HOW SHALL WE SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS?

Purpose: To show that problems are not our enemies but our friends; that they are our opportunities to demonstrate. Also to give the three Principles to be demonstrated in solving them.

We are here to grow, and we grow by solving our problems. To solve a problem means to get the right answer. We are not to be resigned to hard conditions--our unsolved problems. We are to solve our problems; and they are to be solved with power. How shall we do this? First of all--

We must take the right attitude toward our environment with its multifold processes.

In order to bring ourselves to this attitude, we are to remember that:

The goal of all growth is the realization of God as the only Presence and Power.

Everyone is on his way to his goal. Some are farther along than others.

Problems vary according to one’s development.

A problem, when rightly met, becomes a stepping stone to greater unfoldment.

Many so-called problems, when understood, are no longer hardships but blessings.

Sometimes more or less quickly according to our faithfulness, we shall realize steadfastly our oneness with the Father. In this realization there are no problems.

The great discovery of the eighteenth century was that law included everything and controlled everything. The still more wonderful discovery of the twentieth century is that law extends also to the inner life of the individual. The mental, moral, and spiritual phases of our being are lawful. It is a marvelous experience for us to come to understand that we are subject to inharmony only as long as we submit to it. Enlightenment will free us. Jesus says, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

As long as we believe that God sends suffering, we shall consider trouble and disease inevitable; but when we come to know the Truth of God’s Omnipresence and are convinced that God is blessing us always with health and all good, we shall see that we do not have to be ill or inharmonious.

We shall accept our birthright of perfect harmony: physical, mental, and spiritual.

Every process, every experience is according to law. We are where we are in circumstance and in development by law, not by chance. As we come into the understanding of the great principles of the universe, and train ourselves to practice these in our thinking, we live powerfully, and problems disappear from our experience.

Strength is brought forth in solving problems. Latent force is evolved that we should otherwise not be conscious of possessing. A problem is a call upon us to come forth--to express what is within. It is an opportunity to learn more of principle, to lay hold of the depth of Being, and to prove its truth. Problems cease as problems; that is, the problematical part ceases, but not the opportunity to demonstrate what we know. A problem solved is no longer a problem.

There will always be the inner and the outer life, or Life-Principle and its visible manifestation. Principle never changes; outer events and incidents vary, and we also change our attitude toward them, thus putting a different interpretation upon them.

Life is not a struggle; it is only lack of consciousness that makes the struggle in living.

Do not call your problems troubles; there is but one trouble in the world--our mental attitude towards things, the view we take of them. Face your troubles; ask the meaning; seek to know the purpose.

There are two ways by which we may get rid of trouble. We may change our mental attitude; we may see everything as opportunity. What once made us weep, will make us happy.

Inharmonies, whether mental or bodily, mean that we have stepped aside from the Path of Truth.

They are the warning voice that says, “Come back; get hold again; be positive.” If we could wander from the consciousness of God’s Presence and be comfortable, we might stay there; but troubles and sickness are the prods that push us back to realize nearness to God. They are continually saying, “Come up higher.” Poverty says, “Bring forth your wisdom and strength. Apply your knowledge and understanding.” As long as we are in the place of changing conditions we need spurs to action. We fill our lives with companionship, not by seeking but by giving. The new phase of life is non-resistance; not taking arms against a sea of trouble, but lifting our thoughts into clear perception. Everything is co-operating with us. We have failed to meet the demand, but the universe is forcing us to co-operate. There is no separation; all is unity. In this consciousness we can see that problems are opportunities.

The three supreme principles that we are to demonstrate in solving our problems are:

I. Unity--
All are expressions of One Whole. All are included in the One.

“There is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all,” is Paul’s way of putting it. Jesus sees himself and us in the Father. Both Paul and Jesus demonstrated this principle when they gave themselves in loving service to humanity.

II. Goodness--

We partake of the nature of God.

To demonstrate this in powerful living, there must be perfect integrity in every relationship--in our domestic, social, and business activities.

III. Abundance--

Mankind, begotten of God, is included in the Life Universal, the Life that abounds in richness.

Each soul shares with all humanity in these Infinite Treasures.

When we take these principles as our working basis, and demonstrate them in our living, we find that one by one our problems are solved. A great peace comes to us. We rejoice in a new realization of Power. We shout from the depths of our being.

All things are possible to him who believes in God’s Allness, God’s Goodness, God’s Abundance.

Nona L. Brooks (Short Lessons in Divine Science)

HOW SHALL WE PRAY?

Purpose: To show why we pray and the best method of prayer.

A new conception of God calls for a new method of prayer. We no longer feel that we must overcome God’s reluctance, but rather that we are to lay hold of His willingness. More willing is He to give than we are to receive. In order, then, to learn how to pray, let us turn to our Basis, Omnipresence. This means God everywhere; therefore God includes me. I can say with authority, “I am in God and God is in me. Therefore I share God-Being, God-Mind, God-Life.” “All mine is thine, saith the Lord.” By sharing Himself with us God gives us every good gift. Before we call, He has supplied. God is Abundance.

If I seem to lack any good thing it is because I have not believed fully in God’s immediate Presence.

God is doing His part. I do not need to beg or to ask Him to do more. But I must do my part.

I must train my thought to recognize steadfastly the immediacy and fullness of God’s Presence.

I must not permit an opposing thought to stay. What is the commonest opposing thought? It is fear; for fear denies the presence of God. Hence we must not permit fear thought to stay for a moment. We can put it out by denying it, and also by substituting for fear its opposite, conscious unity, love; by affirming, “I do not fear, for God is here this moment,” and by repeating this statement with positiveness until all fear goes.

Inharmony of any kind, sickness or lack, shows that we are ignoring God’s presence.

Let us affirm that which is consistent with God-Presence; health, ever-present, changeless health; supply, ever-present, abundant supply.
But this is not all of prayer; in fact, it is the lesser part. Prayer is active communion. There is no passivity or resignation in prayer. When we have prayed, let us answer our own prayer. God has answered it before we called. Let us affirm the presence of All-Good. Our affirmations are for the purpose of clearing our mentality of wrong conceptions and of establishing within it the certainty of God--health, abundance, power, joy.

We bring our own prayers to fulfillment by living them out in our lives.

Let me illustrate: An unhappy condition exists between me and a friend of long standing. It hurts. I learn by turning to my Basis that I can right it by prayer. I deny separation in God-Presence, and affirm, that as children of God, we share His Divine nature and are therefore loving and kind always. I make this prayer once a day or as often as opportunity offers. Now for the answering of this prayer within myself. I must watch my thinking between my prayers, that it keeps true to the prayer. I must let no thought of anger, fear, or hurt stay in my thinking. Perfect Love, which I have affirmed, and which is the Truth of God and of myself, casts out the opposites. I have prayed for perfect love. I must demonstrate it in thought and deed. This is the royal road to heaven--harmony of living.
After praying and living quietly the love prayed for, there usually comes an opportunity to serve the friend; to do something kind for him or her. I must do it with joy and without ostentation of self-consciousness. If the service meets with rebuff, I will not allow myself to be discomfited, but I will persist in my attitude of love, remembering that, “Love endureth all things, thinketh no evil”--conquers every adverse condition.

True prayer which consists of right thinking and right living, never fails.

It corrects our mistakes, makes us healthful, happy, more loving and more efficient; it brings realization of Good along many lines. Praying does all of this by bringing to us a deeper and clearer realization of God-Presence. Through this realization we are uplifted, purified, glorified; we radiate God-Qualities. Our lives are answered prayers. Our word and our work go out into the world from the radiant Center of Truth, to uplift, to bless, to heal.