MAKING TERMS WITH THE ADVERSARY

 MAKING TERMS WITH THE ADVERSARY

 

Around the Year with Emmet Fox

 

April 28

 

By coining to terms with the adversary in the first place,

that is to say, by getting our thought right immediately

concerning any difficulty, we incur no "costs"

and the transaction remains a simple one.

Suppose that you find yourself sneezing.

If you say:

"There, now, I have caught cold again; I am in for it!"

and then proceed to dwell upon the thought

that you have caught cold,

you are giving the trouble the opportunity

to dig itself in to your mentality.

People often indulge in quite a meditation upon colds.

Instead, if at the first moment that the possibility

of catching cold occurs to you, you immediately reject it

and affirm the Truth,

the whole thing will be over in a short time.

Or perhaps upon opening your morning mail

you find a notice informing you that your bank has failed.

Many people in such a case would saturate themselves

with the thought of ruin by rehearsing

every kind of difficulty that might come.

However, the proper thing to do,

immediately upon becoming aware of the news,

is to turn to God—your real support—

and refuse to accept the suggestion of trouble as binding;

literally drive the thought of loss, fear,

and resentment out of consciousness.

If you do this, working steadily

until peace of mind is restored,

you will presently find that in some way

or other the trouble will disappear.

Either the bank will speedily recover itself—

and there is no reason at all

why one person's prayer should not save the bank

and the fortunes of thousands—or, if this is not possible,

you will find your loss equalized in some other way.

 

“whosoever shall call upon

the name of the Lord shall be saved”

Romans 10:13