Faith by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
“For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” (Rom. 3:3).
I think that I can trace every scrap of sorrow in my life to simple unbelief. How could I be anything but quite happy if I believed always that all the past is forgiven, and all the present furnished with power, and all the future bright with hope because of the same abiding facts which do not change with my mood, do not stumble because I totter and stagger at the promise through unbelief, but stand firm and clear with their peaks of pearl cleaving the air of Eternity, and the bases of their hills rooted unfathomably in the Rock of God. Mont Blanc does not become a phantom or a mist because a climber grows dizzy on its side. –James Smetham
Is it any wonder that, when we stagger at any promise of God through unbelief, we do not receive it? Not that faith merits an answer, or in any way earns it, or works it out; but God has made believing a condition of receiving, and the Giver has a sovereign right to choose His own terms of gift. –Rev. Samuel Hart
Unbelief says, “How can such and such things be?” It is full of “hows”; but faith has one great answer to the ten thousand “hows,” and that answer is–GOD! –C. H. M.
No praying man or woman accomplishes so much with so little expenditure of time as when he or she is praying.
If there should arise, it has been said–and the words are surely true to the thought of our Lord Jesus Christ in all His teaching on prayer–if there should arise ONE UTTERLY BELIEVING MAN, the history of the world might be changed.
Will YOU not be that one in the providence and guidance of God our Father? –A. E. McAdam
Prayer without faith degenerates into objectless routine, or soulless hypocrisy. Prayer with faith brings Omnipotence to back our petitions. Better not pray unless and until your whole being responds to the efficacy of your supplication. When the true prayer is breathed, earth and heaven, the past and the future, say Amen. And Christ prayed such prayers. –P. C. M.
“Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.”
Streams in the Desert: 1925 Original 366 Daily Devotional Readings
Photo credit: Hagai Agmon-Snir, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Christians are Priests, the Body is the Temple
My friend and Christian Science practitioner , James Spencer defines what prayer is. It is important to know it is not just putting your hands together and saying words.He says:” Let’s look at why people don’t rely more on prayer. I think that possibly it’s because there is a great misunderstanding about prayer. It could be something that people feel is not connected to reality. You’ve probably heard the expression ;”Well, don’t just pray, DO something.” Possibly to them prayer is a form of hope.
There needs to be a feeling that prayer is connected to law. That connection, that link, must be what Jesus called the Holy Ghost, the divine Law of God that holds everything together. ” He goes on;’ When I think of prayer I have to go back to the core teaching of Jesus. He gave us the model , which people call the Lord’s Prayer.( see Matthew, 6;9-13) And the first two words of it, they’re actually mind -boggling and earth- shaking. He said:” Our Father.” Think of that. He didn’t say;”My Father”. Of course his relation to God, to the eternal Father, was unique. . But , in teaching others how to pray, he said, ” Our Father,” meaning mine, yours and everyone’s everywhere. In our Spiritual nature we all have that same Father, and connection to God. When we see that idea as a fact, m we’re readier to rely on it, more willing to trust it, because we recognize there is Law behind it, ” from his article 2005 in the Christian Science Journal . Connection to the all Truth of Love in God eternal and seeing it as divine Law .. makes it easier to heal with that deep understanding that since God is all … and I am connected to God.. law will see to it as I more fully understand this, that I am healed, completely and follow his Light to my freedom .