It is said that once each year, during the great celebration in the temple at Jerusalem, the high priest would stand on the temple steps and, amidst the shouting of the multitude, proclaim the sacred name of God, which was the word of Power. But he spoke the name only when there was such a din that no one could hear it.

It is also said that this word of Power was deposited in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. Frequently someone would discover it. But two lions guarded the gateway to the temple and when the one who had discovered the word of Power came through the doorway, the lions roared in such a terrific manner that he became so frightened that he forgot it.

And even today it is commonplace for us to think of some people as possessing powers beyond others. Actually there have been those throughout the ages who have exercised a power so far beyond the ordinary that they have stood out almost as gods.

Jesus never claimed to have any secrets that were kept from others. He plainly said: What I do you can do also when you learn how. He undoubtedly possessed the secret word, the lost word, or the key that actually unlocked the door to a secret chamber which revealed the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. But the secret that Jesus possessed and taught was so simple that it has taken nearly two thousand years for its very simplicity to reveal itself to us.

Moses said that the word of Power is not afar off but in our own mouth, that we should know it and do it. But very few ever believed that Jesus meant exactly what he said and said exactly what he meant, or that he knew what he was talking about. The teaching of both Jesus and Moses has eluded us because whoever would believe that the lost word is in his own mouth? Whoever would believe that the Power he is searching for he already possesses, or that the secret is no secret at all?

The Bible, from beginning to end, is an elaborate method of disclosing exactly what the lost word is and what the Power is that we all are searching for.

Our first conclusion, then, should be there is such a word of Power. There is a truth which can deliver us from evil. There is a way to know this Truth and use this word in such a manner that Good, and only Good, can follow.

Now the approach to this lost word is, first of all, one that brings us back to a God of Love and Intelligence. There is but one final Power and Presence in the Universe, which is God; there is but one final Law in the Universe, which is Good; and there is but one final Impulsion in the Universe, which is Love. It is only through Love that we find the Presence in Its greatness and can use the Power in Its fullness.

The next thing we discover is that, having come to realize that Love alone opens the doorway to the secret chamber, we should realize that this Power must be used affirmatively. We cannot use It while we deny It. We cannot use It while our minds are filled with doubts and uncertainties about It. Love is a feeling. Faith is the key to use this feeling. Love has nothing in It that could hurt anything; faith has nothing in it that can deny any good. This is the starting point; a Love that cannot hurt and a faith that will not be denied.

When, through Love, we use faith affirmatively, a Law of Good operates on our word and brings into our experience, or into the experience of those we are thinking of, the Good we have accepted. Jesus, who revealed the Divine Presence in everything, discovered the lost word and found the Kingdom of God, which is the Kingdom of Love.

Jesus located this Kingdom of Heaven in the only place anyone can find it—in our own heart and mind, in our own soul and spirit. Just as Einstein discovered the secret energy caught in the atom, so Jesus discovered the dynamic, the Creative Power of the Kingdom of God in the human atom, in your life and in mine.

It is the use of this Power that we are interested in because there is a possibility here beyond our fondest dreams and our highest hopes—the possibility of knowing the Truth that can set us free from fear and want and limitation. And, the Bible tells us, finally from death itself.

But having discovered the Power and learned how to use it, we must next apply it to every problem in life. We must not be merely idle dreamers, lost in a maze of theories that, however beautiful, can have no practical results in our everyday living.

First of all, we must realize that the Power exists and that it operates from the center of our own being, in our own minds; next, we must approach it in Love; and then, we must use it affirmatively. In actual practice the method would follow somewhat along the following lines:

We should take certain definite times every day to recognize the Divine Presence within us and around us. But even this must be more than a vague thought. It ought to resolve itself into definite statements such as:

There should be no ifs, ands, or buts about this, no confusion. It should be simple and direct.

These are the conditions Jesus laid down. But to be effective they must now be followed by another instruction, which is: when you pray, when you state your desire, do so affirmatively. Instead of saying, ‘It may be that good will come to me,” or “It is possible that it might,’’ or ‘‘Perhaps it will; I hope so,” we should say:

The thing that happens when we pray aright is simple. We create an attitude of complete acceptance in our own minds. When we do this, the Law of Good, which is All-Powerful, begins to operate on this acceptance and begins to rearrange all the facts and activities of our lives in such a way that what we have accepted will actually transpire in our experience.

It is important for us to remember this part of Jesus’ instructions, for really it is no different from saying: If you want a garden, plant one; bury the seed in the ground and nature will take over and produce the plant. It is as though God said to the hen: Sit on the egg and I will give you a chicken.

How wonderful to realize that the lost word has been found, and found in the only place that you and I could use it—in our own mouths. How wonderful to realize that at last we have located the Divine Presence at the only place we could recognize it—within ourselves, and within everything. And how wonderful it is to know that at last we have reached our goal.

But this does not mean that we have reached the end of all things. Really, this Truth we have found marks but the beginning of a new day, a new experience, a new life—a life no longer disturbed by fear or haunted by doubts or filled with regrets of the past or misgivings over the future —a life that can be lived in its fullness today, and a life that will extend through all our tomorrows in an ever-broadening arena of experience, an ever-deepening realization of a Presence and a Power and a Peace that gives us complete security and an ever-greater vision of the more that is yet to come. •

Excerpted from Living the Science of Mind, by Ernest Holmes, published by DeVorss & Company.

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