Readings for August 18, 2021

From The Bible

... I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever.
(II Chronicles 6:2 I)

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. ...
(Psalms 68:19 (to 1st .))

Give us day by day our daily bread.
(Luke 11:3)

¶ And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, ...
(Exodus 14:13 (to 4th ,))

¶ And Nehemiah, ... said unto all the people, ...

... Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: ...

Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, ... and thou preservest them all; ...

And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; ...

And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; ...

Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. ...

And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, ...

Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
(Nehemiah 8:9 (to 1st ,), 9 said (to 5th ,); 9:5 Stand (to :), 6 (to 5th ,), 6 3rd and (to 2nd ;), 9, 11 (to ;), 12, 15 (to 2nd ,), 21)

And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, ...

... that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
(Deuteronomy 8:2 (to 4th ,), 3 that)

... Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. ...

Then said Daniel to Melzar whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. ...

So he consented to them in this matter, ...

And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.
(Daniel 1:8 Daniel, 11, 12, 14 (to ,), 15)

... the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
(Isaiah 58:11 the)

Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, ...

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: ...

... ¶ Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, ...

... they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; ... they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:10 (to 2nd ,), 11 (to :), 28 (to 1st ,), 31 they (to 1st ;), 31 3rd they)

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. ...

... ¶ From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ...

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, ...

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. ...

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; ...

... your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. ...

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. ...
(Matthew 4:1–4, 17; 6:9 (to ,), 10, 11, 25 (to ;), 32 your, 34 (to 1st .))

Again I say unto you, ...
(Matthew 18:19 (to 1st ,))

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: ...

... I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. ...

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
(John 6:27 (to :), 35 I, 38)

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
(Psalms 23:1)

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, ...

Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, ...
(Hebrews 13:20 (to 3rd ,), 21 (to 1st ,))

And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; ...

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(II Corinthians 3:4, 5; 4:18)

... my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. ...

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. ...
(Philippians 4:19 my, 23 (to 1st .))

... turn thou to thy God: ...
(Hosea 12:6 turn (to :))

Selections from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
…
Give us this day our daily bread;

(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 17:1 (only), 4 (only))

Our bread, “which cometh down from heaven,” is Truth. Our cup is the cross.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 35:26–27 (to 2nd .))

The Scriptures say, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” showing that Truth is the actual life of man; ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 410:9–12 (to ;))

Truth is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth destroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day, as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the sick.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 142:31)

To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demonstrated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a phenomenal exhibition.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 150:4–6)

A clergyman once adopted a diet of bread and water to increase his spirituality. Finding his health failing, he gave up his abstinence, and advised others never to try dietetics for growth in grace. ...

He learned that suffering and disease were the self-imposed beliefs of mortals, and not the facts of being; that God never decreed disease, — never ordained a law that fasting should be a means of health. ...

... He learned also that mortal mind makes a mortal body, whereas Truth regenerates this fleshly mind and feeds thought with the bread of Life.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 220:22; 221:17–20; 222:7)

“This is life eternal,” says Jesus, — is, not shall be; and then he defines everlasting life as a present knowledge of his Father and of himself, — the knowledge of Love, Truth, and Life. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 410:4–9)

Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.

The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love. Jesus demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring human sense to flee from its own convictions and seek safety in divine Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 494:10–19)

Spirit duly feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the fatherhood and motherhood of God.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 507:3–6)

As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides of human fear, — as they were led through the wilderness, walking wearily through the great desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised joy, — so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material sense of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for them who love God. Stately Science pauses not, but moves before them, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, leading to divine heights.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 566:1)

In divine Science, man is sustained by God, the divine Principle of being. The earth, at God's command, brings forth food for man's use. Knowing this, Jesus once said, “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink,” — presuming not on the prerogative of his creator, but recognizing God, the Father and Mother of all, as able to feed and clothe man as He doth the lilies.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 530:5)

Step by step will those who trust Him find that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 444:10)

In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as “a very present help in trouble.” Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 12:31)

Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger. The more difficult seems the material condition to be overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith and the purer our love. The Apostle John says: “There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made perfect in Love.” Here is a definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 410:14)

In the following Psalm one word shows, ... the light which Christian Science throws on the Scriptures by substituting for the corporeal sense, the incorporeal or spiritual sense of Deity: — ...

[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want. ...

[LOVE] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense]: ...

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for [LOVE] is with me; ...

... and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [LOVE] for ever.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 577:32 (only, to 1st ,); 578:1 the, 5, 8 (only, to :), 10–11 (to ;), 17 and)

Let us learn of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of Spirit, the kingdom of heaven, — the reign and rule of universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain forever unseen.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 208:20)

... the human footsteps leading to perfection are indispensable. ... God requires perfection, but not until the battle between Spirit and flesh is fought and the victory won. ... When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 254:1–2 the, 6–8, 10–12)

To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. vii:1–2)

The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God's day, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 584:4–7 (to ,))

Through the wholesome chastisements of Love, we are helped onward in the march towards righteousness, peace, and purity, which are the landmarks of Science. Beholding the infinite tasks of truth, we pause, — wait on God. Then we push onward, until boundless thought walks enraptured, and conception unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 323:6)

Hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal

Hymn 46
Day by day the manna fell: / O, to learn this lesson well. / Still by constant mercy fed, / Give me, Lord, my daily bread.

Day by day the promise reads, / Daily strength for daily needs: / Cast foreboding fears away; / Take the manna of today.

Lord, my times are in Thy hand: / All my sanguine hopes have planned, / To Thy wisdom I resign, / And would mold my will to Thine.

Thou my daily task shalt give; / Day by day to Thee I live; / So shall added years fulfill / Not my own, my Father's will.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 46)

Hymn 584
The Lord is my Shepherd; I need not a thing. / Green pastures give rest for my soul. / Love leads me beside the still, still waters. / Love restores me, and Love makes me whole.

Love leads me in right paths to honor God's name, / And though I walk through darkest days, / I won't be afraid for Love's here beside me / To protect me and show me the way.

Though sin would surround me, my cup overflows; / You show that I'm never alone. / Your goodness and love are mine forever; / In the dwelling of Love, I am home.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 584)

Hymn 594
We're steadfastly protected by Your power, / Encircled in the caring arms of Love. / Together, we are sharing all our days now, / And year by year come blessings from above.

REFRAIN / We're each held safe by God's own holy power. / Whatever comes, Your comfort is at hand. / You're at our side at evening and at morning, / And each new day unfolds as You have planned.

Your pure and quiet love spreads o'er us deeply; / We know Your fullness now and feel Your peace. / For Your one holy world of grace and power, / We all praise You with joy that will not cease. / / REFRAIN
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 594)