Chapter 11
LIVING FAITH
Charles Fillmore
Dynamics For Living
IF WE are wise, we shall cultivate faith in and understanding of omnipresent life. The man who is grounded in faith does not measure his thoughts or his acts by the world’s standard of facts. Those who are in spiritual understanding know that faith has open eyes. Certain things do exist in Spirit and become substantial and real to the one who dwells and thinks and lives in faith. Such a one knows.
Concentrate on Faith
Faith is the foundation of all that man does. We should concentrate faith on the invisible, the real things, the things of Spirit.
How wonderful would be our demonstrations! How effective we should become in using the mighty power of Spirit!
We must raise our faith to the very highest in us and rest in the “assurance” or substance of its reality. Spiritual understanding reveals the universality of all things.
The word, the imagination, and faith work together. You must not only practice an idea; you must also give it form by infusing into it the substance of your living faith.
If you want to do the works of God, you must follow Christ. If you want to elevate yourself out of the physical, you must have faith in God and cultivate that faith through affirmation of your spiritual power and faith. The Lord’s Prayer is continual affirmation from beginning to end.
Our Relation to God
We must have the understanding that our relation to God is that of a son to his father; that we exist in the one Mind as superman, even Christ. Man is the offspring of the Almighty. If the earthly child resembles its parents, how much more should the heavenly child resemble its Parent. The truth that God is the Father of man does away with the presumption that it is impossible for the finite to understand the Infinite.
A sense of logic is a fundamental constituent of man’s being. The science that is here set forth is founded upon Spirit. It does not conform to intellectual standards. Nevertheless, it is scientific.
Demonstration
There are three steps in every demonstration: the recognition of Truth as it is in principle; holding the idea; and acknowledging fulfillment. Pray believing that you have received, and you shall receive.
God is our resource. All things are provided for us by our Father. It is necessary to cultivate these ideas by considering them daily in all that we do. By prayer and meditation on words of Truth in the silence we may so open our consciousness to the inner divine presence that the necessary understanding, love, and power may be given us to enable us to bring forth in our own life the good results that we wish to see manifest. This is much better than waiting to see the demonstrations of others before believing and before attempting to bring forth demonstrations of our own. With the growth of faith in the mind of the individual there comes a quickening of all his thoughts by the influx of Truth. True faith in God separates itself from all negative beliefs.
God is never absent from you. He is constantly taking form in your life according to the exact pattern of your words, thoughts, and actions. Just as soon as you really bring your words and your expectations up to the measure of God’s love for you, you will demonstrate.
Thoughts Are Seeds
Thoughts are seeds that, when dropped or planted in the subconscious mind, germinate, grow, and bring forth their fruit in due season. The more clearly we understand this truth the greater will be our ability to plant the seeds that bring forth desirable fruits. After sowing the plants must be tended. After using the law we must hold to its fulfillment. This is our part. God gives the increase. You must work in divine order and not expect the harvest before the soil has been prepared or the seed sown. You have now the fruits of previous sowings. Change your thought seeds and reap what you desire. Some bring forth very quickly, others more slowly, but all in divine order.
God does not do things in us against our will, as will acts in both the conscious and subconscious realms of mind. However much it may appear that the word is thwarted in its original intent, this is never true. It goes on and it enters where reception is given it.
Theory to Life
Each one of us must not only see the image of his desires as a theory, but he must also form it into a living, breathing thing through every motive and act of his life. If we have an idea, we must act just as if it were part of our life.
No man ever demonstrated his God-given powers in even a small way who did not help many others to do likewise. Preaching is good. Practice is better.
There is work for everyone who will listen to and obey the Spirit. That work is important, because it is eternal and brings results eternal in their nature. If you have heard the voice of the Lord and are obedient to it at any cost, you are chosen.
The kingdom of God is now existing right here in our midst. It is being externalized little by little. Whoever has a high, pure thought and affirms his allegiance to it as a part of his daily life is adding to the externality of that kingdom among men. Whoever affirms his allegiance to the good, regardless of all appearance of evil, and in dealing with his brother declares by word and act that only the good exists, is building white spires to the one and only true God.
We are the temples of God, of good. Through us is the light to shine, which is so bright as to dim the rays of those shining orbs of the night and the day.
We are all the chosen of the Lord. We make the covenant that carries us into His visible presence by laying down the personal man and taking up the universal man. He it is that thunders in the depths of our soul.
The Faith Faculty
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. 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. Confidence is a form of faith. Belief is another of the expressions of faith.
In Spirit, faith is related to omnipresent substance or assurance. By meditation man lights up the inner mind, and he receives more than he can put into words. Faith can be extended in consciousness in every direction. It will accomplish wonderful things if quickened and allowed free expression in its native realm. 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.
Intellectual people do no miracles through faith. They 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 seemingly are miraculous. Perseverance is required in our use of faith until we make connection with the higher realms of consciousness.
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.
Faith Seeing
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; we mentally discern.
Have faith in what you do. After it is done do not condemn yourself. We are all 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. The better we understand the innate substance of the world about us, the more do we appreciate it.
Faith Ability
Faith is ever active. 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. Whatsoever is of faith is not sin. Sin is a missing of the mark. We miss the mark by not having faith.
A very little faith often produces surprising results. The invisible forces are much closer than we think. 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.
We are constantly making conditions through our thoughts. 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. You are getting the results of your acts, according to your faith. Be wise; pronounce nothing evil, and only good will come.
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?
Faith-thinking
The most important power of man is the original faith-thinking faculty. We all have the thinking faculty located in the head, from which we send forth thoughts, good, bad, and indifferent. If we are educated and molded after the ordinary pattern of the human family, we may live an average lifetime and never have an original thought. The thinking faculty in the head is supplied with the secondhand beliefs of our ancestors, the dominant beliefs of the race, or the threadbare stock of the ordinary social whirl. This is not faith-thinking. Faith-thinking is done only by one who has caught sight of the inner truths of Being, and who feeds his thinking faculty upon images generated in the heart.
Faith-thinking is not merely an intellectual process, based upon reasoning. The faith-thinker does not compare, analyze, or draw conclusions from known premises. He does not take appearances into consideration. He is not biased by precedent. His thinking gives form, without cavil or question, to ideas that come straight from the eternal fount of wisdom. His perception impinges upon the spiritual and he knows.
When there has been an aspiration and a reaching out for the spiritual life, the faith faculty becomes active in consciousness. Spiritual faith includes unfailing assurance and immediate response. Faith in the reality of the invisible builds a real, abiding substance in the mind and in body. All kinds of ideas grow quickly when planted in this rich substance of the mind.
There is but one real faith. The avenue of expression determines the character and power of faith. Trust is a cheaper brand of faith, but trust is better than mistrust. People who merely trust in the Lord do not understand all the law. If they had understanding they would affirm the presence and power of God until the very substance of Spirit would appear in consciousness.
Faith Words
Faith words should be expressed both silently and audibly. The power of the spoken word is but slightly understood. The word is the creative idea in Divine Mind, which may be expressed by man when he has fulfilled the law of expression. All words are formative but not all words are creative. The creative word lays hold of Spirit substance and power.
The word of faith has an inner force. This force rushes forth and produces remarkable transformations in the phenomenal. It is not necessary that the one who touches faith shall understand all the intricate machinery with which he makes contact. Affirming the activity of this super-power will quicken it in consciousness.
Believing
If a man sanely believes he can do a thing he will eventually find a way to do it. The mind generates an energy that contacts the universal energy, and causes circumstances and events to fall into line for the attainment of the latent ideal. Tap this inner reservoir of faith, and you can do what Jesus did.
Belief is closely related to faith. It is an inner acceptance of an idea as true. Belief functions both consciously and subconsciously. Many false individual and race beliefs are very active below the conscious level. To erase these hidden error beliefs, a comprehensive program of denial is necessary.
Jesus’ Faith
Jesus did not claim an exclusive supernatural power, which we usually accredit to Him. He had explored spiritual substance, which He called the “kingdom of the heavens.” His understanding was beyond that of the average man. However, He knew and said that other men could do what He did if they would only have faith.
He encouraged His followers to take Him as a pattern for faith and to use the power of thought and word. Divine healing is due to the application of the same law that Jesus used. In most instances, He demanded faith on the part of those He healed. With this faith as a point of mental and spiritual contact, He released the latent energy in the atomic structure of the one in need of healing, and that one was restored to life and health.
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Dynamics For Living by Charles Fillmore
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