Turning to the Father
	Notes and References 12/10/00 No Shadow of Turning James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. In my example today in class I created a shadow with a pen standing on end . As I turned the pen the shadow stayed in place. It is the same with us. When we are in the shadows (of a mortal dilemma) and we turn to God the dilemma does not turn with us. We leave it behind. We must leave the material basis and start with God as the only cause and effect. We have focused on lifting thought for the last five or six weeks. At this Christmas season we need to turn to the Christ and see the great gifts that have been given to us. We need to turn to the Father. That term Father as a synonym for God was one of Jesus’ gifts to us. He was the first one in the Bible to refer to God as Father. Let’s look at some examples of Bible characters turning to the Father: First we have blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52 (to .) And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. Then we have the women who was bowed over for 18 years in Luke 13:11-13. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. Finally we have the prodigal son story in Luke 15:11-20 certain (to .) A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. In the first two stories we see something very interesting. Both people (the blind man and the crippled woman) were asked by Jesus to come to him. It would have been much easier and more sympathetic for Jesus to have gone to them to heal them. However, the lesson here is that Jesus was never sympathetic to matter. He was asking much more. Like the beggar at the gate which is called Beautiful, the lame man was lifted up and immediately his ankle bones received strength, these two individuals were being asked to lift their thought to a higher level. They obeyed and were healed. We often find ourselves in a pitiful predicament and want others to be in sympathy with us. When we are at the limit of our human capacity we then are forced to turn to a higher power. We are forced to turn tot he Father. This could be referred to as our “Red Sea” experience. Below is the historical record of Moses at the Red Sea. (Actually, many Bible historians believe that Moses actually crossed the Reed Sea, a smaller body of water that has periodic tide movements similar to the story in the Bible.) In any event the speech Moses gave to the Israelites and his prayer to God. MOSES A THE RED SEA From the history of the Jewish people by Flavious Josephus. This is the account of Moses at the Red Sea when the Israelites were ready to stone Moses for making them so vulnerable to the trap that Alexander and his Egyptian army had set for them, trapping them at the sea shore, surrounded by mountains. First comes his speech to the Israelites and then follows his prayer to God. When (Moses) was in the midst of them, he said, "It is not just of us to distrust even men, when they have hitherto well managed our affairs, as if they would not be the same men hereafter; but it is no better than madness, at this time, to despair of the providence of God, by whose power all those things have been performed which He promised, when you expected no such things: I mean all that we have been concerned in for our deliverance and escape from slavery. Nay, when we are in the utmost distress, as you see we are, we ought rather to hope that God will succor us, by whose operation it is that we are now encompassed within this narrow place, that He my deliver us out of such difficulties as are otherwise insurmountable, and out of which neither you nor your enemies expect you can be delivered, and may at once demonstrate His own power and His providence over us. Nor does God use to give His help in small difficulties to those whom He favors, but in such cases where no one can see how any hope in man can better their condition. Depend, therefore, upon such a Protector as is able to make small things great, and to show that this mighty force against you is nothing but weakness, and be not affrighted at the Egyptian army, nor do you despair of being preserved, because the sea before, and the mountains behind, afford you no opportunity for flying, for even these mountains, if God so please, may be made plain ground for you, and the sea become dry land." But when Moses was come to the sea-shore, he took his rod and made supplication to God, and called upon Him to be their helper and assistant; and said, "Thou art not ignorant, 0 Lord, that is beyond human strength and human contrivance to avoid the difficulties we are now under; but it must be Thy work altogether to procure deliverance to this army, which has left Egypt at Thy appointment. We despair of any other assistance or contrivance and have recourse only to that hope we have in Thee; and if there be any method that can promise us an escape by Thy providence, we look up to Thee for it. And let it come quickly, and manifest Thy power to us; and do Thou raise up this people unto good courage and hope of deliverance, who are deeply sunk into a disconsolate state of mind. We are in a helpless place, but still it is a place that Thou possessest; still the sea is Thine, the mountains also that enclose us are Thine; so that these mountains will open themselves if Thou commandest them, and the sea also, if Thou comniandest it, will become dry land. Nay, we might escape by a flight through the air, if Thou shouldst determine we should have that way of salvation." These words sound very much like Christian Science. “This might force against you is nothing but weakness" and “do Thou raise up this people unto good courage and hope of deliverance, who are deeply sunk into a disconsolate state of mind” are just two examples. What we are all after is dominion. God does come to the rescue of our human condition whenever we turn to Him and turn away from what seems to be a mighty force against us. Our ability to do this is a function of the purity of our thought. As our thought is lifted higher we draw to us everything we need. And, we repel everything that is uncomfortable in the presence of that pure thinking. Look at our Leader’s words from Mis 4:1-3 Thought imbued with purity, Truth, and Love, instructed in the Science of metaphysical healing, is the most potent and desirable remedial agent on the earth. I also told you of my healing of pneumonia and told you how I turned to the prayer of Moses (above) to heal me. I also remembered the thought that I found from Mrs. Eddy from Mis 277:23-24: No evidence before the material senses can close my eyes to the scientific proof that God, good, is supreme. We must never believe material evidence. Moses didn’t, Jesus didn’t and neither should you and I. Our closing hymn was on of my favorites. It’s easy to remember because it is #123. Memorize the 2nd verse. You won’t be sorry. Hymn 123:2 Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid; I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand;
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