Lesson 8
FAITH
Charles Fillmore
Christian
Healing
1. Now faith is
assurance of things hoped for, a
conviction of things not seen. . . . By
faith we understand that the worlds
have been framed by the word of God, so
that what is seen hath not been made
out of things which appear.
2. In the 11th chapter
of Hebrews, we find the achievements of
faith piled mountain high:
By faith Enoch was translated that he
should not see death. . . . By Faith
Noah . . . prepared an ark to the
saving of his house. . . . By faith
Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac.
. . . By faith Moses, when he was born,
was hid three months by his parents. .
. . By faith the walls of Jericho fell
down. . . . And what shall I more say?
for the time will fail me if I tell of
Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of
David and Samuel and the prophets: who
through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions, quenched
the power of fire, escaped the edge of
the sword, from weakness were made
strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to
flight armies of aliens. Women received
their dead by a
resurrection.
3. The idea that faith
is something that has to do only with
one's religious experience is
incorrect. Faith is a faculty of the
mind that finds its most perfect
expression in the spiritual nature, but
in order to bring out one's whole
character it should be developed in all
its phases. That it is a power is
self-evident. People who have faith in
themselves achieve far more than those
who do not believe in their own
ability. We call this self-faith innate
confidence, but confidence is only a
form of faith. Belief is another of the
expressions of faith. Jesus apparently
made no distinction between faith and
belief. He said, "Believe ye that I am
able to do this?" and "Whosoever . . .
shall not doubt in his heart, but shall
believe that what he saith cometh to
pass; he shall have it." In an analysis
of the constituent parts of man's
consciousness, we locate belief in the
intellect, working in the thought realm
without contact with the more interior
substance of Spirit, upon which true
faith is founded.
4. In Spirit, faith is
related to omnipresent substance or
assurance. Jesus used the same
illustration when He referred to Peter,
a type of faith, as a rock upon which
He would found His church. Here is
proof that faith is closely allied to
the enduring, firm, unyielding forms of
earth substance. But free faith has
power to do, and power to bring about
results in the affairs of those who
cultivate it.
5. Like the other
faculties, faith has a center through
which it expresses outwardly its
spiritual powers. Physiologists call
this center the pineal gland, and they
locate it in the upper brain. By
meditation man lights up the inner
mind, and he receives more than he can
put into words. Only those who have
strengthened their interior faculties
can appreciate the wonderful
undeveloped possibilities in man. The
physiologist sees the faculties as
brain cells, the psychologist views
them as thought combinations, but the
spiritual-minded beholds them as pure
ideas, unrelated, free,
all-potential.
6. Faith can be extended
in consciousness in every direction. It
will accomplish wonderful things if
quickened and allowed free expression
in its native realm. When Jesus said,
"If ye have faith as a grain of mustard
seed, ye shall say unto this mountain,
Remove hence to yonder place; and it
shall remove; and nothing shall be
impossible unto you," He referred to
faith's working in spiritual substance.
Such results are possible only to the
faith that co-operates with creative
law. Where faith is centered in outer
things, the results are not worthy of
mention. Men have named them luck,
accident, chance, and the like. Such
charms seem to work for a little while,
then suddenly change, so it is evident
that they are not under any enduring
law.
7. When faith is
exercised in the intellectual realm,
the results are usually profitable to
the man of brains. If he has faith in
his art, or his science, or his
philosophy, it answers his purpose, for
a time at least, but it never gets
beyond the traditions and experiences
of precedent. Intellectual people do no
miracles through faith, because they
always limit its scope to what the
intellect says is law. It is when faith
is exercised deep in spiritual
consciousness that it finds its right
place, and under divine law, without
variation or disappointment, it brings
results that are seemingly
miraculous.
8. Faith has always
played a very large part in the
experiences of religious people because
they have given it free scope,
expecting great things through it from
the Lord. But nearly all faith
demonstrations have been the result of
a sort of blind confidence that God
would carry out whatever was asked of
Him. Sometimes a petitioner has been
disappointed, and a series of
disappointments has usually led to
doubt and to the conclusion that God
has in some way changed His law. The
early Christians were taught by Jesus
and His disciples to have faith in God,
and they did wonderful, so-called
miraculous, works. As time went on and
their attention was more and more drawn
to worldly things, the Christians of a
later day became separated from the
spiritual forces within them, and their
faith lost its energy. Then they began
teaching that miracles were no longer
necessary; that God had given them to
the early Christians because they did
not have the Bible or an organized
church. They also taught that the
miracles had been given to prove that
Jesus was the Son of God.
9. Now we have a fuller
understanding of the law of God, and
know that whatever has been done once
can be done again under like
conditions. If Jesus and His disciples
and the early Christians did marvelous
things through the prayer of faith, we
can do likewise. All that is required
is perseverance in our use of faith
until we make connection with the
higher realms of consciousness, where,
as Jesus said, though our faith be as
small as the smallest of seeds, it will
spring forth and demonstrate its power
to carry out every desire into which we
infuse it. "Nothing shall be impossible
unto you," if your faith is in Spirit,
and if your work is in harmony with
Divine Mind.
10. The Christian
religion has been a great factor in the
development of faith in the inner
realms of man's being. "Blessed are
they that have not seen, and yet have
believed." The power to see in Spirit
is peculiar to faith. In its outer
expression this power is sight;
interiorly it is that which perceives
the reality of the substance of Spirit.
Mental seeing is knowing; when we
perceive the truth of a proposition, we
say, "I see, I see," meaning that we
mentally discern.
11. Faith in the reality
of things spiritual develops the faith
center in the brain, called the pineal
gland. When this mental eye is
illuminated with spiritual faith, it
sheds a radiance that hovers like a
halo around the head and extends in
lessening degree throughout the whole
body. "When thine eye is single, thy
whole body also is full of light." The
halo that the early artists painted
around the heads of saints was not
imaginary, but real. This illuminating
power of faith covers the whole
constitution of man, making him master
of all the forces centering about
spiritual consciousness. Faith and
prayer go hand in hand.
12. "The faith which
thou hast, have thou to thyself before
God. Happy is he that judgeth not
himself in that which he approveth."
Have faith in what you do, and after it
is done do not condemn yourself. We all
are seeking happiness, contentment, and
we know by experience that we are happy
when we are in tune with our
environment. There is a great variety
of ideas that cause us inharmony. We
think that if we have money and friends
we can be happy; but things do not make
happiness. It is our mental attitude
toward things that fixes our relation
to them, and the better we understand
the innate substance of the world about
us, the more do we appreciate
it.
13. Faith is ever
active, and it should be made the truth
substance of every idea. We should have
faith in our own power, capacity, and
ability; if we are to have this faith
our thoughts must be centered in the
great universal Mind. Success lies in
God. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin;
then whatsoever is of faith is not sin.
This is the new standard of
righteousness for the man who would
"put on Christ." It is his breastplate,
his protection, while he is coming up
into knowledge of the absolute good.
Sin is a missing of the mark, and we
miss the mark by not having
faith.
14. Faith in the
reality, power, and willingness of the
mental and spiritual forces is
absolutely essential to success in
demonstrating the higher law. Jesus was
the herald of a set of laws that will
revolutionize the civilization of this
world and will produce a new and higher
type of man. He spoke of a new
condition for the uplift of the race;
He called it the "kingdom of heaven,"
and He said that it must be built upon
the foundation typified by Peter (a
rock), which is faith. The development
of the faith faculty in the mind is as
necessary to the worker in spiritual
principles as is the development of the
mathematical faculty in the worker in
mathematics. Neither of these faculties
comes at a bound fully formed into
consciousness, but both grow by
cultivation. "Increase our faith," said
the apostles, and Jesus answered: "Have
faith in God."
15. Nearly all readers
of Scripture recognize Peter as a type
of faith. By studying his experiences
we may get suggestions on the
development of that faculty in
ourselves. The fluctuating allegiance
of Peter to Jesus illustrates the
growth of faith in one who has had no
development of that faculty. Faith and
doubt contended for supremacy in Peter,
and we wonder why Jesus chose as His
chief disciple this vacillating, weak,
and cowardly fisherman. But we observe
that Peter was enthusiastic, bold at
times, receptive and patient under
reproof. He had never walked on the
water, but when Jesus said, "Come," he
boldly went out to meet Him. Doubt
entered his mind, and he sank; but the
helping hand was extended to him and he
was made stronger by the experience.
This and many other illustrations in
the history of Peter show how faith
grows in the mind, and we should not be
discouraged if our first efforts fall
short of the desired end.
16. A very little faith
often produces surprising results. The
forces invisible are much closer than
we think, and when we turn our
attention in their direction the
response is usually so pronounced and
so swift that we cannot but feel that a
miracle has been performed. A more
intimate acquaintance with the divine
law convinces us that under it all
things are possible if we only believe,
and if we at the same time conform our
thoughts to its principle.
17. Peter (faith), James
(judgment), and John (love) were the
three apostles who were very close to
Jesus, and they are more prominent in
His history than any of the others.
This indicates that these three
faculties are developed in advance of
the others, also that they are closely
associated. Understanding reveals to us
that God is a mind-principle whose
foundation is ideas. When this
character of the creative principle
dawns upon us, we see how easy it is to
commune with God. Through this
communion we almost unconsciously
strengthen faith, and we find that one
faculty helps another to grow. But
there must be room in which to grow,
and room is made by love. Selfishness
is limitation; it binds man in a little
prison called personality. The only way
to enlarge one's character and give
play to all the faculties is through
love. Love enlarges the field of
consciousness by leveling the thoughts
of enmity and opposition. Make friends
with all your adversaries quickly,
whether they be persons, thoughts, or
things.
18. We are constantly
making conditions through our thoughts.
Some people declare that everything is
against them. If they miss a car, they
say, "It is always that way," and they
build up a state of mind in which
everything seems contrary to
them.
19. In all our
experience we should condemn nothing
that comes to us and nothing that we
do. We know the law; let us keep it,
and not set up any adverse conditions
by our thoughts of condemnation.
Whatever you are doing, be happy in it.
If you are getting wrong results, do
not believe in an angry God. You are
getting the results of your acts,
according to your faith. Be wise;
pronounce nothing evil, and only good
will come. Shall we call everything
good? Yes. If the savage knew this law
he could lift himself to a higher
consciousness by it. We get out of
savagery by idealizing the
good.
20. Have faith in the
innate goodness of all men and all
conditions. Do not condemn, no matter
how great the provocation. What you
think, you create in your own
consciousness. Enlarge your range of
vision, and you may see good in what
now seems evil. God is good and God is
all, hence there can be no real
condition but the good. Why should we
waste our time fighting evil? If we
build our character upon faith,
understanding, and love, with the great
I AM as the focal center, we shall
become pillars in the temple of
God.
Lesson Eight
Faith Affirmations
(To be used in
connection with Lesson
Eight)
1.
"Now faith is assurance of things hoped
for, a conviction of things not
seen."
2.
Holding continuously to the reality of
things spiritual establishes them in
mind--they become mental
substance.
3. I
believe in the presence and power of
the one Mind, and it is to me
substantial
intelligence.
4.
"According to your faith be it done
unto you."
5. My
doubts and fears are dissolved and
dissipated; in confidence and peace I
rest in God's unchangeable
law.
6.
"Great is thy faith: be it done unto
thee even as thou
wilt."
7.
With my mind's eye I see more and more
the reality of the true ideas ever
existing in divine
principle.
8. "I
believe; help thou mine
unbelief."
9.
Jesus said: "Have faith in
God."
10. I
am saved from pain and sorrow through
my unswerving faith in the protection
and care of God.
11.
"Lord, increase our
faith."
12. My
faith grows greater day by day, because
it is planted in Truth, and through it
the mountains of mortal error are moved
into the sea of
nothingness.
13.
The understanding of Spirit clarifies
my faith.
14. "I
know him whom I have believed." I am
persuaded that He is able, that He is
willing, that He is eager, to give me
whatsoever I ask.
15. My
faith comprehends the beauty of
wholeness.
16. My
faith is of God and in
God.
17.
"Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee
whole."
