Throughout the ages people have prayed, and you and I know that no sincere prayer was ever uttered without helping the one who gave it. We know that faith has done more than any other one thing to keep hope alive. We know that always in times of stress people have turned to god. But we really want to know something beyond this. We want to discover the secret of prayer as an effective force which actually can accomplish definite results.

Consciousness, or the ability to know, is the most important thing in your life. It must be this thing called life in you, acting as an individual, a person. But there is still more to it than this. For you didn't create your own consciousness. It came with you when you entered this world. Consciousness, or that thing which you really are, is the gift of life. It is God in you.

When Jesus said, "It is done unto you as you believe", he not only announced a law of faith, he explained how it works. If there is a law of faith, it is right where you are, and it will operate like any other law in nature.

Friends, if God is all there is, it follows that the spirit within us must be some part of the divine being. When we were born into this world we were accompanied by a spiritual presence which is the real self. But this spiritual self is pretty much an unknown guest to all of us.

I am not alone. Wherever I am, God is. Wherever I go, I go with God. Should traveling be in order, I have no fear, for his love goes before me and prepares the way. Right lodging and perfect meals await me as I need them. I dedicate both my car and the trip to God. His hand is on the wheel and his wisdom assures the smooth operation of the car. His love reaches out to help me through everyone I meet.

I know that my oneness with God gives no recognition to anything unlike God. All that God is I am now consciously aware of being. The love, the beauty, the goodness, and the joy of God fill me to overflowing and find full expression in everything that I do. The peace which is God at the center sustains all spiritual and mental attributes in complete equilibrium within me. Love and wisdom are balanced within me. Beauty and power are unified. Knowingness and understanding maintain my right relationship with those in my world.

Open your spiritual eyes; listen with the inner ear; open your minds. What is it that we are to open our eyes, our ears and our minds to? What is it that we must see, hear, and understand? It is something Jesus learned through silent communion with life. The inward ear of Jesus was in tune with the divine harmony; his inward eye looked upon a spiritual universe; his human consciousness was transmuted into divine understanding as he sought for and found his union with life.

Demonstrating the spiritual principle of life is a process of convincing the mentality of an inner and ever-present good, reality is already perfect. God is always God and good is never evil. It is only as we turn, with our whole consciousness to the light that we receive light. It is impossible, while we keep ourselves covered with darkness, for the light to shine on us.

Friends, I want to talk to you about some of the secret powers hidden within each one of us, powers that are transcendent of our ordinary faculties. We are so used to thinking that we are made up of flesh and blood and bone and hair that we lose sight of the more subtle powers of the mind. Yet, throughout the ages there have been people who have had transcendent powers that go beyond the bounds of physical laws, as we understand them.

Every time I talk on this subject I begin with this. I have no gold brick to sell. This is no get-rich-quick scheme. I have nothing at all to sell to you. There are no secret doctrines that will tell you how to make a million in a month. While there is an exact science of gaining wealth, I will say in beginning that possibly none of you will ever prove it. Nevertheless, I will say that it is an exact law, a scientific and unfailing law. There is a law of perfect supply.

You will remember the story of Aladdin and his lamp; that when he rubbed his lamp and made a wish, then the genie would appear. Jesus said, "There is a light that lighteth every man's path". But he added, "If you put your light under a bushel, then no one can see it". It is this light which is the light of God and the light of life that is your light.

I speak my word for absolute right action. Whatever may be my problem, I know that it is an effect and not a cause. This which I call my problem is the result of my thinking. I now change this way of thinking and turn to the infinite law of mind and to the presence of God, knowing that here is the source and the substance of all things. I speak this word knowing that any undesirable condition no longer exists. Only that which conforms to the nature of God can manifest in my experience.

From the depths of our hearts, we do thank God for all the good there is. We know and understand that gratitude opens the very windows of heaven! Thanksgiving opens every channel of life, health, happiness, and abundance. Every door opens to the grateful heart. Be grateful today! List all the things you can be grateful for and watch how the Law of Increase and Multiplication will supply your every need. Make gratitude an unbreakable habit. Jesus was grateful for the “ despised” loaves and fishes...and they increased and fed a multitude.

Unto you is given the power to create and accomplish in life the deep desires of your heart. The incarnation of God in man, as man, is this power. Freely it is given to all alike. Some intuitively realize this and bring forth great works. Others are lulled by their material acceptances from childhood to the present and never realize that within them is this unconditioned possibility. The infinite expects the finite to reproduce in its area all that which the infinite is. God’s expectation is upon you.

God, Divine Mind, is the everlasting creator of my being and all being. My creator lives within me and endows me with new life each day and always. This creative mind is constantly bringing new forms, new ideas, new inspirations to replace old ones. The life-force of the infinite in me, never stands still, waits, lingers, nor even pauses. I know I live in a universe of everlasting right action, movement, change, and perpetual progress.