Proving the Power of Good
The ability to prove the power of good is part of your inheritance from God. God is good, and He is the only power. God created you in His image and likeness, to reflect His good power in your life.
According to Scripture, God gave "man" (you and me) "dominion" over "all the earth" (Genesis 1:26). That means that through obedience to God you have power and authority over your life, your body, and your health.
After discovering that laws of God guarantee this dominion, and naming these laws Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "I saw before me the sick, wearing out years of servitude to an unreal master in the belief that the body governed them, rather than Mind [God]" ("Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures," Pg. 226). She rebelled against enslavement to anything, declaring that it was not legitimate and promising that it "will cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his God-given dominion over the material senses." She went on to say, "Mortals will some day assert their freedom in the name of Almighty God. Then they will control their own bodies through the understanding of divine Science" (Pg. 228).
According to an account in the Bible, God illustrated to Moses in a practical way how control over the physical body can be gained through trust in Him (see Exodus, Chap. 4). God instructed Moses to cast his rod on the ground. When he did, it became a serpent. This rod could be seen as a symbol of our dominion from God. When Moses cast his rod on the ground, he had, symbolically, given his dominion away; he had thrown it into the dust, and dust is a biblical symbol of mortal existence. When the rod became a serpent, this frightened Moses. The serpent might represent evil. Moses appeared to have lost his dominion to a supposed evil power; of course, he was frightened.
But God told Moses to take the serpent by the tail. He did, and it became a rod again. He reversed the serpentine suggestion that evil has power. The reverse of a lie is the truth. Moses reclaimed his God-given dominion, something he had never really lost.
When we believe that there are powers other than God, good, such as accident, infection, natural disaster, crime, financial ruin, old age, and that we can be victims of these, we are actually giving up our dominion. But when we understand that God is omnipotent, we are exercising the power of good over evil.
Jesus Christ proved that evil in all its forms - sin, sickness, and even death - is powerless. He illustrated, through healing, that God gave us dominion and that we must exercise this dominion by constantly, consciously, knowing that we are with God in an indestructible, spiritual relationship. We can hold to this fact in prayer, no matter what the external situation appears to be.
I failed to exercise my dominion one time when I received a letter from a voluntary organization I served in. It denied me the use of a facility that I'd felt I was entitled to. I thought this was mean-spirited and petty. And I responded with unkind words that nevertheless left the organization unmoved. I was upset and angry.
A few days later I began having pain and discomfort in my body; my ability to move was restricted. In prayer, I turned my thoughts away from those events to contemplate the truths of God and His creation. Firmly, I denied that anyone could destroy the peace, interfere with the good activity, or take away the rights, that were all mine from God. I turned wholeheartedly to God to see my unity with Him - the One who supplies all my needs and does so in the most appropriate way. And I listened for God's guidance.
The answer came as a comforting reminder that, whereas difficult situations might threaten to pull me down into the dust, the healing and saving power of God was always lifting me up. I felt at peace then, and I began to feel a true dominion over the fear and resentment and hurt I had been harboring. God's love, power, and presence became more real to me than that bad experience.
As a result, I was healed physically. And I found alternative facilities that were better than those denied me. I had reclaimed my trust in the power of good by understanding that it had never really been lost.
