Unshakable Faith

Yes, after a holiday break I am now back to considering the path to prosperous living prescribed by Lakewood Pastor and bestselling author, Joel Osteen, in his latest book, Break Out! 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life.  I am truly fascinated by his perspective.  Reading his book is helping me to discern how his teaching can integrate with New Thought philosophy in ways that I can apply to my life and help others use in their lives as well. 

What follows is the first in a series of pieces I will write in which I take chapter titles and quotes from Mr. Osteen’s book and offer my perspective on how we can interpret and use his lessons to truly live prosperous lives.  Please keep in mind Unity minister and author, Edwene Gaines’, definition of prosperity which is –

• A vitally alive physical body to provide a comfortable worldly home for the spiritual beings that we are
•  Relationships that are satisfying, nurturing, honest, and work all the time
• Work that we love so much that it’s not work, it’s play
• And all the money we can spend

Unshakable Faith

Mr. Osteen says, “When God puts a promise in your heart, you have to come to the place where you believe in that promise so strongly no one can talk you out of it.”

What is the promise that God puts in your heart?  It is not the promise of health or wealth, not the promise of a new job or the perfect relationship; not the promise of a new car or a grand home.  The promise that God places in your heart is the same promise that is in the heart of all.  The promise is “I Am that I Am.”  The “I” which we call ‘God,’ ‘Universe,’ ‘Divine Mind,’ ‘One’ as well as many other names is the All in all and the All as all.  The “I” is our only Truth.  That Truth is “written on our hearts.”  In other words, the Truth is recorded in our soul or etched on our spirit.

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel    after that time,” declares the LORD.“I will put my law in their minds    and write it on their hearts.I will be their God,    and they will be my people. – Jeremiah 31:33

That covenant is that the ‘I’ is all you need. Conditions change, people come and go, jobs begin and end, and houses are built and destroyed: “I” is changeless and eternal.  We must place our faith so strongly in the awareness of the ‘I’ that nothing can move us.  Nothing in the external can shake the faith that ‘I’ is the only Truth.  No appearance, no circumstance can move us from our firm foundation in the Truth.  It is this Truth that sets us free from the suffering caused by focusing on conditions.

Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, said,

“When we deny our attachment to matter and material conditions and affirm our unity with spiritual substance, we enter the new consciousness of real substance.  Substance is not confined to matter; it is the idea that is the firm foundation of all that we conceive to be permanent.”

Mr. Osteen says,

“If you focus on the condition, focus on the problem, you are using your faith but you are using it in reverse.”

Actually if you are focusing on your problem, if you are paying attention only to the condition, you are not using faith at all.  Unity minister and author, Eric Butterworth, defines ‘faith’ as “consciousness centered in the Divine Flow.”  If we understand ‘faith’ from that perspective, it does not follow that faith can be used to focus on a problem.  If we are focusing on the circumstance and we are not aware of the Truth in the midst of it, then we are in fear, not in faith.  Faith is keeping our minds stayed on Truth.

Mr. Osteen encourages us to, “Get in agreement with God.”  We must be honest, and ask ourselves whether we are agreeing with the medical report or the financial report, or are we agreeing with the promise of God – the Truth of our Being.

This does not mean that we have to deny the appearance or live with our heads in the sand.  It is fine to have information.  However, it is essential to not allow the information to be perceived as Truth.  The facts about a physical condition, financial situation, job or relationship are just that, facts; they are not your Truth.  Do not allow the “facts” to inform your actions.  Remove your focus from the facts before taking action and allow divine guidance to inform your actions.

Living a prosperous life is not something that happens to you; it happens through you.  Living a prosperous life results not from focusing on life’s conditions and taking action to remedy them, but from living in conscious awareness of the eternal Truth of your being - the ‘I’ that is and was and evermore shall be, the All, and taking action inspired from that consciousness. Your Good is not dependent upon any person, place or thing in the external.  Your good is dependent upon you and your willingness to make that shift in consciousness.  That is the only path to prosperous living.