One hundred percent confident
Conventional wisdom says we can’t be absolutely sure about anything. The field of quality control, for example, indicates that it is prohibitively costly – some would say impossible – to achieve perfection in manufacturing. But when we pray for healing, is it possible to be 100% confident in God?
Christ Jesus introduced the world to the concept of perfect assurance and absolute, calm conviction in good, God. His prayers were demonstrations of full certainty that God was governing man (the spiritual identity of each of us) as perfect, 100% pure, right in the midst of trouble. And healing was the result.
When he raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always,” and then he raised Lazarus with the command, “Lazarus, come forth” (see John 11:41-43). He didn’t ask whether it was possible to heal Lazarus; he clearly expected restoration to occur, based on his deep understanding that man was already and always perfect as God’s child.
He was so confident in God’s all-power that he thanked God for the healing before it was evident. That is “100%” thinking! Jesus knew the reality of God’s unchanging power and perfection so clearly that he had 100% confidence in God’s ability to heal. This total confidence in God is complete spiritual knowing.
I had a healing several years ago when I came to 100% conviction that God could and would heal me. I awoke one morning unable to walk as a result of what appeared to be painful shin splints. I was worried because I was in Scotland and scheduled to take a flight to London in a few hours. I had planned to tour London for several hours on the day prior to flying home to the United States. But I couldn’t move from my bed without pain.
This statement from “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy came to thought: “You can prove for yourself, dear reader, the Science of healing ...” (p. 547). This promise made me feel that I could be healed if I just followed the precepts of healing I knew in Christian Science. I began specific prayer with the thought that all sickness, including this condition, is an “error of belief” (Science and Health, p. 208) and nothing more. I reasoned that if this was so, then what appeared as an unfortunate reality was only false evidence about my true, spiritual nature as God’s child.
Interestingly, as soon as I took this firm stand, I was bombarded with strong suggestions that I should doubt my prayer. I reached out to God, and remembered Jesus’ statement in the Bible telling us to ask anything in his name, and it would be done (see John 16:23). I did this and found that standing on the authority of the Bible gave me confidence that my prayer was valid and that I had the right to stand by it and experience healing.
It took only a few minutes of turning to God and praying along these lines before my thought changed to one of spiritual conviction. I saw that my true being was intact and had never been touched by the aggressive belief of ill health. I rejoiced in this truth. I then knew that I could stand up and go about my day. I did so. Completely free, I flew to London and joyously walked miles around the city. The next morning I caught my flight home, rejoicing in God’s goodness every step of the way.
How radical! When we’re entirely convinced that what we appear to be experiencing is only a misperception of the spiritual reality, and stand by this conviction with the authority of Christ, Truth, healing occurs.
The eternal perfection of God and His creation bridges the gap between hoping for a good-but-as-yet-undetermined human outcome and a conscious sense of 100% spiritual, perfect truth. Mrs. Eddy, the discoverer of the Science of Christianity, wrote, “The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, – perfect God and perfect man, – as the basis of thought and demonstration” (Science and Health, p. 259).
When we pray from the basis of “perfect God and perfect man” – untouched by false, material belief – we yield to deep spiritual conviction, based on our 100% spiritual identity. This not only removes fear, but brings out health and healing. And we joyously glorify God.
Adapted from an article published in the April 18, 2022, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
