A: No, he didn’t mean that at all. He is very specific: “Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” Now what use is there of asking God for food or clothing or raiment or good business when your Father knoweth that you have need of these things?And in this same chapter, remember, remember this—whoever asked this question about “did not Jesus mean for us to ask for food, health and things,” remember that in the same chapter that I am reading from, he says, “Therefore, I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for the body, what ye shall put on.”
Isn’t that clear now that he never meant us to pray for things? And what does he say down here? “Why take ye thought for raiment? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” Therefore, he sums it up: “Take no thought, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘Wherewithal shall we be clothed?’ For all these things do the Gentiles seek.”
Do you know who the Gentiles are? In our day, of course, Gentile means Christian, but not in those days. The Gentiles were the unclean people. The Gentiles were the anti-Christians. The Gentiles were the pagans. Today the word Gentile has a different meaning. It means a Christian, but in those days, it didn’t mean Christian. No, no, no. “Therefore, take no thought saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ for after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye . . . “—now here’s what you are to do: “Ask and ye shall receive, knock, and it shall be opened unto you; Whatsoever you shall ask in my name.” Here it comes: “But seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.”
So ask for the kingdom of God, and you shall receive it. Knock at the door of consciousness, and it will be opened unto you. What will be opened to you? The kingdom of God will be opened unto you.
“Whatsoever you shall ask in my name.” What shall you ask in my name? The kingdom of God and His righteousness. It’s all there in the sixth chapter of Matthew—the whole secret of how to pray, except for those later passages which bring in forgiving your enemy, forgiving those who persecute you, judging not, so forth.
Now, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow.” Now that must cover tomorrow’s business, tomorrow’s supply, tomorrow’s health. “Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” Now it takes a year to get into that frame of consciousness to where you can train yourself not to pray for things, not to pray for health, not to pray for business, not to pray for this. Now that doesn’t wipe out our spiritual healing activity, because remember, we’re not praying for health, for health’s sake. We’re praying for the realization of God and man’s individual Christhood in which health automatically appears.
I could probably illustrate that if we had open sessions, since we have a couple of doctors right here who could undoubtedly verify this—that when they can turn their patient’s thought to God and spiritual things, the body somehow begins to fall in line of its own accord. Nature takes over; God takes over—whatever you want to call it. But as soon as they can stop their patient from thinking of health, of thinking of the body, and give them a little spiritual food and a little spiritual drink, why do you think it is that so many doctors these days are interested in spiritual things? Because they have discovered that when a person turns their thought to the spiritual things of life, the body begins to respond. No?
Yes! There’s no question about it. Otherwise, the medical world would be interested only in medicines and surgery. But we have today psychosomatic medicine; we have today psychology; we have psychiatry—all of which is trying to introduce spiritual literature into their practice. Why? Because when a man’s mind is imbued with the things of God, he begins to relax from his fears, doubts, and worries and anxieties about supply and body.
And so it is that we ourselves should be a step ahead even of that, because we should know from our study that it isn’t ever necessary to think of supply; never necessary to think of bodily health. Our work at our stage of development should be purely realizing the kingdom of God and letting these things be added unto you. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Do you see that?
Now, “Ask and ye shall receive.”Yes. Turn to the Father within you and ask for light. Ask for spiritual wisdom. Ask for spiritual direction. Ask for illumination and the real things of God. “Knock and it shall be opened unto you.”Knock at the door of your own consciousness and say, “Father, open thy secrets unto me. Open thy wisdom to me. Open thy revelations to me. Open Thy good to me. I am so weary of all these human goods—a little more to eat, a little more to wear, a little more jewels to bedeck ourselves. I’m tired of it. How about Thy kingdom? What have you to offer from Thy kingdom, things that we don’t know about in the human plane?” We only know about a little more money, a little more food, a little more clothing, a little better housing, a little better make of automobile, as if a Ford didn’t get us any place a Cadillac would get us.
Now, is there any use of wanting just more food, more clothing, more housing? There’s no use in that. But have you ever stopped to think of what the kingdom of God consists? What constitutes the kingdom of God? What is the giftof God? What could God bestow upon us that isn’t material?
Ah! “Knock and it shall be opened unto you.” You will be admitted into the kingdom of God, and you learn then what heavenly treasures are. “Whatever ye shall ask in my name.”Now listen to that—whatever ye shall ask in my name, in the Christ name. Well, he just told you not to ask for food, clothing, raiment or housing. Now what would you ask for in the name of the Christ? Why, the Christ is spirit. The Christ is spiritual sonship. If I wanted to use the name of Christ, I wouldn’t want to use it to get some food or clothing. I’d want to get it for a greater wisdom in Christhood, a greater degree of Christhood, a greater degree of spirituality, a greater wisdom of immortality and eternality. I’d be hanged if I wanted to use something as valuable as the name or nature of Christ to get me some more material things when I’ve already got forty-four pounds in a bag. I could cut that down to forty pounds and get along.
And here we are, we should use that valuable name; we should use that sacred name for more materiality? Heaven forbid! So “Whatever ye shall ask in my name, you shall receive.”But be sure that you treat the name of the Christ sacredly and ask only for those things that the Master himself would have you ask for—and that’s not bread, food, clothing, housing. Does that answer that?
1This excerpt is from Recording 105B: 1954 Seattle Closed Class, “Seek Ye the Reality Instead of Forms.” It is posted with kind permission from the Estate of Joel Goldsmith, which holds the copy protection on the recorded classes and the copyright on the transcripts. The full transcript of this recording is available on The Infinite Way Office website or by calling 1-800-922-3195.