comfort knows.
There is no unbelief,
And still by day and night, unconsciously,
The heart lives by that faith the lips deny
God knoweth why.
Lizzie York Case.
Your faith is your life. If one's faith is in a power that is limited then the life seems limited, and why place your faith in anything less than omnipotence?
All that the Truth teaches is to put your faith in the Supreme and not in any thing or any power less than God. You take the faith which you have placed in medicines, opiates, liniments, canes and crutches, eye-glasses, trusses, tonics, and so forth ("gods of wood and stone"), and give it to Spirit alone, believing God supports you, God invigorates you, God is your seeing power and health; and then you do not compromise in any way. To try to serve two masters, trusting the Spirit to heal you, and looking to the smallest particle of matter, even to a glass of water, for your healing is that mistake which is called in the Scripture "idolatry." And the result is only partial healing, or being healed only to get sick again.
Now we wish absolute healing; we desire only chat healing which is of God, the Highest, that healing that is everlasting. Looking to powers that are unreliable and changeable brings results that are unreliable and changeable. That is the reason why the practice of medicine can never be a science. It is largely theoretical and experimental "empiricism" they call it.
There is but One Physician that never fails when we trust Him completely. We place all our trust in the unlimited Healer, and the result to us is unlimited Health.
If any look to a limited power for healing, such as materia medica, substance less than the divine Substance, material which is not God; or mesmerism, a will-power less than the divine Will, and even contrary to it ; or magnetism, an emanation said to be from the human body, but limited, often evil in other words, an emanation less than the divine Essence ; or to mediumship, a control by what are called spirits, said to be inferior to the Most High, the One Spirit, these will be but slightly healed. 'They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly" (Jer. 6:14), because they look to other gods than the One God.
"And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great : yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign." 2 Chron. 16:12, 13.
"He sent his word and healed them." Ps. 107:20. The Word of God is the one healing power, the universal panacea, the elixir of life, the fountain of youth, that men have been searching for all these years. And that the Word of God may heal every time we must trust in it, and it alone. It will not do to trust in the Word of God one moment and in aconite the next, to look to the Will of God-one day and to the personal will another. Let that will which says it can be weakened and grow exhausted be utterly nothing, and let the Will of God be the only acknowledged power.
Look not to personality for healing, whether in the flesh or out of the flesh. Look to no magnetism, mesmerism, or mediumship for your healing, but "Look unto me, and be ye saved [healed], all the ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else." Is. 45:22.
"But," you may say, "are not these things the means by which health comes? Does not God use means?" Yes, God uses means, but His means are spiritual like Himself divine Mind and its ideas. And though it seems as if it is the material medicine that heals, yet it is the spiritual idea of which the drug is a symbol that really does the healing. Every material thing is the shadow or reflection of some divine thought, and we who know can take the thought direct without the interference of symbol, and we must do so in order to receive the full blessing of perfect health.
Symbolic or material means are only for the minds that do not take the whole Truth and are not seeking the Highest. There is no virtue in material things themselves, but the power is in the mentalities that have concentrated their thought upon them, thus endowing them with a reflected potency.
The question rises, why did Jesus once use the clay and spittle (John 9:6), and Elisha tell the leper to bathe in Jordan (2 Kings 5:10)? If one understands the symbolism of material things, then he uses them without falsely ascribing power to them. Thus Jesus used the clay and spittle symbolically, knowing that the mixture had no power in itself. It was his mind that did the work, even while resorting to symbolism to assist the feeble faith of the man born blind. So also when Naaman was told to bathe in Jordan, Elisha knew that Jordan water of itself could heal no one, but the meek and obedient act of Naaman would effect his healing when backed by the mighty faith of the man of God.
Until our minds become thoroughly imbued with the understanding that Mind is the only causative power, and that there is no causation in matter, let us not use symbols, but put all our trust in the Word of Truth. We have faith in God's Word because we understand its nature and unlimited power. This is the secret of true faith to know in whom we believe.
"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Jas. 5:15. True prayer is believing that all things are now yours ; all good is now come to pass not looking into the future for the answer to your prayer, not saying, "To-morrow (or next week) I shall be well," but holding fast to the thought: "Now I am well; now I am free; now all is accomplished." For this is the truth concerning real Being. God is your health. Now you live, move, and have your being in the health that is God. Realize this. You breathe health. Health attends your every step. Health is omnipresent. This is the believing which is the substance of your prayer. "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive," Matt. 21:19.
Do not think it may not be the will of God to give you that good thing you desire. Honor God. Trust the divine Love. If an earthly father who had the power would give you that gift you wish, will not your Heavenly Father give it to you (Matt. 7:11) ?
If you ask God for life and healing, will He send death and disease? Do you think it is His will that evil should be your portion? What a misunderstanding of God that would be! Jesus did the will of his Father, and we see how that will worked, in healing and giving more life and blessing every way.
The will of God done in Heaven produces happiness only, therefore when it is done on the earth, as it is in Heaven, it will never bring forth misery, sickness, or any other evil.
Trust the will of God that it works you good and good only. Then you will not be paralyzed in your prayers you will not stop in your praying you will pray and not faint, just as Jesus gave directions (Luke 18:1).
Persistency in prayer is prevailing with God. Speak the word of God the word of believing that ye have received in season and out of season. Let no doubt rebuff you. Let no word of Scripture, of the Angel of the Lord, yea, the very Christ himself, discourage you or cause you to move away from your faith that God is with you and Good is for you. Remember how Jacob would not let the Angel of the Lord go from him until he blessed him (Gen. 32:26). Remember how the Syro-Phoenician woman would not take "No" to her prayers, though it would seem as though Jesus himself wrestled with her (Mark 7:26; Matt. 15:21-28).
God loves you to trust in His goodness. "Prove me now," He says continually. "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room
