Not Hope, but Faith and Understanding

NOVEMBER 22, 2017
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THE BIBLE

PSALMS

27:7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
102:2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble;
9 Why hast thou forgotten me?
7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
42:11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? … hope thou in God:

PROVERBS

13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.
4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
3: 5 ¶ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

FROM HEBREWS IN THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE

1 And what is faith? Faith gives assurance to our hopes, and makes us certain of realities we do not see.
3 By faith we perceive that the universe was fashioned by the word of God, so that the visible came forth from the invisible.
6 … and without faith it is impossible to please him; for anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who search for him.

AND AGAIN FROM THE KING JAMES VERSION – MARK

9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away:
23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead;
27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

MARK

5:25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

JAMES

5:15 … the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;

MATTHEW

9: 27 ¶ And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.
28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.
29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
30 And their eyes were opened;

MARK

11:24 What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
MATTHEW

8:5 ¶ … when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

JOHN

12:44 ¶ Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

JOB

32:8 …there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

I JOHN

5:20 … we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

SCIENCE & HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES
BY MARY BAKER EDDY

SH 297:28 Until
Until belief becomes faith, and faith becomes spiritual understanding, human thought has little relation to the actual or divine.

SH 1:1-4
The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love.

SH 10:5-6
The world must grow to the spiritual understanding of prayer.

SH 203:7-8
If God were understood instead of being merely believed, this understanding would establish health.

SH 276:25-26 (to 1st .)
Material beliefs and spiritual understanding never mingle.

SH 96:23
Belief is changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.

SH 83:9
Nothing is more antagonistic to Christian Science than a blind belief without understanding, for such a belief hides Truth and builds on error.

SH 487:21-23
Mere belief is blindness without Principle from which to explain the reason of its hope.

SH 298:15-18
Material sense expresses the belief that mind is in matter. This human belief, alternating between a sense of pleasure and pain, hope and fear, life and death, never reaches beyond the boundary of the mortal or the unreal.

SH 132:20-24
To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sinning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal theory.

SH 12:24
Changes in belief may go on indefinitely, but they are the merchandise of human thought and not the outgrowth of divine Science.

SH 141:4
Few understand or adhere to Jesus’ divine precepts for living and healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disciple … to set aside even the most cherished beliefs and practices, to leave all for Christ.

SH 488:7
The Hebrew and Greek words often translated belief differ somewhat in meaning from that conveyed by the English verb believe; they have more the significance of faith, understanding, trust, constancy, firmness. Hence the Scriptures often appear in our common version to approve and endorse belief, when they mean to enforce the necessity of understanding.
SH 329:12 (only)
In Science we can use only what we understand.

SH 381:21-24
You must understand your way out of human theories relating to health, or you will never believe that you are quite free from some ailment.

SH 205:32
When we fully understand our relation to the Divine, we can have no other Mind but His, — no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no consciousness of the existence of matter or error.

SH 167:6
We apprehend Life in divine Science only as we live above corporeal sense and correct it. Our proportionate admission of the claims of good or of evil determines the harmony of our existence, — our health, our longevity, and our Christianity.

SH 487:25-30
The Apostle James said, “Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality.

This faith relies upon an understood Principle.

SH 217:21 in
… in proportion as you understand the control which Mind has over so-called matter, you will be able to demonstrate this control.

SH 3:14 to
… to understand God is the work of eternity, and demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.

SH 329:12 We
We must prove our faith by demonstration.

PUBLICATIONS EXCERPTS

Rudimental Divine Science 11:3
By Mary Baker Eddy
Sickness is the schoolmaster, leading you to Christ; first to faith in Christ; next to belief in God as omnipotent; and finally to the understanding of God and man in Christian Science, whereby you learn that God is good, and in Science man is His likeness…

“Spirituality: Moving from Belief to Understanding”
by Lynn Gray Jackson
Christian Science Sentinel
March 20, 2006

“There’s a big difference between belief and understanding.

“ …where we place our belief determines our experience, because we tend to act on what we’re thinking. That’s true whether we place our belief in good or in evil, in matter or in Spirit, God.

“Spiritual understanding is different from belief, because it is provable and practical, rather than uncertain and changeable. Understanding rests on divine Principle, God, and it enables us to apply God’s laws and prove them. We’re not just hoping or wishing something were true—we’re confident that it is true, absolutely and eternally.

“To understand our spiritual nature is to recognize God as the source and cause of all that is good.

“Thought governed by God is fearless and trusting. It is spiritually minded. But more than this, thought that is God-governed results in a life that is God-governed, because there is no room for any false, material belief to take hold.”

Thoughts on Gratitude
From Mary Baker Eddy

SH 3:25
Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.

SH 4:5-9
To keep the commandments of our Master and follow his example, is our proper debt to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has done.

SH 4:9
Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has said: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

MANUAL 60:15-17
Gratitude and love should abide in every heart each day of all the years.

MISCELLANY 37:4
Naught else than the grandeur of humility and the incense of gratitude and compassionate love can acceptably ascend heavenward from this house of God.