How often we hear the remark made, sometimes half heartedly, then again with a certain pathetic yearning in the tone. "Oh, if I just had the understanding that some people have, or if I could talk as well as some people do, I would not mind giving a testimony at a Wednesday evening service, and how glad I would be to give this healing truth to those in need of it!" Let us stop a moment and analyze this desire, for if it be a true one it is prayer, according to the teaching of our dear Leader (see Science and Health, p. 1). Again, on page 326, she says: "Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way. "Who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?" Who or what is this that claims so little intelligence and understanding, and no ability to give out the truth? Is this the Father's own child, to whom He has given all things, or is it mortal man, who does not know what it means to be either a receptacle or a channel for the truth? And could mortal man ever do anything in or of himself? Is not this the same kind of plea which mortal mind presented to Moses, seeking to hinder him from carrying God's message of deliverance to the Israelites? Moses said, "I am not eloquent, ... I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." Mortal mind can always find some excuse to hinder our progress and keep us from being about the Father's business. It is then we need to ask, What is man's birthright, and has not God given him dominion over all? Paul declared, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me."
God's reply to Moses was: "Who hath made man's mouth? ... Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." Our first step then must be expressed by a readiness to obey, a letting go of self-will and self-consciousness, and when human thought is emptied of self one is ready to do the Father's will. God said, "Go, and I will ... teach thee." Faith is always required before we can enlist in the Father's service. There must always be a loving confidence in the divine All-power, since God never gives the supply in advance of the demand.
In Matthew's gospel we find a promise given the apostles, when they were sent on their healing mission, similar to that given Moses: "When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Moses was not ready to heed the divine command at the time he was called; perhaps he had not learned that divine Mind is the only intelligence. Relying as he seemingly did on human ability and wisdom, he had not the faith or courage to go forward without seeing how the work was to be accomplished, and so God chose Aaron to deliver the message.
Mortal mind would always deny infinite wisdom, understanding, and power; it would deny the very essence of Spirit and create a sense of limitation and lack to hinder every forward step taken by God's child. It would use every subtle means available to silence the voice of Truth and place an obstacle in the way of him who would be about the Father's business; and yet the Father's promise was, "My presence shall go with thee." Later this was repeated in the Master's tender assurance, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
Mortal belief would defraud us of the glorious privilege of serving in the Master's vineyard. It may tell us, as it did Moses, that we cannot give out God's message of truth because we are slow of speech. It may seek to limit us in understanding by the belief in many minds. It may talk to us of our erring nature and unworthiness, and it may seek to discourage even those who live the very closest to God by the belief in lack, as it did the disciples at the feeding of the five thousand, when they, not being able to discern how all these people were to be fed, would have sent them away to buy food in the villages.
But God cannot use sealed lips, the hand that will not open to give, or the feet that refuse to move to do His bidding, for Love is ever active and knows no stagnation. The multitudes could never have been fed by a denial of Truth. Our little store of truth increases as it is put into circulation and used. The Father's children are channels for Love and Truth, and they are never given a command which they cannot obey. Love's channels must be utilized, so then let us not oppose the divine will. Our feet can move at God's bidding, and we read in the Bible, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace." Our hands can do with might whatever they find to do, whether it be to write the word of encouragement to the burdened and sorrowing and discouraged, to lift the fallen, or to raise the sufferer from the bed of pain.
Let us, then, know that we have but one Mind, which can send forth nothing but thoughts of Truth, that always heal and save. Let us then open our lips and voice it, knowing that God always inspires that which is used in His service, letting the healing truth flow freely, and we shall be amazed at the result, for God is with His word, and no labor of love is or ever can be lost.
