Prayer for the heart that rejects God
On almost every continent today, acts of violence both specific and random are getting more press than ever. As difficult as it may seem, we can reach out to help those who either have been thinking about the possibility of hurting others or who may already have done so, but are ready to consider ways to bring an end to the violence altogether.
The first step for a person who wants to stop hurting others is to become more aware of his or her directions and patterns of thought. Abuse is a thought before it becomes an act. It’s that angry, selfish, or jealous direction of thinking that, if fueled, can escalate into something hurtful and destructive. On the other hand, more Godlike directions of thinking can peacefully take you on a detour right around that anger and the violence that can go with it. How vital it is to watch the quality of our thoughts! Sometimes your life may feel very conflicted, with the good thoughts and bad thoughts in a battle. Have you ever noticed that the thoughts that win are always ones that you fuel by dwelling on them the most?
You might think of our consciousness as a laboratory in which we have the opportunity to prove and experience the power of God. Each moment, we conduct a new experiment in this laboratory. If we experiment by fueling thoughts that may quickly flare up into an incident of violence, our laboratory work (and overall life) will become fruitless, frustrating, destructive. But we always are the ones making the decisions about which kinds of thoughts to entertain, or fuel. And we can withhold fuel at any time from the thoughts that deserve dismissal.
It’s the pure, angelic thoughts of God, who is Truth and Love, that we truly desire and really want to nourish. “Angels are pure thoughts from God, winged with Truth and Love …” writes Mary Baker Eddy (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 298 ). In other words, these angelic messages are helpful thoughts that God is providing to you in every moment. They reveal the purity and goodness that God is naturally expressing in you, and in others, too. People have been aware of these powerful angel messages for years. The book of Jeremiah says, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (29:11 ).
No matter what you have done or how terribly you’ve been treated in the past, those angel messages of peace are always feeding you. You don’t have to earn them. They come to you simply because God loves you. In fact, whenever God communicates with you, you will always feel His love. Try it. Be quietly open to an angel message from God. You’ll hear His message within your heart and, at the same time, will also feel loved. You can’t feel God’s peace and, in the same moment, also have an overheated temper. It’s one or the other. And loving God and loving God’s children enables you to trade old patterns of violence for patterns of peace and goodness.
As God’s child, you can never have in your thought a temptation to strike out at other people. But it takes watchfulness to make the distinction. If you listen a while to what you’re thinking, you might be surprised by how often an angry thought fleets by. Even when you are listening to God’s angel messages for you, you still may be aware of some of those obnoxious thoughts. They do not deserve a life in your consciousness, even for ten minutes. Only God’s thoughts are real, so violent thoughts are not your genuine thoughts. Once you see them as godless, they will have no more residence in you.
I’m reminded of the biblical story of Saul, who turned away from and brought an end to the penchant for hurting people. He later wrote, “You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13, New Revised Standard Version).
After Jesus had been crucified and then resurrected and ascended, many of his followers traveled around talking about his message of God’s goodness and love and power. Saul was so angry with what they were doing that he accompanied some of the leaders of the city in which he lived as they stoned and killed a Christian named Stephen. Saul witnessed this act, and even held the killers’ clothing while they did the deed (see Acts 7:58 ). Then Saul “made havoc” among Christians, violently hauling them out of their houses and throwing them in prison (see Acts 8:3 ).
But he didn’t remain violent; his thoughts of cruelty and anger were washed from him through the power of God. One day, as Saul was walking along a road, he saw a bright, blazing light. And he heard a voice asking him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4 ).
Only God's thoughts are real, so violent thoughts are not your genuine thoughts.
This was the turning point in Saul’s life. He could tell that God wanted him to let the hatred and violence go. It was time for a new start. The whole experience left Saul unable to see anything, so his friends had to lead him the rest of the way on his trip. In the city Saul was traveling to, God told a man named Ananias to help him. Ananias, a Christian, was afraid—he’d often heard of the violence Saul was doing to people. But he obeyed and Saul’s sight returned immediately. From then on Saul, a man who had brought so much pain and abuse to others, was so completely different and good that he became known as Paul, the Christian (see Acts 9:1–20 ).
Paul began traveling and helping people. Once, when he was talking about God with a group of people in the town of Lystra, he saw a man who had never walked. Paul looked at the man and spoke loudly: “Stand upright on thy feet” (Acts 14:10 ). The man was healed in that moment and stood, walked, and even jumped in the air.
Just think of the contrast in Paul’s life! As Saul, he had had a history of doing so much damage to others, yet now he was actually healing people through the power and law of God. He later observed, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2 ).
The law of God, divine Spirit, still gives people freedom from the sin of violence, just as it did for Paul two thousand years ago. It’s possible to turn to Spirit and accept with all your heart that God’s love is the sole influence in thought and life. You wouldn’t want it any other way. You have no reason anymore to hate yourself or any other person. Enjoy the comfort of God’s correction. Many times, I’ve seen people help themselves greatly by saying to God: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for thinking incorrectly or behaving in that manner. And I’ll show you how sorry I am by abandoning that fearful, selfish way of thinking and behaving, and instead embrace with all my heart how You see and know me.”
The Bible gives great encouragement in order to help us make those kinds of changes: “I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O Lord; for it is good” (Psalms 54:6 ). Your love for God is shown clearly as you sacrifice that anger, and the violent patterns that go with it, and embrace the beauty of holiness, peace, goodness, and love. Love is a choice, a choice that must be made every day.
“We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness,” writes Mary Baker Eddy, “but if we desire holiness above all else, we shall sacrifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this, that we may walk securely in the only practical road to holiness” (Science and Health, p. 11 ).
Holiness is a word that includes qualities of thought like affection, goodness, grace, and a real willingness to serve God. And we wouldn’t be given this kind of inspired counsel if we weren’t capable of following it. That’s an important fact to remember often—Spirit will not ask us to do what we can’t accomplish. Our willingness to sacrifice hateful, violent behavior is how we begin—it’s a mental decision. Then, to allow ourselves to be filled with the thoughts, the angel messages, that God is constantly providing brings an end to violence on all levels. Those angelic thoughts supply you with a way out of dominating others; they give you the dominion that goes hand-in-hand with healing and happiness.
We can all take a cue from Paul, and enjoy every opportunity to use our thinking as a laboratory to prove and experience the power of God. Each hour, each moment, is new; allow God to present you with an angelic thought now. Feed it and watch it thrive. You will thrive right along with it.
