Thousands of people are losing their homes to devastating fires in Southern California. With the mass media coverage of the disaster, it can be tempting to be mesmerized by the scenes of loss and feel helpless about how to help. But there is something we all can do to help. Our collective prayers can calm the winds, reverse the fires and restore order.
When faced with a threatening storm, Jesus Christ stood and declared to the storm, “Peace, be still.” The Bible goes on to say, “And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39).
The same power that Jesus exercised over the storm is with us to exercise over these fires. It’s the power of God that is mightier than any flame, more forceful than any wind, and more impressive than any fear.
When awakened from sleep, Jesus Christ saw the storm around him, but he was more aware of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God about him. The peace he felt with God in Spirit, brought order and peace to his physical environment. We can do the same.
Right where Mother Nature appears to be out of control, the metaphysical demand is to see God in control. To see that the might and power of divine Mind is present to guide every resident of Southern California to safety, to keep them out of harm’s way. The wisdom and intelligence of Mind is present to guide the firefighters and government leaders to act in the best way possible for the best outcomes. The might of Spirit is present to calm the winds and create conditions that promote safety for everyone. The inspiration of divine Love is present to conquer fear and comfort the broken heart. The peace of God is present to restore order.
Let us shower Southern California with healing spiritual truth.
“Peace, be still.” Christ commanded to the destructive storm. And the storm ceased.
Thank you Evan for this essential focus for our prayers today.
Quote from MBE Misc Writings…
‘’The healing power is Truth and Love, and these do not fail in the greatest emergencies.’’
There is indeed much spiritual work to be faithfully undertaken in support of all the material help necessary. ❣️
This article gives me the good feeling of helpfulness.
Thank you!
A new dictum for me in any situation:
“Right where Mother Nature appears to be out of control, the metaphysical demand is to see God in control.”
Very grateful you share your rich ideas with us
Mrs. Eddy required her workers to pray about the weather and correct that which was turbulent and discordant
The weather is a manifestation of collective mortal belief – how wonderful that we can help to bring healing to this challenging condition through our love and holding to the truth of God’s total control of his universe
God holds the wind in His fist OR keeps the wind in control to bless not destroy, The fear tempt us only until the realization dawn’s upon human thought which calms the storm of fear and destruction by the still small voice which voices it’s ever presence and power.
Hence no wars no fires no fear to tempt.
Thank you Evan and SW for this wonderful reminder of who is really in control of ALL things. GOD!
I’m so grateful Evan for your metaphysical insight on how to pray about this. It will really help guide my prayers.
The Christan Science Monitor of January 10th has two excellent articles on how to pray for disastrers such as wildfires.
Thanks Evan. Appreciated and
needed for everyone
PEACE
Principle
Elevating Enlarging
Angel
Calmness Continually.
Eternally.Everywhere.
I can’t thank you enough Evan❣️❣️❣️
I am in Southern Calif and the fires and winds are not far away. Thank you ! Thank you
Thank you!
My heart felt prayer will be that God is never out of control, that all is now and will be well.
I find it helpful to think about Elijaj in 1 Kings – when he was fleeing for\his life,
God told him to stand on the mount before the `Lord The earthquakes,
and fierce winds etc. seemed to be happening as he stood there
safely on the mount, until the earthquakes, and then:
“And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire:
and after the fire a still small voice. (I Kings 19:12)
God does not cause destructive elements in His Kingdom, and
I find this account to be really helpful to understand this. We
can know that God is not anything to do with it, and therefore
it is not actually happening. Our prayers can be to stand still
on that mount, and let God deal with it – keep loving
everyone and knowing that nothing and no-one has been lost,
for God keeps us all in perfect peace as our mind is stayed on
Him, as the Bible also says.
Also there are two articles sent from the Editors of the Sentinel
for us to use in our prayers.
Thank you dear Evan, for these very comforting thoughts. So needed and much
appreciated. Dear Maggie, I was just looking up these very words and when I
found them, just discovered that you have already shared them here. What
you have written, as well as all of the other inspired thoughts are very helpful.
Thank you all.
That’s good,Carol- it is such a powerful story in that all the
fearful and evil activity that seems to be going on, is actually
nothing when we understand God to be right there, and only
what God is doing and seeing is the reality. That is such a
comforting thought when evil seems to be so real and aggressive.
God’s gentle love has all power, and there is no power except it
is accompanied by Love.
Thank you so much Evan for guiding us to pray about this situation. The third paragraph of Hymn 50 always inspire me to pray:
Breathe through the pulses of desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small voice of calm.
Thanks Evan & all other contributors.
Thank you Evan and all
Thank you, Evan, for these beautiful insights on how to pray for the fire victims. I am so grateful for Christian Science and for these daily metaphysical remarks. So very helpful. .
Thank you so much for today’s post. Our son and family live in Pasadena. So Ofcourse we have been praying. This post is most helpful.
We attend the Altadena Church when visiting. Grateful to learn it is standing and will continue to bless the community.
Thank you Evan.
Thank you Evan for this timely blog! God is in contol and “Peace be still” are two prayers I have focused on. Two articles I found, “What did Eddy say about weather and climate?” December 2022 Journal and “Pray about the weather” by Barbara Vining October 18, 2004.
What I was most focused on is what Mrs Eddy said, “the atmosphere of the human mind, when cleansed of self and permeated with divine Love, will reflect its subjective state in clearer skies, less thunder bolts, tornadoes and extremes of heat and cold.”
And this statement covers all the world’s challenges.
We are all blessed by you Evan, in so many ways. and wow, for this to appear this morning, Sunday, is an extra blessing! Thank you! Much love!
Thank you Evan, I think we all appreciate your wisdom. Having been a resident in southern California for several years I am familiar with the Santa Ana winds and prayer does help. I just finished the book of Ezekiel and I see an aw-fall lot of Southern California. The Bible mentions a few times that God is in control and ALL of us are his children I sometimes find it very hard to understand the Bible, but I guess my faith is a little week.Times like this,it would be great if the Lord would show his mercy (or perhaps he has already done that)? Blessings, I will not give up with my faith.
As a resident of Los Angeles I am especially grateful for your support and to all who have commented
Hymn 144
In atmosphere of Love divine
We live and move and breathe
Though mortal eyes may see it not
Tis sense that would deceive
The mortal sense we must destroy
If we would bring to light
The wonders of eternal Mind
Where sense is lost in sight
For God, immortal Principle
Is with us everywhere
He holds us perfect in His love
And we His image bear
Thank you Evan for this insightful post, and for your empowering confidence in the effectiveness of spiritual sense.
“The flame shall not hurt thee” — an article by Lona Ingwerson that is very helpful. She tells of a time when her home in Southern Califonia was in the middle of a fire storm. The media described it “as the miracle of the fire.”
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/2mhi1piphvo?s=copylink
Thank you for your wonderful blogs, Evan!!
This is a wonderful article, Holly and really a testament to the power of prayer.
What appeared to be a most frightening experience – or fear (False Evidence
Appearing Real) – turned out to be proof of God’s protection and Love, when turned
to, in such dire times. In the Glossary of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy, as part of
her definiton of fire, writes, “fear” and “affliction purifying and elevating man”. In
the article by Lona Ingwerson, this became true in her final paragraphs where
she wrote, ” the community that was burned has been transformed … and now
a beauty to behold”. I have heard, on the news, folks so grateful to have each
other, which is the most important. Life is about Love for each other and not
about “things” … mortal things that are not what really make us what we are.
Within Mrs. Eddy’s definition of wind, she writes of Jesus … “for never did he
give up Spirit, or Soul”. The winds of mortal sense and fire may seem fierce in
their aggression, but the comfort of the at-one-ment of God’s everpresence is
always with us and everyone to help calm thoughts of destruction and inharmony,
with peace and Love. (This “bonus” of Truth today is such a blessing. Thank you,
Evan and everyone).
Thank you, dear Holly for this article by Lona Ingwerson. The article is very inspiring and comforting. It is a delight for me to listen. Lona reads her article. Nearly her last sentence is : “God is so good.” She read it with such a thankful expression which is very humbling.
What Lona said is also relevant to me: I am very grateful for Christian Science which can never ever be destroyed and is our rich present from our Father-Mother Love”!♡
Here are the two articles recommended by the Sentinel to help with our
prayers.
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/wujs4hcsb4?s=copylink
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/o5yqp0xt22?s=copylink
Oh, Maggie, these two articles are really great. Thank you. I particularly liked where
the author of the Journal article wrote, “Elijah pointed out it was corrupted thought
and practices that had caused the extreme climatic condition troubling the region…
After that God showed Elijah on Mount Horeb that He was not in violent expressions
of power such as raging wind, catastrophic fires, or devastating earthquakes, but that
He was a healing power expressed through a “still, small voice”.
mortal mind has so many ways to Try to get us to believe in it or be afraid and
cower to it’s so-called power. It sometimes seems innocent people are affected
by these evil forces that can sure seem very destructive. But there is none more
Truly powerful than God’s Love and caring and protection for each of us in
ways that encircle us in His Love and divine compassion – shielding us from
whatever would try to cause harm. Spiritual Truth is more powerful than what the
mortal senses try to afflict us with.
The above remark was for two links I sent which didn’t work, but my post has
disappeared!
Thank you Evan for this post today. This is comforting and very helpful.
I love “Let us shower Southern California with healing, spiritual truth.”
I let a news story about the fires mesmerize me the other night. I have since turned that around. As Wanda UK wrote, “The weather is a manifestation of collective mortal belief.”
“In atmosphere of Love divine, we live, and move, and breathe; Though mortal eyes may see it not, ‘Tis sense that would deceive.” Hymn 144 from the Christian Science Hymnal.
My appreciation to all who have responded as well.
Im having a hard time understanding these two statements from commenters:
“The weather is a manifestation of collective mortal belief.”
and
“Elijah pointed out it was corrupted thought
and practices that had caused the extreme climatic condition troubling the region…”
It makes it sounds like it was the people’s fault that this destruction occurred. I know that is not what Jesus or CS teaches so I’m having trouble understanding this line of thinking. Any thoughts on what to study to understand better?
Dear L ,
Thank you for your question as to the statements you mentioned above. At first,
I, too, had to think about what the author of the article had written about “corrupted
thought” and how that corresponds with the weather and also the causes of the
fires in the first place. I looked up the word “corrupt” and amongst the definitions
are: “ungodly, irreligious, impure, led astray, pollute, infect, contaminate”. Those
definitions, to me, all negate the first commandment, having other gods, so would
thus not be having God be in control. (There seemed to be, things that should have
been done – making sure hydrants were effective with water, funds not detracted,
etc.) In all of time, including Jesus’, Mrs. Eddy’s, President Lincoln, all the way up to
today, there seem to be forces that tend to want to be in control or opposite of
Good, agendas and now with many technologies where mankind can control –
more so then even before, in the more earlier times. Mrs. Eddy writes, even in her
time in (S&H -g.96), ” The [material] world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace. The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth. Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization.”
In seeing we all as children of God, we all Are innocent in Reality. The way I see it …
any evil that would seem to be powerful, destructive, or in control, be it wind, fire,
or mankind’s perception being “mortal” … Seem to be what is corrupted in thought
and needs to be corrected in all of our thoughts, thus helping collectively and individually, reach a higher purpose and being where harmony and peace prevails. imho I hope this helps.
Hi L,
“Weather is a manifestation of collective mortal belief,” simply moves weather to a mental level, helping us see that it can be revised and improved with uplifted spiritual thinking. Jesus exercised dominion over the storm with his understanding of God’s omnipotence. We can learn to do the same! It’s about arresting the raging elements of mortal mind with the peaceful and comforting elements of divine Mind.
The other comment you mention could give a wrong impression that evil has an actual cause. I find it more helpful to see destructive storms, not as caused by people, but as a manifestation of a belief that there is an evil power that can destroy. And the spiritual demand is to unsee that lie, to see that God is the only power present and able to produce peace and order. If we believe there is a real cause of evil, then it’s about impossible to heal it metaphysically, because we believe it’s real and true. That belief needs to be undone. The opportunity is to see that God’s power is real and true, and evil is not! Hope that helps.
Thank you Evan for the helpful thoughts and insight and for your blog today. Thank you Kirsten for the good article and Maggie. The wind has died for now where I live in S. California, as it did from the prayers of a CSP in two previous fires some years ago. God and CS prayer is powerful!. The wind is forecast again however.
thank you, Evan and Blessed. that’s helpful
Thanks Evan.
Here’s one of the articles I have been working with.
Thank you all for all your prayers. God is in control,
What did Eddy say about weather and climate? – Mary Baker Eddy Library https://search.app/imhH81XzjARvcpGX7
Thank you very much, dear Evan, for your SpiritView and the call to pray for California and it’s people.
The passage from the Glossar of Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy comes to my mind, namely
“WIND: That which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God’s spiritual government, encompassing all things.”
In this quotation I can see, that God has all power and controle and full dominion over the Wind. And therefore also Christ Jesus expressed this dominion and could still the storm on the sea immediately.
Evan, thanks very much again for today’s special so appreciated SpiritView. Also m y. heart and prayers reach out to our brothers and sisters in California and the seeming helpless animals. Here I saw videos where, like in Australia, firefighters rescue diverse helpless animals out of the flames. I felt joy, seeing those acts of love also for the lovable animals!
Thank you all dear SpiritView Friends for your inspiring and very interesting and helpful comments!♡
Am deeply grateful, dear Evan, for your healing and comforting SpiritView blog!♡
What a gift today’s Spiritview is! I awakened several times in the night to pick up my prayer where I left off, affirming Love’s gentle but omnipotent presence and our innate ability to discern that presence and demonstrate that power. I am staying with the Lord’s Prayer, especially Mrs. Eddy’s interpretation of the fourth line: “Enable us to know,— as in heaven, so on earth,— God is omnipotent, supreme.”
Thank you, Evan and all, for this inspiring blog and comments.
“Wind. That which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God’s spiritual government, encompassing all things. Destruction; anger; mortal passions.”
S&H 597:27-30 (Glossary)
Wind by Susette Kuhn
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/10474uztjj2?s=copylink
Thank you very much indeed, Kirsten! I always understood this passage WIND in the Glossar of SH by Mary Baker Eddy scientifically as God’s everpresent and everactive Omnipotence. Always when we have heavy WIND or storm I deeply prayed with this passage.
This article by Susette Kuhn is a very inspiring eye opener and explains this passage WIND very clear and thoroughly! I am so grateful for this wonderfully metaphysical clarity! ❤️
Thank you for ALL of your effective prayers. Blessings to this Spiritview community. Appreciate reading your insight on seeking to see Divine Mind as the guider and communicator Evan.
One angle of this I am taking is similar in affirming harmony with our political leaders. After reading some arguments regarding why/how these fires started, I realized that a deeper sense of communication and connection is what is needed here. We are all Californians/Americans. We are NOT conservatives/liberals, or haves/have-nots. “Divine Love, alone, governs man”* as our leader states. In a world made by an All-Good, God, there cannot be, and are no malevolent acts against each other. I have spent the last 6-7 days getting a clearer understanding of that fact.
*(Church Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, pg. 40: 7-8)
This is so helpful. Especially liked the last paragraph.