitudes with just a few loaves of bread and a small amount of fish²? And when he stated, “And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me,”³ was he talking to himself or to the invisible God? Invisible to those who were around him. But clearly visible to Jesus’ Christ thought, he knew the ever availability of God's care and presence.

How may we more clearly see this invisible Spirit? By seeking the Truth and Love of Christ Jesus’ teachings and through the study of our Holy Bible and the works of Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, we can more clearly feel and ‘see’  the invisible God and His Christ activity in our lives.   As we consistently and persistently turn to God for all answers, we do see His healing power and loving direction in every portion of our lives. This Love reveals itself constantly to those who purify their lives and look to Him for all.

Though invisible to the naked eye, He is viable and ever-present in our lives. We see Him as He is, Perfect, All-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful Love when we turn our thoughts to Him. He, through the ‘still small voice’, guides us, protects us, embraces us in His Love. We need only to turn to Him for all things and see our completeness in Him.

He has made us able to conceive of His presence, turn to His power, and to love His ways. This is the only path to freedom from fear, doubt, and mistaken beliefs that comes from not knowing His ever-present Love and constant healing ability.

In Revelation we are told of the salvation and strength of this invisible God. It states, And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.⁴

Love fills all space. Mind, God, and His wisdom and intelligence, created the universe including Man. He is able to take care of whatever seems to concern us. Principle, God, is the Divine Law that supersedes all falsely mistaken laws of this mortal existence and He heals us of these misconceptions. His Laws removes every false claim, false belief, false accusation the ‘accuser’ tries to set up against God’s Man. God forever frees us from the accuser’s accusations and lifts us to higher vision of thought and activity.

In the Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science explains, In all mortal forms of thought, dust is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and modes of material motion are honored with the name of laws. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical properties of meal.⁵ AND  Spirit is the only substance, the invisible and indivisible infinite God. Things spiritual and eternal are substantial. Things material and temporal are insubstantial.⁶

This is a big subject, the invisibility but ever-present availability of Spirit. But let us begin with the baby steps of turning our thoughts to the invisible Spirit through prayer and listening. Let us then follow the steps He is giving, by obediently following this ‘still small voice’. By doing His loving bidding, we will begin to see Him more and more in our lives. Then let us let these steps grow into a relationship that is already there, Love loving His children.

Gentle hugs


1 The King James Version of The Holy Bible Romans 1 vs. 20 to the ;
2 ibid Matthew 14; Mathew 15 and Mark 6 and Mark 8
3 ibid John 11 vs. 42
4 ibid Revelation 12 vs. 10
5 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 118 beginning on line 20
6 ibid page 335 beginning on line 12

Divine Reality is the only Reality

God creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are spiritual realities.¹

 

How can we heal our lives and all of the ends and outs of the complications that so upset us and make us feel that our future is dismal?

God, Good, the Divine Creator of All. What God knows reverses our futile feelings, our fears, our doubts, our beliefs of the gloomy now and the dismal forecast of our tomorrows.

What God knows is the Real. What we believe or think outside of God’s All-knowing is the unreal. What God knows is realized by turning to only Him and turning off our beliefs and fears.

How? By consecrating our lives to Him, looking to Him for all answers, this gives to us the vision of His harmonious Reality. This harmonious Reality is being expressed through us. This revelation of His healing presence and the removal of the chaos and doubt, frees us to live our lives as He created, lives full, harmonious, joyful and FREE.

By consecrating our lives to His Will, His Ways, His unfoldment of His Good, we can gladly see that a life with God, who is our Life, is a life that is lifted above the false pictures of gloom and doom to the vision of His Creation.

God doesn’t see what we see. God only sees what He created and that as ‘very good’². God only sees His Divine Reality. God only sees His perfection and His creation as perfect. This creation includes Man, the Universe, and all things therein.

By looking to see what God sees, what God has created, what God is giving, we become freer and freer from the burdens of our own mistaken beliefs. By looking to Love, God, for love, Love is revealed in infinite ways. By looking to Life, God, for our life, we experience more fully a healthy freer life. By looking to Principle, God, for all guidance, direction through His Divine Laws, we are guided through and out of hardships to see that His Laws supersede the mortal beliefs. By looking to Spirit, God, we begin to see, feel, and know that substance is not in matter and the mortal experience. But that Substance, true substance, is divine, strong, purely spiritual, perfect and substantial, outside of matter and in Spirit. By looking for Soul, God, we see all creativity as divine, beautiful, as spectacular as the sunrise or sunset. This creative Soul, God, created Man in His own image and likeness. Man as the offspring of Soul expresses all Art, Science, Creativity, in all His, God’s, spiritual ways. By looking for Truth, God, we begin to see through the eyes of Truth, which dispels the lies, removes the fears, and brings our vision to the higher standard of Divine Truth. By looking to Mind, God, we see true wisdom and intelligence being our guides throughout our day. This All-knowing Mind expresses its ideas throughout all of His creation, revealing His Perfect Selfhood and Perfection. His unfoldment of His Perfect Thought fills all space. His Perfect Thoughts includes each one of us. We are His Thought being expressed. We must let Him remove all of our false concepts about ourselves and reveal to us our true identity as His Ideas. Mind, God, does this.    

Let us see a higher sense of Reality by turning to the Real and only Creator, God. Let us let our lives be lifted above the false senses to see our lives having higher purposes and better experiences. Let us let go of the false fears and doubts, by turning to the ‘All-knowing, All-seeing, All-wise’, God who is our Life. Let us love His ways more than our ways. Let us trust His views more than our beliefs. Let us be the Who and What of His Creation. This ‘LETTING’ will we bring us into His Truth and reveal His purpose for us, bringing it out into the open. This will free us from the chaos, gloom, fear and doubt and bring forward His Glory into our lives.

Gentle hugs

1 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 513 lines 26-27

2 The King James Version of the Holy Bible Genesis chapter 1  

Self-Justification...that path that leads astray

It matters not what be thy lot so love doth guide; for storm or shine, pure peace is thine, Whate’er betide. And of these stones, or tyrants’ thrones, God able is to raise up seed—in thought and deed—to faithful His. Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence! Our God is good. False fears are foes—truth tatters those, when understood. Love looseth thee, and lifteth me, ayont hate’s thrall: There Life is light, and wisdom might, and God is All.¹

It doesn’t matter what we think if we are thinking out from “self”. We are always in the wrong if we are living our lives as tyrants over others, pushing our opinions and agendas. God is All. What God knows, sees, does, and expresses is the Truth. This Truth lifts us above all personal sense of things into the higher knowledge of Good. Love looses us from the false pretenses of opinion, beliefs, and strongly held desires, to God’s unfoldment of eternal divine Right.

Job’s state of thought was, “I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.”²

This is all well and good if Job thought of himself as not self-righteous but as the supreme example, expression of God’s Good. Letting God humble him and purify his thoughts from judgmentalness to being meekly willing to let God’s judgments guide him.

We get ourselves into a lot of ‘trouble’ when we go headlong into a conversation or activity if it is based upon what we personally believe about the situation…we can really open up our mouth and insert foot (or pink slip, divorce, or heartache). How important it is to make sure that we humble ourselves first before life does it for us.  

Christ Jesus reminds all mankind, “Judge not according to the appearances, but judge righteous judgment.”³ AND WARNS… “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”⁴

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science states, In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error, self-will, self-justification, and self-love, --which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death.⁵

Strong words against self-justification, “is the law of sin and death”! 

Paul’s words could be turned into a self-analyzing question: “Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer (?)”

How can we tell between righteous judgment of God or self-righteous, self-justification? The Holy Bible states, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”⁶

The righteous judgment of God is the Law. It brings us out of our own undoing, the pits we create with our views and our mouths. But self-righteousness and self-justification brings us further down into the darkness of self-will and self-love. There is no law that justifies us if we are going from a point of view that we are all right and everyone around us is all wrong. A point of view that elevates our self-righteousness doesn’t bring us any good.

Humility is a beautiful thing. It brings with it pause, the kind of pause we all need so that we may wait on God. Humility brings with it progress. Self, all the self opinions that take us down a path of destruction in reputation, grace, meekness, brings with it embarrassment and having to turn ourselves around to go back to where God is leading us.

David sings in his Psalms, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”⁷

Let us go through today and always with a meek and understanding heart. God’s views are higher than our views. He will lead us not into the path of destruction but through the ways of understanding and goodness. Let us not be all puffed up in our own self beliefs, but meek, humble, loving, and safe from the carnal enmity that is against God.

Gentle hugs


1 Christian Science Hymnal No. 160 Poem by Mary Baker Eddy
2 The King James Version of The Holy Bible Job 34 vs. 5
3 ibid John 7 vs. 24
4 ibid Matthew 23 vs. 12
5 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 242 line 18
6 The King James Version of The Holy Bible Romans 8 vs. 7
7 ibid Psalms 1 vss. 1-6

Trust

In the Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy we find, “The physical universe expresses the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals.”¹

So what is the physical universe expressing right now? Tornados, drought, flooding, fires, economic stresses, job losses, home foreclosures, and that is just in the United States of America. Those are pretty stressful conditions. On Facebook this morning I found one person’s post simply stating:

“S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D” That was to the point.

How do we turn the tides of thought and see Good instead of all this dismay and destruction? The simplest and life altering answer is that we must turn to God and trust Him. We must see that we can trust His ever-present Good. We must turn from trying to do everything on our own; Or sometimes worst yet, trying to find someone who can help us. Instead, we must SEE that God is giving to us abundantly and taking care of us. We must take a firm stand on the side of Good. Believing in the promises and taking a stand for His omnipotent care. He IS giving to us all that we need through His love, goodness, support, and joy.

 

Tired of fear and stress? We must finally stop looking at the darkness and turn to the Light of His Love, to the Light of His joy and giving. His tender care will free us from what we’re seeing as all-around evil and destruction and reveal to us His divine view point of Good. It delights God to love and give. His peace is ever-present.

By learning how to trust His power we become much more confident in Good instead of the horrible darkness of constant evil that seems to always be biting us at every step.

 

Why can this be said? Has anyone been successful, consistently, by turning to God? Is God real? Is He trustworthy? Does He know me and you?

Our Great Master and Exemplar revealed to mankind over and over this invisible Good as an ever-present help. Christ Jesus had the works of hatred always trying to take him down. But he revealed to us the omnipotence of our Father’s Love, His constant care. Jesus trusted in Good instead of its demoralizing opposite. He knew that God, Love, is loving all and expressing all through Love. He knew that God is All-in-all through his healings of every kind. He knew that God, Life, is the only Life and showed mankind through his raising others from their dead thinking. He knew that God, Principle, is the Law of our Being as the offspring of Soul. He knew that God, Soul, created all and that His creation was very good. He knew that God, Mind, is the power behind all right activity and that it is perfect, whole, balanced, complete, and free from all taint of error, mistake, ignorance, discord. He knew that what Mind knows and does is perfect and that Man is included in this divine perfect activity.

What Jesus knew and trusted he loved and expressed for all man to see and express likewise!

So when we trust in evil, bad going from bad to worse, struggles, instead of love, freedom, goodness, abundance, we get what we expect and what we think. How important then is it for us to turn our trust from the evil to the Good. Looking for Good, expecting to receive Good, manifesting in our thoughts and activities only Good! Jesus exampled this activity for us but didn’t do it for us. We must be as his disciples and produce the same effects, bring thought and lives up to the same standards of divine perfection, be the reflections of Good that we were created to be.

How? Christian Science teaches us that by loving God, Good, more than fearing evil we gain our dominion over all evils. It teaches us the Science of the Christ, the what and how of our Master Christian, Christ Jesus. It teaches us that by trusting Good instead of expecting the worst to happen in our day, we can see and live in the atmosphere of Good. It reveals to us how to be active trusters instead of halfhearted hopers. It teaches us HOW to take our stand for Good and HOW to demand of ourselves and our thoughts, our attention, to be on God, Love. It teaches us the importance of our praise of glory of Him who does all, created all, and expresses all through Man and His Universe. It teaches us that God is trustworthy. He is Love. He is always available. He is always waiting patiently for us, mercifully, tenderly.

So…Why not trust Love? Is it not that we think of love on a much lower level than God, Love? Haven’t we based our views upon people as our source of love, goodness, jobs, care? Hasn’t this basis been flimsy at best and downright devastating at times? Are we shell shocked at the vast chasm between true Love and Care and being dropped time and time again? People, bank accounts, jobs, houses, circumstances let us down when we base our good upon the mortal. Over and over they prove to be less than reliable. But isn’t that even more a reason for us to stop looking for care and supply from a lacking basis and start looking to the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient God for our source of all Good?

Job warned: “So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.”²

We must see where we are putting our trust and reform that course of action and thought. If we are putting our trust in things that can burn, float away, leave, be lost or taken, or upon people and jobs that waiver and leave, then we are basing our good on the flimsy and unstable, the  ‘spider’s web’. But if we put all of our thought and activity on the divineness of Good, on God who never leaves, is always lifting us to higher and higher to His views and activities. Then we’re basing our Good on a firm foundation; the foundation of Life, the foundation that Jesus always pointed us to turn to for everything.

Our lives can look pretty dismal, lacking in every area but it is never too late to turn to God for the real answers, the abundance of His care and love. What the world needs more is trust, starting with me. Let us trust the faithful, “the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving”³ God who created All. He knows the way He is leading us. He knows His Love for us. He is here ready for us to stop trying to do this dark fearsome maze of concern and doubts on our own. He is waiting to lift us up above the maze and be free! By looking up to Him He will lift us out of it. Let us look to His Light and Love and be free. Let us trust Him and let Him do the leading. How? Simply love God more than believing the lies, the opposite of His Good.

“Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.”⁴

Gentle hugs

1 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy pg 484 lines 13-14

2 The King James Version of The Holy Bible Job 8 vss. 13-15
3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy pg. 587 line 6 (Definition of “God. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance;  intelligence.” )
4  Psalms 62 vs. 8

Prayer/Poem/Hymn By Mary Baker Eddy

 

“It matters not what be thy lot, so Love doth guide;

For storm or shine, pure peace is thine, whate’er betide.

 
And of these stones, or tyrants’ thrones, God able is
To raise up seed—in thought and deed—to faithful His.

Aye, darkling  sense, arise, go hence! Our God is good.

False fears are foes—truth tatters those, when understood.

Love looseth thee, and lifteth me, Ayont hate’s thrall:

There Life is light and wisdom might, And God is All.” 

Christian Science Hymnal No. 160

Burdened?

So many in my area this morning are waking up in someone else's home. There has been evacuation due to the threat of fire.

Turning thought to prayer the temptation to feel sad, burdened, concern was lifted by the realization that God is here, Good is always here. Things and homes may have been lost for some. But Love is all around. Things and homes can be rebuilt. But our relationship with God, Love, is never lost, never broken, never taken from us. All we have to do is turn to Him to feel His constant loving presence.

To some the burden of this new day may feel heavy. But we are shown our burdens are actually light when we give them all over to God. We do not have to carry anything on our own shoulders. All we have to do is to turn to Him, look to Him, and follow step by step His unfoldment of His eternal Good.

Christ Jesus, the man that was called the man of sorrows'1 revealed to us all that he saw his life in God as not a burden but a place of joy. He stated, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."2

What a thought! Our 'burden is light'. Despite the outward appearances we can sing, "my burden is light. I understand that God is our Father. God is constantly revealing to us our divine relationship to Him, Love!"

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, states, "Is not our comforter always outside and above ourselves?"3

To find freedom from all burdens we must see that comfort comes from Love, God. This Love is outside of and above our personal sense of things. It lifts us above our low level view to His higher view of Truth, Life and Love, what He is seeing, knowing and doing. He never leaves us in this pit of burden. He never lets us dwell there. He comfort us and guides us upward into His perfect, calm view of Life as Spirit, spiritual, unburdened.

Let us let go of the false sense of loss and burden. Let us let Him lift us above the false personal views to His Higher Sight, His clear vision of all Good. Let us turn from the burden with a enlightened heart of joy, satisfaction, gratitude. Let us let God lift us from the struggles. Let us let God reveal to us His way and joyfully follow Him. He is our constant. He is our Care Giver. He is lifting us above the darkened sense of burden and revealing our life as His beloved cared for child. Then we can say joyfully, "my burden is light!"

Gentle hug

1The King James Version of The Holy Bible Isaiah 53 vs. 3
2 ibid Matthew 11 vss. 27-30
3 Unity of Good by Mary Baker Eddy page 18 line 15

Resentment, resentful, angry?

 Have you ever seen a cat all settled calm maybe even purring one minute and then puffed up with back arched the next time you see him? What is his natural state of being? Calm, happy, purring or puffed up, afraid, angry?

As the children of God what is our natural state of being? As God is Good, loving, tender, merciful, isn’t that our natural state of being as well? So what is the resentful, angry, hostility that comes to try to mar our natural, calm state? Aren’t they temptations of the hater, tempter, destructive and destructible evil?

So when these temptations of being angry and resentful come to us can we not take a stand for our true calm, happy nature? Doesn’t God not only create man in His perfect calm image but also reveals to us how He is protecting us from the temptations?

David sings his precious Psalm, “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.”¹

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, states, “The calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the manifestations of which are health, purity, and self-immolation, must deepen human experience, until the beliefs of material existence are seen to be a bald imposition, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place to the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to God’s spiritual, perfect man.”²  

Our calm joyful nature is ours. We get to be this perfect image and likeness of what God is and is doing. We get to take a stand against the false character and rejoice in our dominion. When one stays in their true nature it is easier to stay above the temptations. But when we fall for those temptations we can feel lost in the waves of turmoil and the sea of emotions.

Let us be free and calm instead of captives to anger and resentment. Let us be buoyed by God’s divine nature and the truth of our being, His perfect reflection. Let us stay safe in His tender truths and not be reactionary to the false claims that there is something or someone who can disturb us from our true calm nature. Let us see that by being our true selves, Love’s children, the calm, loving, ideas of God, we are free.

Let us be cool cats and stay calm. Let us rejoice that our nature is God's nature, loving, tender, calm. Purrrrfect.

Gentle hugs

1 The King James Version of The Holy Bible Psalms 107 vss. 29-31
2 Science and Health with Keky to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 99 lines 23-29

Scientific Statement of Being

“Question.—What is the Scientific Statement of Being?

Answer.—There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is his image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.”¹ by Mary Baker Eddy

Life is eternal. It has no beginning and no ending. This was proven by Christ Jesus over 2,000 years ago when hatred tried to crucify Love. He proved the impossibility of killing Life. He proved over and over that life isn’t in a mortal material body. He proved that no disease, no sin, not even death held power over God’s Man, the image and likeness of God.²

Mary Baker Eddy was healed many times of many ailments. She even had a ‘deathbed’ experience. When the doctors proclaimed there wasn’t anything else they could do for her and that death was what was going to happen to her shortly. She asked for her Holy Bible. She opened it up to a healing account of Jesus’ and she was healed. She got out of the bed, dressed herself, showed herself well to her friends instead of dying. She then went on a three year mission with her Holy Bible, studying, praying, gleaning, learning and proving the what and how of her healing by healing others. She later shared her learning with others and called it Christian Science. The Science of the Christ, the Science, knowledge of the how and the what of the Christ. The Christ power that was in the life experiences of those before Christ Jesus and that is in all of our lives in the here and now.

The power she learned from the Christ healing work she shared with the world. As Christian Scientist we feel great gratitude for Mrs. Eddy as well as for Christ Jesus. Because the two of them are the forever two witnesses to the Laws of God, Love. They shared the power, manifestation, expression of ‘Immanuel, God with us’ all. They gave proof to the ever-present divine Laws of God. They taught us all, that it isn’t a gift for a few but for all mankind to express and prove for themselves. This healing ministry is provable for all. “The divine Principle of healing is proved in the personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth.”⁴ This ‘divine Principle…Truth’ is God Law of Truth and this heals the sick, lifts the sinning and dying, and reveals Life as God’s presence being reflected by Man.

Many of us have seen this healing presence of God’s divine laws being manifested right where the mortal claims of disaster, disease, sinful temptations and even death claimed to be more powerful. God is the only power, the only Life, the Spirit, Soul, Principle Creator of the Universe including Man. God is Love and He expresses His healing Love through us all and with us all. He never leaves, therefore His perfect Being, the Being that we reflect, never leaves us. This perfect Being heals us of all misconceptions, lies, opinions, theories, false systems, dogmas and creeds concerning life in a matter based, mortal existence, the lies of the error, devil that tries to forever separate us from the Truth of our Being as God’s children.

God’s laws are the only true Law, otherwise how could Christ Jesus heal man and woman from all sorts of the mortal beliefs? Man reflects these laws and is maintained by them. Man is here as proof of these laws and are to prove them in his daily experience. God’s laws are the only Power. The false claims of mortal beliefs have no power to change the ever-powerful, ever-present, All-in-all of God. As we prove God’s healing ever-presence and Man’s reflection, expression, duty and responsibility to be healed and heal with God’s laws, the lies disappear.

Man is the proof, the reflection, the image and likeness of all that God is and is doing.  We are told “mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.”³ By ‘marking this perfect man’ in our thoughts and our lives, we are proving the ‘Scientific Statement of Being’.

Burdened? Sick? Sinning? Dying? Learn this Scientific Statement of Being. This Scientific statement is our being as the image and likeness, the ‘perfect Man’ of God’s creation. It is provable, healing, lifting and powerful.

Let us stop being the victims of lies and see our Divine Right as the Children of God.

Gentle hugs

 

1 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 468 lines 8-15

2 The King James Version of The Holy Bible Genesis 1 vss. 26, 27
3 ibid Psalms 37 vs. 37
4 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page x line 23

The hardness of heart...the harshness of spirit is healed by Love

We are taught “In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error,--self-will, self-justification, and self-love,--which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death.”¹

The ‘adamant of error’: the hardness in hearts and minds of mistaken beliefs about ourselves and others. Harsh thoughts, egotistical thoughts, the strength of opinions that leads us away from spirituality, the following of God’s commands, takes us further and further from our birthright as the Children of God, the Children of Love.


'Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another."²

Strongly held belief that hardens our hearts against others, especially based upon a personal sense of egotism, prejudice, or unfounded opinion gets us nowhere. These are based upon self-will, believing others should act like us, be like us; self-justification, not wanting to see the wrong in our own self; and self-love, the arrogance of egotism and self-centered immaturity. We do not want to be nor can we actually be a 'stiff necked' people. We must be the representatives of Life, Truth, and Love. The images and likeness of God, Good.

“ Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts:”³

We are told the way to ‘dissolve’ this ‘adamant of error’ is through ‘the universal solvent of Love’. The Holy Bible states that if we do not stop listening to, obeying, and following these adamant errors of thought and action then we cannot hear God and God cannot hear those thoughts animating us into the wrong stands.

Love brings us out of the ugliness of selfishness and egotism. Love lifts us above the hardness and harshness of opinions. Love leads us into kindness, consideration, forgiveness, forbearance. Hardness of thought and action leads us into hatred, willfulness, discord, anger, resentment and finally violence.

Love is the animating power that should direct us every step of the way. We have been taught, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”⁴

Humility and love brings us farther than egotism, harsh thoughts and words, and the hardness of prejudice. Love brings to us peace between neighbors. Love gives to us the joy and fulfillment of Goodness.

Let us ‘labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error’. Let us love our fellow man. Let us not only be loving but also think loving thoughts. Let us rejoice in letting go of the hardness of heart and the harshness of thoughts and words. Let us let Grace be the lead of our activities. Let us remove all the ‘self’ opinions of egotism and self-love that leads to self-superiority and ugliness.

 Let us let Love be our compass and guide in all that we think, say, and do. Let us be and do the will of Love.

Gentle hugs

1 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy pg 242 line 17
2 The King James Version of The Holy Bible  Psalms 75 vss. 5-7
3 ibid Zechariah 7 vss. 12 and 13
3 ibid I John 4 vss. 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16 (God)

Anger

As I sit here in front of  my laptop screen trying to put down the sudden anger that came to me due to a silly Facebook commit, I'm finding the lessons of staying out of other people's dreams helpful.

When anger strikes and sometimes at odd moments for odd reasons, we have to realize that we have the control, anger doesn't. It is rare that I get angry any more. There are too many things that would try to rile me up and I've learned that in actuality there are no reasons for anger.

Anger is an emotion lead by the devilish temptations of a personal sense of self. It is a feeling that others are stepping on our 'toes'; a warmonger trying to create problems between people or societies. It is an emotion that I do not wish to play party to, a loss of control of humility. Anger is a loss of personal control, a loss of graciousness.

Anger blinds people and creates factions. Anger causes long term disputes. Anger brings with it damage of violence or words that cannot be taken back.

Anger misrepresents us, showing our animality, ugliness, gracelessness, uncontrolled self-centeredness. It doesn't bring to the table of communication  arbitration, listening, open mindedness. Anger closes the eyes and ears to another's side and only makes us feel like our side is the only side.

Anger's lingering effects is resentment, hurt feelings, loss of friendships, family, and relationships. Anger doesn't bring us the reward of gain but instead the outcome of loss.

Anger is destructive not constructive. Anger tears down, abuses, removes. It doesn't build up, protect, give us anything productive or constructive.

We are told in The Holy Bible, the King James Version, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."1

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder and discoverer of Christian Science, states, "There is immense wisdom in the old proverb, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty." Hannah More said, 'If I wished to punish my enemy, I should make him hate somebody.'"2

To handle anger, by a slow methodical process or a quick denial of anger's claims that there is something worthy to lose control over, keeps us above the temptations of the devil's attempts to use and abuse us. It saves us from regret! It protects us from backlash and harm. It allows us to stay mentally and physically in control of our own environment. It gives to us a sense of God's ever- present Peace and Love. It allows us to be better examples of the Christ.

We can handle situations that comes to us in the knowledge that what comes from God is Good, giving, happy, calm, peaceful. What comes from the liar, the tempter, is agitating, ruffling, upsetting, distracting. The Good God gives to us is progressive and soothing. The temptations of evil is destructive and irritating.

Let us see that anger isn't our normal state of being. Let us see that anger isn't a natural part of us as the children of God. Let us see that anger is a temptation as any other emotion that takes us away from joyfulness and grace.

Let us pray that we always stay above all the temptations of the devil and not ever be a part of its dismal darkness.

For we are told, "rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil."3
By turning to this gracious and merciful God of great kindness He will change our thoughts from the evil to His ever-present blessings of Good.

Thank you God, I feel much better under Your loving control.

Gentle hugs

1 King James Version of The Holy Bible Proverbs 16 vs. 32
2 Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy pg 223 lines 25-28
3 King James Version of The Holy Bible Joel 2 vs. 13

Already Created Good

Is there anything actually ‘new’? or are ‘new’ things just discovered? Dis-covered, found, realized, seen, understood?

In Genesis chapter 1 and the first three verses of Genesis chapter 2 God created all in the seven days of creation. To most the number seven represents completeness, finished, whole, all that is needed. When one looks to these verses one can see a complete creation of man, animals, water, light and universe, the Allness of All. This creation in its wholeness was pronounced as ‘very good’.

When we see life in this divinely scientific way we can see that nothing in it that was created was evil, less than good. Therefore where does evil and its representation come from? It doesn’t when one sees and realizes that “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”¹

Everything that was made was made by God and it was very good. The Good of God’s creating didn’t include evil of any sort.

When we magnify Good as the All of All everything else becomes less and less to the point of diminishing and disappearing back into nothing. Good is All-in-all. Bad, evil, the opposite of Good therefore has to be the unreal of the Divine Real.

When we magnify Good as the All-in-all, the Divine Real becomes more and more real to us. The wrong, error, bad, the opposite of the Real, evil then becomes a mistaken belief. In this magnification of Good, evil, the unreal disappears.

God, Good, already created all and all was proclaimed ‘very good’, therefore as we magnify the Good, the Real in our thoughts, Good becomes more real to us in our day to day lives than the mistaken beliefs of bad or evil.

What would be the benefit in that? A life more representative of the Real, the Good of God becoming more real to us! Our lives would be based more upon the truth of Being as created by the all wonderful good God. The evils, errors, misrepresentations would therefore diminish, lessen, disappear. Our lives then would be more in accord to the Real than the unreal. Our lives would become more fully the representation of Good, God. This is the true blessing of Love, God. That He created all Good for Man and the Universe to live and enjoy. What could be bad about that? Nothing!

Magnify Love’s work, all the Good of God’s creation. Live Life, God, as His witness to His Good and rejoice. STOP magnifying the unreal, the bad of everything and start living a life of Good!

Gentle hug

 
1 The King James Version of the Holy Bible Genesis 1 vs. 31

Depressed, sad, fearful? Get inspired

Feeling sluggish, down, depressed, sad, grieving over something or someone? Are you concerned, worried, confused? Get inspired. Inspiration lifts our thoughts, lives, and work.

Many who are in the depths of despair do not know how to get out of the darkness. But if they would let in the light of inspiration…just a little light and then more and more…they would find there is a way out of depression, grief, even addictions caused by the thoughts of utter hopelessness.

How? By turning to the Light of God, the Light of Love, the joy of divine Life. How? By turning to God’s Word found in The Holy Bible, even if at first it is hard to understand it lifts thought. The activity of lifting thought to higher views, Divine views, lets in the Light that removes the darkness off of us. By reading, thinking, letting the words become clearer in our understanding, we gain dominion over the darkness.

The darkened thought seems self-perpetuating. But as darkness is removed instantly with light, thought enlightened removes the doubts, fears, and depressions. Even the smallest of light of a candle when lit transforms that area with light. When more candles are lit sight begins to become easier. Sight is a form of understanding. When we see something more clearly then understanding is becoming more evident.

Revelations, through reading the Word of God, brings our understanding from the lowest standpoint to high inspirations. This brings in the light into thought and lifts us above the dismal and dark to a better understanding and therefore more joy and happiness.

In Job, the 18th book of The Holy Bible in the Old Testament, we find, “…there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.”¹

And in II Thessalonians we read, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”²

Mary Baker Eddy, the discover and founder of Christian Science states in her textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings — our efforts to find life and truth in matter — and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the God-like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being.

              Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear:  but now mine eye seeth Thee." Mortals will echo Job's thought, when the supposed pain and pleasure of matter cease to predominate. They will then drop the false estimate of life and happiness, of joy and sorrow, and attain the bliss of loving unselfishly, working patiently, and conquering all that is unlike God.  Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontaneously, even as light emits light without effort; for "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."³

When we ‘dive into the shallows of mortal belief’ we are listening to, agreeing with, and acknowledging as fact the thoughts of darkness. This brings us nothing good and only pain, sorrow, and destruction through the addictions of either only listening to the darkened thought and or following the effects of those thoughts further into our personal demise of joy, happiness, and maybe of our life.

Depression is a poison. It leads life into fatal destructive thoughts and patterns. It leads no one into the light of Love as the Life, God, Good, does.

One of the best meanings of ‘depression’ is lack of spirit. It is a lack of understanding Spirit, God. When we start seeing and turning to God as Spirit, we, as God’s image and likeness, find we already have this perfect Spirit. We find that when we acknowledge Spirit as a part of us, we begin to manifest more of our spirit in the spirit of joy, the spirit of love, the spirit of happiness, the spirit of fortitude and goodness. When the temptations of dark thoughts come to us what we most need is to turn away from those patterns and thoughts by turning to God.

Spirit saves us from the symptoms of depression and their effects; such as, the use of drugs, alcohol, ‘shopping therapy’, gambling, or eating. To treat the dark thoughts of depression, what we need is not these mind numbing activities but more Spirit, God.

How? Through prayer. Praying is a conversation between God and Man, from God to Man. It is turning to God for the right thoughts of His perfect design and creation instead of the dark thoughts of dismal outlook. Praying inspires us with higher views. Praying consoles us, lifts our thoughts, makes us see things differently. Praying brings new channels of thoughts and therefore activities into our lives.

“Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
And prayer's sublimest strain doth reach
The Majesty on high.
 
Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air:
His watchword, overcoming death:
He enters heaven with prayer.”⁴

“He enters heaven with prayer.” When we pray and listen for the Voice of Good, the voice of God, it lifts us above all darkness into the light, the light of heaven! 

It is highly important then when we see the distance between darkness and light to go towards the lifting, inspiring effects of the Light and Life of God. It is worthy of our thoughts and time to exercise our dominion over the darkness of dismal thinking. It is for ours and others well being and happiness to glorify God and His wonderful activities. We can see how lifting our spirits above the darkening thoughts through prayer can utterly change our life.

“God giveth light to all

Who ask with prayer sincere;
He doth not fail to hear that call;
His Truth is ever near.
 
Plain shall His guidance be,
If thou but seek the right;
Clearly thy pathway thou shalt see,
A line of purest light.

God is thy light and health;
No death nor darkness there;
Turn but to Him, accept His wealth,
And all His glory share.”⁵

Gentle hug

1 The King James Version of The Holy Bible Job 32 vs. 8

2 ibid II Thessalonians 3 vss. 16, 17
3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures page 262 lines 14-26
4 Christian Science Hymnal No. 284 vss. 2, 3
5 ibid No. 70

Unceasing prayer...constant communion with God

Do we ever feel like we’re on top of the challenges in life? Then the next minute someone asks us a question that throws us? OR things change from green light to red light, everything is ‘rosey’ and then BAM, catching us off guard?

In The Holy Bible we read, “We are told Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit.”¹

To ‘pray without ceasing’ is the constant turning our thought and lives to God every moment; giving thanks to Him who is all Perfect, loving His ways and means. This protects us from the challenges that can easily catch us off guard in times of lull.

Lull?  Lull are those times, those moments or years when our focus is lost—our thoughts, our attention is not on God. We are being less prayerful, less obedient, less observant of God’s direction. We have put ourselves, our ego, other’s want and needs, before God. It is a form of self-hypnosis. We are being lulled away from our clear thinking and strong work as the children of God. Instead we’re letting the hypnotic suggestions of TV, amusements, frivolity, monetary gains and possessions, or worrisome concerns, lull us away from our strong thought, God, Mind.

By praying, communing with God, every moment we become strong sentinels. Unceasing prayer guards our thoughts and lives against fears, time wasters, and even the vanities and self-centeredness of impure thoughts. As we pray continually, fighting the threat and temptations of these ‘lulls’, we become stronger instead of weak.

In these lulls we are also being too busy to give thanks. We are ‘quenching the Spirit’ through disobedience and lack of listening to God. Instead of letting the Spirit lift us up in thought and activities, we are following our own will and desires. We are not striking down the serpentine lies, that are trying to make us afraid, confused, lost in a personal sense of an ‘us’ opposed to God’s perfect divine Will.

We pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”² This is a constant perfect Will. It leads us to better ways and views. We must constantly seek this Will to lead us every step of the way.

“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love… For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance;… with joy of the Holy Ghost:”³

When we are thinking so much about God’s loving care for each of us, ‘remembering without ceasing’ our work of faith in the labor of love.  As we patiently hope for, seek after, and find the Christ, Truth, we will be constantly praying. Life’s hardships will come and go, but with less effect and discouragement on our part. As we work our way above all of life’s challenges God’s Will becomes our strong foundation.

We must remember and know that we are the children of God. As Children of God we are not ailing, failing, fearing, lost mortals in a sea of burden and problems. We are spiritual ideas in Divine Consciousness, expressing His manifestation. This knowledge lifts us up above the seething sea of sadness, depression and problems. It rises our thought and activity from debase, impure, fearful, confused thoughts, to consciously pure, divine purpose.

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder and discoverer of Christian Science states, “In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve to take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We must "pray without ceasing." Such prayer is answered, in so far as we put our desires into practice.  
The Master's injunction is, that we pray in secret and let our lives attest our sincerity.”⁴   

This ‘closet’ is our spiritual sense where we close our thoughts from the barrage of material temptations, conflicts, fears and doubts. By turning whole heartedly to God for His complete guidance we consecrate our lives through prayer and obedience to only God, Principle.                              

When we pray unceasingly, seeking only His wisdom, we lift our lives and help others to do the same. We are then being lead by the Perfect One, God. We are walking above the problems with divine guidance and perfect solutions.

Let us turn this day into a day of unceasing prayer. Let us obediently follow the answers that He gives to us unswervingly. Let us see how unceasing prayer changes thought. This constant communion with God reveals our perfect Selfhood in Him.

‘God lights the way of duty,
And gives, for ashes, beauty,
And naught His hand delays;
Who trusts in His providing,
All glad in this confiding,
Is he who without ceasing prays.”⁵

Gentle hug

1 The King James Version of The Holy Bible I Thessalonians 5:17-19
2 ibid Matthew 6:10; Matthew 26:42; Luke 11:2
3 ibid I Thessalonians 1:3-6
4 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 15 lines 14-24
5 Christian Science Hymnal No. 361 vs. 3