"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19; New King James Bible Version) "Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as 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 17:19, 20; New King James Bible Version).
Most Bible readers have studied the mustard-seed answer that Jesus gave to his disciples, when they failed to heal a mentally ill boy (see quotation above). His teaching was to show them the power of faith in God's law of wholeness, health, and abundance for His spiritual family, of which we are all members. But today, just as two thousand years ago, faith is not an easy thing to acquire, even for modern-day disciples. It is easy to feel trapped in a material existence and physical appearances that defy any spiritual law by which to find our deliverance. In the face of often overwhelming physical 'evidence', the seemingly physical laws of lack of funds, lack of health, lack of peace in this world (not to mention constant anti-religious education that abounds today) we can easily feel over-whelmed by the negative situations that come into our every-day experiences. This human 'condition' seems to have an abundance of negativity that can, with little effort, drive any spiritual thoughts right out of our minds, Developing faith in the invisible realm of God, Spirit, can be an uphill battle because we are constantly being bombarded with worldly (so-called educated) beliefs in all the evils that are waiting to destroy us. We can expect no help from a 'super-natural' God, we are told. Thus, the power of good is presented as weak and friendless, in a world of such lacks and destructive things afoot. So, in our human experience, where we seem to be fleshly individuals, separated from Spirit's realm, we have learned the ways of the world, and we have accepted most of them. The whole subject of faith in the invisible, spiritual realm (the Kingdom of God) is more scorned than ever, it seems. In what is viewed as life in matter, rather than Spirit, having faith in something we cannot perceive with the five, physical senses is viewed as something that only a 'religious nut' would believe…especially in the face of the physical evidence that may be around us at any particular time or place. Yet, for those who can accept it, or those who have experienced it, faith in God and the invisible realm of Spirit really is a catalyst for change and healing to every type of human situation. For those who have experienced health, harmony and abundance from such moments of faith (even in trying times) the rationale of it all is something to share with the world. Since today's world, of January 2012, has lots of disruptive, fearful, and just plain evil-seeming conditions to overcome, I'll concentrate on just one area of misery, which has afflicted many, due to economic woes in the nation—that is the loss of jobs, and career positions, upon which we rely to be our source of supply. Fear of job-loss, when we don't see physically, or perceive spiritually the truth about our individual place in God's creation, is a mental misery, as well as financial burden. In my December 2011 article, I've already written of another unemployment situation that threatened my own family. But since this subject is so important in today's world, I'd like to share the first incident when our family faced the threat of unemployment (it pre-dates the one described in last month's article). This current testimony is of an earlier instance where, due to a bad economy, my husband's job actually went down in flames. Here's what happened: After serving in the US Air Force, my husband found a new job at a university. With our baby daughter, we happily moved to the new location and lived there for about two years. But an economic downturn caused the university to eliminate all jobs in my husband's category, and he was given just a short, few weeks, to find a new position. He immediately applied for every available position he could find, but it seemed that no one was hiring due to the economic downturn. I found a part-time job, but we knew that it wouldn't help much financially, once his income ran out. My income paid for day care and little else. As the weeks passed and the last day of his employment drew near, we began to feel desperate. Jobs just weren't readily available. Money was really tight, and our credit was about to be utterly ruined. Every form of fear assaulted us...where would we live? HOW would we live? Finally, I sat down to pray about the situation, even though it all seemed hopeless. In a conversation with God (where, of course, I was doing all the talking, rather than listening) a quietness began to take me over. I remembered my childhood when several times I had prayed, and, after the prayer, something wonderful had occurred for me. So, instead of mentally telling the divine presence about all our misery, I just asked what we could do to be safe from such a human lack of employment. As I prayed, I began to remember another time of trouble, and how, by trusting God's love for all Its children, I had felt peaceful. Then that particular situation had been healed. So, it came to my thought to remember, as before, that God's love exists, ever-lastingly, for each and every one of us, even when the material scene before our eyes says differently. While praying, I was mentally reminded that every one has his and her own place in God's kingdom and God's divine Family, forever, even when it all changes and takes a completely different, physical path.. In actual fact, (these thoughts continued) in God's spiritual creation, every single child of God, Spirit, has an eternal place that no one can take away. In God's kingdom, each one has his and her own purpose; and that purpose was to be occupied at one's highest and best use. This is what human employment is meant to be. So, in spiritual fact, (I began to see) my husband always had a place of employment in the divine Intelligence, Wisdom, Purpose, and Love—and each of us has our own provision (supply) in whatever form is needed, at the time. The last thought I remembered 'receiving' was that my husband should not expect to be without a work assignment (job) for even one, single day. Our only job was to TRUST the invisible presence and laws of Spirit, not the material evidence to the contrary. I felt as though a great weight had lifted off me. I shared my experience with my husband, and we decided to trust it. We began to have faith in what had unfolded in my thought about God's loving power over the whole situation. I told of my thoughts of safety and permanent security in the kingdom of God, hidden though it seemed to be in the material scene. We went right up to the wire, so to speak. On the day before his employment position ran out, my husband received a phone call from a vice president of the university, who said that he had need of a temporary person to work for him for the next couple of months. It was only temporary, he emphasized, but could my husband do so? As I remember, the position paid the same, or slightly more, than what he had been making before. We were so happy! Now we would have a couple of months to prepare to leave the area. We wanted to move back to our home state, where our families resided. If we were meant to do so, we knew it would work out. If not, we trusted that God' harmonious care would open up another position for my husband where we were. Within days, we also received a phone call from the bank that held our contract on our home. The bank had opened up a new fund that would allow buyers like us to walk away from our obligation, without penalty to our credit rating. We could stay in our home until we were ready to leave. If we would give to the bank the sum of five-hundred dollars, we would be 'forgiven' the rest of our financial commitment. Since five hundred dollars was all that was left of our savings, it was a scary thing to give up, for we would need some money to move to another state. But the phrase 'prime the pump' came to mind, and we realized that this was a spiritual message to trust. So we gave up the last cent we had in our savings. After we did as the bank official requested, and by the time my husband completed his temporary job placement, we were packed and ready to leave—and we didn't owe anyone even one cent. In the weeks that he worked in the temporary position, we were able to save the money to move out of state. My husband found a new position in our home state, and even though I was willing to work, our finances didn't require it. This is a true experience; I've written of it before. It occurred in 1972, but I tell it again because it can bless anyone who will trust in the invisible presence of the Almighty and rise above the world's view of things, and the fear of human appearances. We are never separated from our divine Source. We are never alone in this human experience. We simply don't perceive the spiritual nature of our existence, because like clouds can hide the sun, the false sense of a material existence hides from us the truth of spiritual reality, underlying our every moment of existence, on this material, human level of thought. Christ Jesus once taught his followers, "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." (Mark 11:24, New King James Bible Version). To me this means that when we request God to deliver us from this world's wants and woes that try to overtake our lives, the word, believe, is all-important. To believe leaves no room for doubt or fear that the divine Intelligence is unable, or unwilling, to deliver us from some human-seeming control. To those who suffer from job and income loss, it might help to realize that a physical job (at any one place or any one time) is only a symbol of our divine position as a child of God. These material positions are all temporary, in a sense. They come and go. But when they are taken from us, we can let go of them, knowing that in divine Spirit's creation, which is invisibly present (wherever we are physically) our forever place and work assignment from God cannot be taken from us…not from people, not from human economic conditions. Our new human place is on its way. We are each a part of divine Love's (God's) family and creation. We have a forever-place that manifests itself as our human place always being supplied to us. We have a forever-provision from Spirit that is not connected to the provision of anyone else. But please realize this: Without faith (or belief in such divine, spiritual provision) it most likely will not be perceived in the human experience, even though it is there to be found. We don't find what we don't believe is there. Christ Jesus once said, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." (Matthew 8:13, New King James Bible).. This isn't just a statement made to punish someone who does not believe…no, this is showing us a spiritual law. It means that we can change our human experience according to what we believe to be true about it. So, when we SEE (mentally) God's loving control over all, (including God's abundance of all in Its spiritual, rather than material, creation) we bring forth into the material-seeming realm what we most deeply believe to be true, whether for good or evil. Our life experience here, in the human theatre, isn't something that happens to us, without our ability to change it...rather, what we experience is like a mirror held up to the belief system we, ourselves, have written on our own minds and hearts. Our beliefs determine what we experience. We can take the position that life is full of all things bad and evil, and that we've been left here, without a clue as to what to do; OR, we can also believe that life has a spiritual side, which when turned to, can conquer any 'bad' that comes into our daily experiences. Conditions we deeply believe in (or are fearful of, which shows what we are believing) can take physical form in this human experience. If we 'know' all forms of evils as real things with power, our thought gives them the only power they will ever have. When we conquer fear, with faith in God's presence and sovereign Power, healing takes place in the human experience. Why? Because it is the spiritual Truth that trumps any contrary belief; that's why every religion on this planet recognizes that faith in something makes a big difference in one's experience. But faith and fear cannot exist together. That's like walking out one's front door and trying to go east or west at the same time. It can't be done. Yet, each one of us has the power to choose where to put our faith.. Christ Jesus often asked those who came to him for physical and mental healing if they believed he could heal them (see all four gospels for incidents of this). Our individual belief systems were all-important to him. For this reason, he came into this material experience to point out the importance of watching what we believe, while here (where we seem to be fleshly creatures, rather than the spiritual creatures we really are). There is no such thing as spiritual evil. For Spirit is God, and only good comes from God. Jesus the Christ was the 'savior' because he was trying to save our human experience from the beliefs in evil, and all the material forms it takes. Jesus was his physical-form identity; the Christ was his spiritual identity. We are to follow his example and learn of our own Christ identity (spiritual identity, rather than a physical one). The Master tried to show us that the physical man isn't the truth of being—we are each, and all, the spiritual Sons and Daughters of God, infinite Spirit, and we should seek an understanding of our spiritual status and being, giving up the fleshly form identity as anything real or permanent, or even harmonious. The Bible says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." (1 John 17-19, New King James Bible Version). Losing one's job and material sense of security is a fearful, punishing experience. Yet, here is a spiritual fact: Our places of employment (jobs) and our individual provisions (financial or other) flow from the inexhaustible realm of Spirit…so, in a real, spiritually and humanly true fact, we cannot be out of our RIGHT place, ever. When we seem to be without a job, or income stream, (they don't always have to be the same thing) we can know that these are only temporary situations that have nothing to do with our individual, eternal provision from Spirit—which is invisibly present, even when we aren't 'tuning in' so to speak. It is FAITH—the change in our thoughts—that will turn the situation around, and the appearance of God's hidden good will become apparent. We must turn from fear to the faith that has no fear; for only this makes the difference and makes the change in our outer world of form, which is merely a poor copy, or symbol, of our spiritual inheritance and reality. So, for all those who struggle with unemployment as a situation in today's material economy, meditate on the realization that in God's economy, supply and demand are always in perfect balance. There is no down-turn in the kingdom of God, and God's eternal, unconditional Love for Its creation, and every creature in it, is an everlasting, spiritual Truth that will outlast every single, bad moment we spend in our earthly experience. We cannot get away from God's love, on any level of thought upon which we seem to exist. God is our provider for all eternity—Spirit is our Source of all the good we will ever need. So, whatever material channel has dried up, our spiritual Source is always still in Its loving control over all…and divine Love is more powerful than anything that boasts to threaten Its children. God's eternal love for you can always create a new, human place for you, even better than before—just as It has done for so many of us.
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