With changing of our vision of ourselves, we need re-think our attitude toward healing and wholeness. This is a practical issue, which has little to do with complicated philosophical abstractions. People, including ourselves, become sick. What should be done about it from the spiritual standpoint? Can anything be done at all?

Some people say that sicknesses are God's will - they are sent from God either to punish us or to test our faith. But if those people would be more consistent, they would conclude that medical doctors are sinners and criminals, because they are fighting against God's will!

Sicknesses aren't God's will for anyone. We know from Gospel records that healing ministry was an important part of the work of Jesus. Everywhere He went, He "healed all manner of diseases". He never rejected anyone who came to Him for healing. He never said to anyone, "Just be patient and continue to suffer from your sickness. You still need to learn God's lessons and to redeem your sins". No! Healing was offered freely for those who were opened to it.

Jesus gave us the shining example of God's will for every spiritually developed individual. We are destined to be whole - and to become healers of the world.

"Do you desire to be made whole?" (John 5:6), asked Jesus a crippled man. The same question is addressed to all of us. Do we really want to get well and stay well? Are we willing to quit using our sickness in order to gain sympathy of others or to evade responsibility?

A crippled man from the Bible was willing to get well, but did not understand where healing comes from. He replied: "Sir, when the water is troubled, I have no one to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another steps down before me" (John 5:7). He thought that taking a bath in a magic pool would heal him. Like him, many people in our days put their trust in external methods of treatment, not realizing the true source of their health.

"Jesus says to him, Rise, take up your bed and walk. And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked" (John 5:8,9). It is interesting to note that Jesus did not heal that person. The Master never spoke a prayer or touched him. What happened? A man healed himself when he instantly, in a flash, realized his divine potential of wholeness.

Our awakening to wholeness could be sudden or gradual - it isn't important. But it must happen. Without this saving, healing knowledge, we won't receive from medical doctors anything better than temporary relief. "Health, real health, is from within and does not have to be manufactured in the without. It is the normal condition of man, a condition true to the reality of his being", wrote Charles Fillmore.

Our faith makes us whole. Faith includes knowledge of the reality of our being which transcends negative appearances. On the outside we may look sick, weak, and powerless - but let us not judge by appearances. The Spirit within cannot be sick. Divine life in us is far from being powerless. As we connect ourselves to this life, our conditions improve, and we become energetic and strong as never before.

Here are some of affirmations we may use to realize our wholeness: