We are not powerless

Bringing a spiritual perspective to daily life

It's awful to feel powerless. Yet that's the way many people do feel when they face violence, financial crisis, oppressive working conditions, menacing addiction, disease, pain. But the good news of the Bible is that we are not powerless. That we shouldn't feel this way.

"Power belongeth unto God," says the Bible (Ps. 62:11). Power to rescue: "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save" (Zeph. 3:17). Power to heal: "O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me" (Ps. 30:2). And power to be unafraid: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (II Tim. 1:7).

Jesus showed that God-given, divine power is sufficient to transform and heal any bad human condition. "The great demonstrator of God's power" is one way that Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Monitor, referred to Jesus (see "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," pg. 42). She saw that he "overthrew the supposition that sin, sickness, and death have power. He proved them powerless" (pg. 228).

Copernicus reversed the accepted perception of the earth's place in the solar system. And 15 centuries earlier, Jesus reversed the accepted perception of our place in God's universe. Jesus perceived that we have an unbroken relationship with God, that is, with omnipotent good. He proved that in the power structure of God's universe, evil is without force. God is Spirit, and we are like Him - spiritual. God is omnipotent, and we reflect the power of God.

Mrs. Eddy wrote of how this view of our spiritual identity is what gave Jesus and his disciples power to heal. Moreover, by healing people herself, she proved that this knowledge empowers us today. After all, Jesus said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also" (John 14:12).

As an example, about five years ago I was disabled by excruciating, unrelenting back pain. I couldn't find relief in any position except standing, which of course made it impossible to sleep.

Intuitively I felt that medical treatment was not the solution. Instead, I prayed. Prayer is the way human thought is lifted to recognition of the divine. Through prayer, we surrender ourselves to the presence of God's merciful, reliable healing power. Prayer reminds us that we reflect that spiritual power. I read in the Bible, "Physician, heal thyself" (Luke 4:23). And Science and Health offered these instructions: "The Scripture declares, 'The Lord He is God [good]; there is none else beside Him.' Even so, harmony is universal, and discord is unreal. Christian Science declares that Mind [God] is substance, also that matter neither feels, suffers, nor enjoys. Hold these points strongly in view. Keep in mind the verity of being, - that man is the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is painless and permanent" (pg. 414).

Despite appearances, we are invariably made in the good image and likeness of God. I've had many experiences that have shown me that when I understand that I'm made by God to be perfect, painless, and whole, then human circumstances, inclusive of bodily conditions, comply with this spiritual view. Discords resolve and vanish.

My family had planned to drive from New York to Chicago the day after Christmas. On Christmas Day, still no better, I continued to pray.

And I made the trip. Without pain. My back was fine by the time we left. One day, about three years later, the pain reappeared. Again, I approached the problem by praying for healing, and was quickly free. Since then I've remained free, and I continue to enjoy strenuous sports activities regularly.

The healing power of God doesn't just work for special people, or only in a particular place, or just at a certain time. It is the power of a universal, divine Principle. It is as permanent and always present as God. Truly, everybody has the power to heal - and that includes you.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits:

who forgiveth all thine

iniquities; who healeth

all thy diseases.

Psalms 103:2, 3

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society