In order to experience protection at all times, we should understand God's allness and be aware of our privileges as sons of God. Then we should persist in acknowledging the perfect man and the spiritual universe which God has created.
God is perfect, and He is forever presenting good to man. If we are aware of these great facts, we can expect to see them manifested in our experience. On the other hand, if our thought is fearful or uncertain, we are likely to find ourselves accepting error's aggressive suggestions, and then we possibly suffer from the consequences.
Christ Jesus, the world's greatest Teacher and demonstrator of good, bade his disciples (Matt. 26:41), "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." And he added, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Mary Baker Eddy, the great follower of Jesus' teaching, enlarges on the subject of self-defense against evil suggestion for the benefit of her students. In the Manual of The Mother Church she gives us a specific Rule for "Defense against Malpractice." She writes (Art. XXVI, Sect. 3): "Teachers shall instruct their pupils how to defend themselves against mental malpractice, never to return evil for evil, but to know the truth that makes free, and thus to be a law, not unto others, but to themselves."
