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      Making the Word Flesh    
       
September 2012

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     "…your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." (Matthew 6:8; New King James Version (NKJV)).

     "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; NKJV).



     To be 'human' is to believe we are beings of both material and spiritual origins. Commonly, it is the belief that we have a spiritual soul, somehow trapped in a material body form, with our life-source running through veins of material blood, accompanied by nerves that 'report' the feelings to the fleshly body—all of which are wrapped around a bony structure. Everything concerning the fleshly body form feels real to us. We identify ourselves as material creatures with an invisible soul, somewhere inside, and where the physical sense of identity pretty much takes first place in our daily lives. Our soul takes a back seat, so to speak, because we continue to live from a material, rather than a spiritual sense of ourselves.

     We also believe that our soul is experiencing such a finite life experience because of an ancient sin against God, which cast our ancestors (Adam and Eve) out of their spiritual Home of ever-lasting life and divine Harmony, called Heaven. We believe we are living this finite life experience of both good and evil forces against us, because we are taught that, due to an inherited guilt from these ancient ancestors, we, 'the human race' must suffer from the sins of two individuals we never even knew, much less agreed with.

     Yet, here is a strong point that argues against these material origins: Even as far back in Earth's history as the Old Testament times, these words from the prophet, Ezekiel, addressed the erroneous belief in material heredity and fleshly origins of any kind: "The word of the LORD came to me again, saying: "What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge'? As I live," says the Lord GOD, "you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine;" (Ezekiel 18: 1-4 to semicolon; NKJV).

     So, something must be amiss with even our modern-day continuance in this notion that ancient-guilt can actually be passed on to us, in the form of punishing diseases, or bad 'karma', because of these two, 'original sinners'.

     So, fast forward to a later century in Earth's history, when Christ Jesus made his appearance on Planet Earth. This individual began to preach, teach, and heal the lives and bodies of all around him, telling humanity a different story concerning Life, God, and Heaven. Jesus' teachings (found in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) taught that we still exist in the kingdom of God, invisible to us in this human condition, but still present and active, lovingly so, on behalf of all of us here, throughout earthly time.

     Christ Jesus stopped painting humanity as 'miserable sinners' and, instead, tried to communicate to earth's population that no such original sin has afflicted mankind, ever. So, we couldn't have actually inherited sin, or wrong-doing, and we're not being punished for the behavior of others; rather, we suffer from own thoughts, beliefs, and destructive actions.

     God has nothing to do with the evil we do, nor the suffering that follows. We choose what to believe and what choices we make. Yet, God as our divine, loving Parent, delivers us from our human messes, wants and woes of this finite, material experience, when we accept responsibility for our own decisions, turn to the divine Intelligence to aid us, and decide to do better in the future. This is called 'repenting.'

     The ministry of Jesus challenged all human beliefs that warred against what our real existence is (spiritual) and to whom we truly belong (God). This Master healer of all ills (including both life and death in the flesh) spoke of our divine inheritance as the Sons and Daughters of God, with ever-lasting life, eternal goodness, abundance and health. He spoke of an invisible peace that underlies all creation, despite the warring of humanity's nations.

     Christ Jesus was our spiritual brother, showing us our spiritual, not human, Selves. And throughout the four biblical chapters of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, mentioned above, the words of Jesus were recorded and passed along to all of us here, telling us the incredible truth that life is spiritual, not in any way mortally-material, or fleshly, and that there is no such thing as real death.

     By healing all the ills of the flesh, Jesus was showing us that it is only our material beliefs that must die—our spiritual body, soul, and mind, never dies. He proved this for all of us in his own resurrection from the physical death experience. And from the cross, he told us, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.' " (John 20:17; NKJV).

     His whole mission, here in this finite, mortal experience, was to prove to us that we are spiritual, not material creatures. Jesus was trying to show us that we are God's everlasting, spiritual children—and that our real lives are everlastingly whole, harmonious, and free from material (so-called) law.

     It is the subject of BELIEF that played such a part in the healing accounts accomplished by Christ Jesus, particularly as they were related to the healing of 'all the ills that flesh is heir to.' When reading these four gospels (again, mentioned above) notice how many times Jesus told those who came to him for healing that it was their own beliefs that were the agent of change in their healing experiences.

     It was part of the spiritual mission of Christ Jesus (from God) to heal all diseases and bad situations in the human experience, but also it was to reveal that it was their own belief that was the key to their healings and deliverance from all human evils and ills. He never boasted having any magical, or even exclusive power; for he taught his disciples, also, the way of spiritual healing.

     The prayer of belief is the recognition of God's ever-present, eternal Harmony, and the nothingness of anything else. The prayer of belief doesn't mean that we should ask for anything destructive to ourselves, or others. This is asking amiss. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." (James 4:3; King James Version)

     The prayer of belief is the actual, mental releasing of our faith. It is where we acknowledge our infinite provision of all good from God because we realize that we do, actually, "live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28; NKJV). in the presence of God, who is infinite Spirit, invisible to the finite, physical senses, but perceived by our spiritual sense. But we are to pray in faith of God's invisible presence and ultimate power; we are not to engage in any form of magical thinking.

     The prayer of faith works because God is the Creator of ALL good and needful things, and these things (the right persons, places and things) are with us always. But in order to call them forth into this temporary, finite human sense of material existence, we must realize that we already HAVE them, spiritually present with us, especially when they aren't yet apparent physically. (See 2nd quotation at top of article). This realization of our invisible, spiritual good, despite all material appearances, then causes whatever we humanly need to take material form, or appearance, in our daily, human lives.

     In other words: 'The Word is made flesh' and our invisible good from God begins to take physical form, in some way. By knowing, then, that all of our God-given good is already here, spiritually, we open the way for all needful things to take physical form in our daily lives. New ways to have what we humanly need, or new ways to achieve something, begin to unfold in our consciousness, and then in our outer world of finite form.

     Now, we are not to believe in God's ever-present good for us for the sake of pleasing God. Rather, we believe in God's ever-present good, not for God's sake, but for our own sake. We realize the ever-presence of all good and useful things in order to be 'blessed' by such spiritual knowledge. John 4:24, New King James Bible tells us: "God is a Spirit, and all that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth," (as the source of all good created).

     Here are some times when belief, and awareness of God's ever-present love and care for us can be game-changing in our human experience:

     1. Believe in our ever-lasting, invisible spiritual wholeness and health, in order for this spiritual fact to heal us, physically, from all this world's beliefs of illness and lack of wholeness that claim to afflict us humanly. Then the physical form goes back to normalcy and 'the word is made flesh' concerning our health, and the physical manifestation of body and wholeness returns.

     2. Believe in our individual, ever-flowing provision from God, in order for this unceasing supply to manifest in our human experience, where we often seem to be poor. Our spiritual provision must come into our human life experiences as material income (money) in some way, in order to bless us here. Jobs can be one channel for regular spiritual supply to take a form we can humanly use. Sometimes other channels of supply open up in our human experience. But when the human need is met through our own belief and acceptance of God as our forever-loving Source, then 'the word is made flesh' concerning our abundance; and it appears in whatever material form that fills our individual need, at the time.

     3. Believe in our eternal safety and security in the ever-present, invisible kingdom of God in order for us to be delivered from those persons, or situations, that would be our enemies or threats to us, in some way. At all times, and in all places, know the forever safety of God's Love which is with each of us at all times, even when physical appearances say otherwise. Then, 'the word is made flesh' concerning our safety from all threats of violence and other evils that mankind might attempt against us, and our spiritual safety takes over the material scene.

     God is not the source of evil, in any form. Christ Jesus spent his whole ministry, here in this human experience, to demonstrate the fact that God did not create disease, evil behavior, or poverty for anyone. Instead, all the evil, bodily conditions and situations that Jesus encountered were healed from these material beliefs.

     But here is something to realize for anyone who goes to God for the healing of earthly ills: The four gospels tell the story of Christ Jesus, the Master Healer, who healed every kind, or type, of diseased conditions he encountered. He taught his healing knowledge to his twelve disciples, who passed this knowledge on to others, after Jesus' resurrection. Yet, one place was mentioned where Jesus didn't heal. In Matthew 17:58 of the Bible (New King James Version) we read: "Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief."

     This statement shows that although another's spiritual knowledge of how to heal (such as the healing knowledge of Jesus and those disciples he taught) spiritual healing still requires the BELIEF of the afflicted ones to allow, into their own consciousness, the acceptance (belief) in their own ability to be healed. Otherwise, their very own unbelief will block the healing results in their own human body form, and nullify the prayerful, mental healing work being done for them.

     This occurs because only our own consciousness has anything to do with how our own body form reacts to the healing prayer. (Think of it like this: It is like programming a computer. When we actually believe we are well, despite the material appearances, we have 'reprogrammed' our individual consciousness, which controls our own body form.) In spiritual truth, we are always whole. The four gospels show repeated times when Jesus told sick people that they were whole, even while they materially were still appearing, and feeling, sick, infirmed, or even poor.

     It is the carnal mind (the belief in evil powers, opposed to God) that can afflict us in this human experience, or this collective dream of material mortality. But these afflictions can be temporary only, when turning to God as the Deliverer from all evil. That is because God is never the Source of evil—be it sickness, danger, poverty, or even death. As we learn to realize this fact, our human lifetimes become more and more harmonious.

     Christ Jesus once told us, "For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." (Matthew 6:8; NKJV). So, we must acknowledge and trust this spiritual fact, before it can take form in our human experience, where we seem to be separated from our God-Source, but are not.

     We still suffer human afflictions because we have not yet awakened fully to our spiritual Selves, our own Christ identity (our spiritual identity); yet, all spiritual good must be translated into some material form or circumstance, in order to harmonize our days and bless us here, while we're still having this human experience. The truth of our spiritual identities are who we really are—it is the Adam and Eve personas we must grow beyond believing. We are the Sons and Daughters of God, only, made in the image and likeness of divine Spirit, not matter. As this fact begins to sink into our thinking, only then do we lose the human sense of ourselves and find the divine.

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