“Who are you to talk to me like this? Who gives you the authority to dictate my state of health? If you are not God, then I won’t listen to you. I refuse to believe your lies, and I know that you have no influence or power over me.”

That’s how I firmly prayed one morning when I found a lump on my body. My prayer was inspired by the Bible account where Pontius Pilate said to Christ Jesus, with all the certainty of his power and the pride of his rank, “Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?” And Jesus answered, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:10, 11).

I had just read this story that morning in the weekly Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly, which is a source of daily inspiration and mental strength for me. It made clearer to me than ever before that man—the active, perfect, spiritual image of God, Truth—cannot deteriorate or suffer. I was then, and am forever, a divine idea.