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Teach Us to Pray, by Charles Fillmore, [1941], at sacred-texts.com



I praise Thee and bless Thee for the consciousness of
health and wholeness through Christ.
With all Thy pople I praise and bless Thy Spirit of plenty
now manifest everywhere.

PSYCHOANALYSIS is growing more popular every day because it measures the capacity of the soul. We are all interested in our soul and how to save it. Those who follow Jesus go one step further in soul therapy than the average psychoanalyst; they incorporate Spirit with soul and make it the primal source and sustainer of both soul and body. "It is the spirit that quickeneth."

We make our soul out of the thoughts and words we entertain. Consequently we should be very careful in choosing our words, because they are the means by which we convey Spirit to character and its structure. So instead of psychoanalysis let us say we have Spirit psychoanalysis.

Every word has its root in an idea, whether this idea is reflected from within or not. When we wish

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to approve, extol, applaud, or commend we praise and bless. Words of this kind and the mental attitudes that they set up stimulate, quicken, whirl into action, and finally establish in character the ideals of which they are the vehicle. So let us remember that we use words as instruments of ideas and that it is the idea that we are seeking to enlarge and establish by our words of praise and blessing.

So "praise" and "bless" are words freely used by those who love spiritual values, because these words are heavily charged with capacity to express creative Mind. In themselves alone the words "praise" and "bless" are potent for good because they are associated with ideas that eulogize the good. These words are not found in the vocabulary of the pessimist or atheist. From various sources we learn that scientists are experimenting with instruments like the lie tester that register mind emotions. These instruments measure the force of fear and courage, sorrow and joy; in fact every emotion and mental attitude is coming under scientific observation, and it will not be long before we can produce graphs of the power of every thought as it registers on the nerve and brain cells of the body. When these brain testers definitely prove that certain emotions not only stimulate but permanently enlarge brain areas the cultivation of constructive states of mind will become part of our common-school curriculums.

Metaphysicians find that words that express thanks, gratitude, and praise release latent energies of mind and spirit; and the effects of their use follow

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so quickly that they can almost be identified with the originating words.

Let your words of praise and blessing be to Spirit and the increase will be even greater than it has been when addressed to man. The resource of Spirit are beyond our highest flights of imagination. You can praise a weak body into strength, a fearful heart into peace and trust; shattered nerves into poise and power; a failing business into prosperity and success; want and insufficiency into supply and support.

The healing and prosperity thougths in this chapter are a guide for those who are trying to demonstrate the power of words to regulate health and finances. If you are in need of health use the statement as printed, putting special emphasis on the words "strength" and "power." When using these health-producing words, direct your attention to Spirit as if it were an interpenetrating presence, which it is. Try to feel the quickening spiritual harmony and health, which will be manifested at once or later, depending on your attitude toward the time element. If you join in thought with Silent Unity every night from nine to ten o'clock you will get a powerful uplift. In demonstrating prosperity you should praise and bless even minor evidences of financial improvement.

Remember what Jesus said about your mental attitude in demonstrating spiritually: "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive"; which may be rephrased thus: Pray, believing that you have received, and you shall receive.

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