#54: The Brazen Impudence of Faith

The Brazen Impudence of Faith

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

You who sit here tonight burdened by the seeming hardness of things, by the delay that mocks your heart’s deepest longing, by the evidence that shouts your desire is impossible, hear this one eternal truth: the faith that delivers you is not a gentle hope, not a timid prayer, but the brazen impudence that persists shamelessly in the unseen reality until that reality clothes itself in the world you touch.

Man has always been told to ask, to seek, to knock, yet most turn away at the first closed door. They see the midnight hour, the shut door, the children already in bed, and they believe the friend within will not rise. But I tell you, the friend within is your own consciousness, and that friend will rise, will give you as many loaves as you need, not because of friendship alone, but because of your importunity, your demanding persistency, your brazen impudence in assuming the thing already done.

Consider it. You go to your consciousness at midnight, when every outer sense declares the journey impossible, the hunger unappeased, the need unmet. You knock upon the door of awareness and say, “Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him.” The senses answer, “Trouble me not; the door is now shut.” Yet because of your shameless persistence you remain, you continue in the assumption that the loaves are already yours, that the substance is already in your hand, that the need is already satisfied. And the promise is absolute: because of your importunity he will rise and give you as many as you needeth.

This is the brazen impudence of faith. It is not arrogance of the outer man; it is the audacity of the inner being who knows that consciousness is the only reality and who refuses to bow before the shadow called circumstance. You persist in the feeling of the wish fulfilled even when every outward sign denies it. You dwell in the consciousness of having received until that consciousness becomes natural, until doubt dissolves and only the quiet certainty remains.

Faith, my friends, is not the acceptance of a distant hope. Faith is the substance of the thing hoped for, the evidence of the thing not yet seen. To walk by faith is to walk in the unseen reality as though it were the only reality, to persist in that assumption until the seen world rearranges itself in obedience. You are not called to persuade the outer world; you are called to persist within yourself until the outer world has no choice but to reflect what you have dared to be.

Look upon your desire tonight. Whatever it is, health that seems lost, abundance that seems withheld, love that seems distant, freedom that seems imprisoned, see it clearly in the mind’s eye and then, with brazen impudence, assume that you already are the one who possesses it. Do not ask if it is reasonable. Do not consult the evidence of yesterday. Do not measure it by the body you now inhabit or the bank account you now carry or the relationships now visible. Rise in consciousness to the state where the desire is already fulfilled and persist there. Persist when the senses scream otherwise. Persist when the mind whispers of delay. Persist until the feeling of it becomes so natural that to return to the old state would feel like a lie.

This is what scripture means when it declares, “Man ought always to pray and not to faint.” Prayer is not repetition of words; prayer is the persistent assumption of the fulfilled desire. To faint is to drop back into the old consciousness, to accept the evidence of the senses as final. But you, tonight, are invited to the brazen impudence that never faints, that never lets go, that wrestles with the angel until the blessing is received.

Remember Jacob who said, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” He persisted in the dark, in the struggle, until the new name, the new nature, was his. The Shunammite woman declared, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee,” and the prophet arose and followed. The widow troubled the unjust judge until he said, “Because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest she weary me by her continual coming.” These are not stories of the past; they are living parables of your own inner action. The judge is the fixed belief of the outer world; the widow is your desire knocking again and again with shameless persistence. And the promise stands: because of your importunity, it shall be done.

You who feel stuck, who feel the walls closing in, who have tried and seemed to fail, know this: the appearance of failure is only the invitation to greater impudence. The more the senses deny, the more boldly you must assume. The deeper the night, the more insistently you knock. For your consciousness is the friend within who possesses all loaves, all substance, all fulfillment. You do not create the substance; you appropriate it by persisting in the feeling that it is already yours.

Dwell upon this. Tonight, as you sit here, choose one clear desire, one area where life seems denied. Bring it before your awareness. Feel yourself to be the man or woman who already possesses it. Feel the relief, the joy, the naturalness of it. Then, with quiet but unyielding audacity, refuse to leave that state. Let every contrary thought come, let every outer picture rise, and answer each with the same persistent claim: “It is done. I am that. I have received.” This is the brazen impudence that scripture honors. This is the faith that knows, that does not question, that endures as seeing Him who is invisible.

For to endure as seeing the invisible is precisely this: to persist in the assumption that your desire is already fulfilled even when it remains unseen by mortal eyes. Egypt, the land of darkness and many causes, would have you believe the king of circumstances is sovereign. But by this faith you forsake Egypt. You rise above the wrath of the king. You walk as the one who already is what you want to be, and your world must conform. It has no power to do otherwise, for consciousness is the sole reality, and you are that consciousness.

See how simply it works. You do not struggle to change the outer; you persist within until the outer has no alternative. The man who persists in the consciousness of health, though the body protests, finds the protest silenced. The one who persists in the consciousness of abundance, though the purse appears empty, finds supply flowing. The one who persists in the consciousness of love fulfilled, though isolation seems complete, finds companionship at the door. Not because of magic, but because the assumption persisted in hardens into fact. The brazen impudence is the refusal to accept the appearance as the final word.

And yet many ask, “But how long must I persist?” I answer, until the feeling is natural, until to imagine otherwise feels unnatural. Persist until thanksgiving rises spontaneously within you, until “Thank you, Father” is not a phrase but the living mood of your being. For the moment you truly feel grateful for having received, that moment the spiritual marriage is complete, the two have agreed, and the thing is established on earth. This is not hoping; this is knowing. Faith knows.

You are the operant power. No outer force can withhold from you what you dare to claim and persist in claiming. The door is never truly shut; it is only your acceptance of the appearance that makes it seem shut. Knock with impudence. Knock with the calm certainty that the friend within is yourself, and that self is God, and God is your awareness of being the fulfilled desire. Persist, and it must open.

Tonight, as you retire to your bed, do not lie down in the old story. Lie down in the new. Assume the posture, the feeling, the tone of the one who already walks in the answered prayer. Sleep in that assumption. Wake in it. Carry it through the day with the quiet audacity that needs no outer confirmation because it is self-confirmed. When doubt arises, answer it with greater persistence. When the senses report otherwise, smile inwardly and persist more shamelessly still. This is not foolishness; this is wisdom. This is not denial of reality; this is the creation of the only reality there is.

Layer upon layer this truth reveals itself. At first it seems bold to ignore the obvious. Then it becomes thrilling to feel the inner shift. Then it becomes natural to live as the fulfilled one. Finally it becomes your very identity. You no longer pray for the desire; you are the desire fulfilled. And in that being, all things are added. The brazen impudence matures into serene certainty, yet the certainty rests upon the original audacity that refused to be moved.

You who have waited long, you who have tried many paths, tonight the path is single and direct. Persist shamelessly in the unseen reality. Claim it. Feel it. Live in it. Refuse every invitation to return to the old consciousness. The world you see is but the outpicturing of what you persist in being conscious of. Change the persistence and you change the world. There is no other way.

Let this sink deep. The friend at midnight is not far off; he is your own I AM. The three loaves are not material bread alone; they are the wholeness, the completion, the substance of your desire made visible. The journeying friend who is hungry is your own unfulfilled longing coming to you for nourishment. Feed it by your assumption. Satisfy it by your persistence. And because you trouble the consciousness with your continual knocking, it will rise and give you not only three but as many as you need.

This is the gospel, the good news: you need not wait for outer permission. You need not earn the right. The right is yours by virtue of your being. Persist, and the promise is definite: it shall be given unto you. Seek in this manner, and ye shall find. Knock with this shameless persistence, and it shall be opened unto you.

Now, feel it. Right now, in this moment, select your desire. Do not vague it. Make it clear. Then, with the full power of your awareness, become the one who has it. Feel the inner smile. Feel the relief. Feel the naturalness. And then persist. Carry this feeling into every activity of your day. When the old picture tries to return, meet it with the new assumption, more boldly still. This is the way. This is the only way.

Many have heard these words before, yet walked away and forgot to persist. Tonight is different because you now know that the persistence itself is the creative act. It is not a preliminary; it is the thing itself. To persist in the assumption is to live in the kingdom. To persist is to be the king. And the kingdom and the king are one.

You are that. You have always been that. The only difference tonight is your willingness to be brazenly impudent in claiming it against all seeming. And because you claim it, because you persist in it, the seeming must dissolve and the reality must appear. This is not theory. This is not hope. This is law. Consciousness is the only reality, and what you persist in being conscious of, you become and you possess.

Go now into your world carrying this one glorious secret. Walk as the one who already has. Speak as the one who already has. Act as the one who already has. And when the outer world lags, smile and persist more shamelessly. For the outer world is slow only because your former persistence was in the wrong direction. Now you persist in the right. Now you persist in the fulfilled. Now you are the brazen one, the impudent one in faith, and heaven itself must yield.

My friends, something within you has already stirred. Something has recognized its own voice. That recognition is the beginning of the manifestation. Nurture it. Persist in it. Live from it. And you will discover that the brazen impudence of faith is the gentlest, most powerful, most certain activity in the universe, for it is God in action within you, and God cannot fail.

Tonight you are not the same as when you came. You have been given the key. Use it. Persist. And watch your world reshape itself in the image of your persistent assumption. This is the truth. This is the way. This is your freedom, here and now, if you will but dare to claim it and never let it go.

You are the one. You have always been the one. Persist shamelessly in that realization, and every desire of your heart will be pressed down, shaken together, and running over in your experience. Believe it. Live it. And it is done.