Listen/Download Audio of Why Use Denials?
See: Hannah More Kohaus, The Prayer of Faith
Remember that you maintain your poise in life by saying no and yes.
Denials are sometimes necessary because you cannot accept everything you are offered. You must refuse what you do not want and accept what you do want. The metaphysician denies his selfish desires and affirms the qualities of God.
Jesus put it in this way: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself . . . and follow me.” If our personal desires stand in the way of the guiding light of Christ we must deny them. When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness He denied the suggestions made by Satan, who represents the ambitions of the personal man.
John’s baptism by water was a symbol of denial or cleansing of the outer man. Jesus Christ baptized with fire and the Holy Spirit, which are symbols of affirmation. John the Baptist prepared the way for the baptism of Christ.
After we deny away our wrong thoughts concerning life and people we must then fill up the vacancy by affirming God’s Truth. We do not deny things out of existence; we deny our wrong feelings about them, and in this way we open the way for God’s blessings to come into our life on the wings of our affirmations. We merely put our untrue desires behind us. We do not fight them.
To use a denial in a belligerent way is to lend our thought power to the thing we are trying to deny. We deny the shadows of life, but if we try to fight them we are likely to injure our fists against the wall upon which they seem to appear. The law of Moses was based upon denial. It was the law of “thou shalt not.” Jesus came to fulfill this law and also to show man the positive use of God’s law. When He came to the house where a child lay dead He denied the thought of death by saying, “She is not dead, but sleepeth,” and then He affirmed, “Maiden, arise.”
Denial and affirmation are the two mighty tools of the mind, and if they are rightly used they bring health, happiness, and prosperity. Many people, when they try to deny away something that they do not want, perhaps ill feelings, misunderstandings, resentment, hurt, poverty, ill-health, or the like, put so much feeling into their denial that they actually emphasize the thing they wish to eliminate. By going over it and living it again and again they give it power. This is not true denial; it is in reality the act of affirming the thing they do not want.
A denial should be devoid of all feeling of resistance and combat and should become a letting-go process. Put feeling into the affirmation that follows your denial so that it may become a power for good. Let your thoughts become alive as you realize the omnipresence of the goodness of God, which you desire to become manifest in your life. Do not keep alive an evil by sustaining it with your thought substance. Put it behind you as Jesus put Satan behind Him, and know that it is gone forever.
It does not do much good to deny a thing and then keep on fighting it. Deny that which is not true of God and then follow the denial up with an affirmation of what is true concerning God. Your denial is not for the purpose of changing God or anything but your own thoughts, to rid yourself of wrong ideas about God.
If you are holding a grudge against any person deny it and forget it; then fill your mind with love for him. Grudges and ill will often keep away more good from you than you would imagine. Affirmations may seem to be all-important, but there are times when denials are very necessary.
But remember, denying means letting go of a trouble and not fighting it. If you seem to have lost anything try this denial to help you find it. Say, “There is nothing lost in Spirit,” and stop worrying. Try this and see if it does not help you find the lost article. This denial can be followed, if you wish, by an affirmation like this: “God’s light of wisdom is everywhere present, shining into every corner and revealing my good to me.”
If you are ever accused of being careless deny the accusation by saying silently, “There is no carelessness in Spirit,” and then affirm: “I am a thoughtful spiritual child of God. I do all things well.”
SUGGESTIONS FOR DAILY MEDITATION
SUNDAY: I deny that I am subject to the race belief in sin, sickness, and death. God is my Father, and I am His good, perfect, loving, living child.
MONDAY: No evil can come nigh my dwelling, because divine love protects me and mine.
TUESDAY: The forgiving love of God is washing away all my sins, and I am a new creature in Christ Jesus.
WEDNESDAY: Human ambition has no power over me. I am led to success and happiness by the inspiration of God dwelling in me.
THURSDAY: No slight or hurt can dim my joy, for it springs from eternal Spirit.
FRIDAY: There is nothing lost in Spirit. God’s light of wisdom is everywhere present and shines into every corner, revealing my good to me.
SATURDAY: In Spirit there is no carelessness. I am a thoughtful spiritual child of God. I do all things well.
