Begin with God

1-4-2017 Wednesday meeting, First Church of Christ, Scientist-Asheville

KJV Ps 143:1, 7-8, 10-11

1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. 7 Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. 10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. 11 Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.

KJV Lam 3:22-25

22 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

KJV Matt 4:23

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

KJV Matt 5:2

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

KJV Matt 6:5-8

5 …when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

KJV Mark 1:35, 21-27

35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. 21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. 26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.

KJV Luke 18:1-8

1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

KJV Luke 5:16

16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

S&H 15:14-18, 23-24

In order to pray aright, we must enter into the
closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and
silence the material senses. In the quiet
sanctuary of earnest longings, we must
deny sin and plead God’s allness.
The Master’s injunction is, that we pray in secret and
let our lives attest our sincerity.

S&H 14:31-13

“When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and,
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly.”
So spake Jesus. The closet typifies the sanctuary of
Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but
lets in Truth, Life, and Love. Closed to
error, it is open to Truth, and vice versa.
The Father in secret is unseen to the physical senses,
but He knows all things and rewards according to
motives, not according to speech. To enter into the
heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be
closed. Lips must be mute and materialism silent,
that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine
Principle, Love, which destroys all error.

S&H 392:24 Stand

Stand porter at the door of thought.
Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in
bodily results, you will control yourself har-
moniously. When the condition is present
which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise,
heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office
as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears.
Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the
body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or
pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman
forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forget-
ting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance.

S&H 393:8-10 (to authority.), 16-21

Mind is the
master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness,
sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority.
Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind
governs, and that in Science man reflects God’s govern-
ment. Have no fear that matter can ache,
swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law
of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have
no pain nor inflammation.

S&H 467:29-3

Reasoning from cause to effect in the Science of Mind,
we begin with Mind, which must be under-
stood through the idea which expresses it and
cannot be learned from its opposite, matter. Thus we
arrive at Truth, or intelligence, which evolves its own
unerring idea and never can be coordinate with human
illusions.

S&H 130:26-2

If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science
for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su-
premacy of good, ought we not, contrari-
wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims
of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to
love sin and unnatural to forsake it, – no longer imagine
evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should
not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error
should not seem so real as truth.

S&H 234:9-12, 17-21, 25-27, 31-3

We should become more familiar with good than with
evil, and guard against false beliefs as watchfully as we
bar our doors against the approach of thieves
and murderers.
If mortals would keep proper ward over mortal mind,
the brood of evils which infest it would be cleared out.
We must begin with this so-called mind and
empty it of sin and sickness, or sin and sick-
ness will never cease.
Sin and disease must be thought before they can be
manifested. You must control evil thoughts in the first
instance, or they will control you in the second.
Evil thoughts and aims reach no farther and do no more
harm than one’s belief permits. Evil thoughts, lusts, and
malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen,
from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected
lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.

S&H 260:31

If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for
Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit,
we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action.
Look away from the body into Truth and Love,
the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and
immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the endur-
ing, the good, and the true, and you will bring these
into your experience proportionably to their occupancy
of your thoughts.

S&H 260:13

Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good,
and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already
done; but distrust of one’s ability to gain the goodness
desired and to bring out better and higher results, often
hampers the trial of one’s wings and ensures failure at the
outset.

S&H 275:10-15

To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science,
you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle
of all that really is. Spirit, Life, Truth, Love,
combine as one, – and are the Scriptural names
for God. All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, im-
mortality, cause, and effect belong to God.

S&H 283:1

As mortals begin to understand Spirit,
they give up the belief that there is any true existence
apart from God.

S&H 264:15

When we
realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of
matter, this understanding will expand into self-com-
pleteness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other
consciousness.

Ps 143:1, 7-8, 10-11
Lam 3:22-25
Matt 4:23
Matt 5:2
Matt 6:5-8
Mark 1:35, 21-27
Luke 18:1-8
Luke 5:1615:14-18, 23-24
14:31-13
392:24 Stand
393:8-10 (to authority.), 16-21
467:29-3
130:26-2
234:9-12, 17-21,25-27, 31-3
260:31
260:13
275:10-15
283:1
264:15

Hymns
341…They who seek the throne of grace
[253]…O’er waiting harp strings of the mind
437…Father, Thou art very near us

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