Faith

                 I see on Facebook and other Social Media people professing their faith, mostly Christians, but a few others as well.  It seems Christians are the ones most willing to publicly declare their faith.  I seldom ever respond or is it "Like" these statements of faith on Social Media; mostly I will reluctantly click a "Like" if it is someone who is a family member of mine or someone I know personally outside of Social Media.  But mostly I just "Hide" the post on my page.

                Of course, we are all aware that whatever we place our faith in is a choice; and there are a multitude of choices to be made in regards to who or what we have faith in.  The masses of people, it seems, rely on their parents or their family traditions to make the choice of what or who to put their faith in.  There are those, and this is becoming a larger number of people, who choose to ignore faith practices altogether.  Personally, I think life would be more than hard if we have nothing to believe in but what we can see, hear, feel, taste and touch; but that's me.  Our goal then is to learn how to use our affirmative faith in the most effective way.

                This is what the American Mystic Ernest Holmes wrote about faith in The Science of Mind:  "The Universe is a Spiritual System. Its laws are those of intelligence.  We approach this Reality through the mind, which enables us to know, will, and act.  Prayer, faith and belief are closely related mental attitudes.
                  Prayer is a mental approach to Reality.  It is not the symbol but "the idea symbolized" that makers prayer effective.  Some prayers are more effective than others.  Some only help us to endure, while others transcend conditions, and demonstrate an invisible law which has power over the visible.  In so far as our prayer is affirmative, it is creative of the desired results."
              
                First of all, we must be firm in our awareness that "G-d is no respecter of persons" and if we aren't this will most likely trip us up when it comes to prayer.  By this, I mean, we cannot pray the "free will" away from anyone, no matter how much we believe that what we pray for them is for their good.  The genius of Ernest Holmes' statement is "the idea symbolized" as this is how the Universe responds to us by corresponding to our affirmative prayer.  When we pray, which means to ask affirmatively, for something; i.e. a relationship or marriage or a promotion at work, or for just about anything, we should never personalize our prayer to a person, place or thing.  We should affirm that which the "idea symbolizes."  In other words, affirm that we are in a delightfully happy and harmonious marriage, or a success in the work that we love, or whatever it is ... but keep our mind off the details.  That perfect marriage may be to someone we have yet to meet even if we are so in love with someone, or it may be the someone we are so in love with.  That promotion at work may take us into work that we are unaware of and might find less than appealing, or maybe the promotion will open doors of opportunity that bring us an even greater success.

                Effective prayers or affirmations are the result of the consciousness of the person who is praying or affirming and their awareness of the Truth. It takes an objective mind to use mental laws effectively.  As the Master Mind Jesus stated "it rains on the good and the bad alike" ... or like gravity, the Creative Intelligence is no respecter of persons,  so we must loose the idea that our prayer or affirmation will not demonstrate and instead believe that it will if we follow the laws of the Universe.