Chapter 11: “What Have You in the House?”

The Recording for This Chapter

The basis for this chapter is Recording 76A, titled “What Have We in the House?” from the 1954 Honolulu Lecture Series. This recording is no longer available on this website. If you subscribe to the Joel Goldsmith Streaming Service, you can listen to the recording there. To purchase this recording and/or the transcript from The Infinite Way Office, click/tap here.

Optional Study Suggestions

Practice, Practice, Practice . . . 

It is not the knowledge of principles that leads to realization.  It is the contemplation and practice of the principles; putting them to work in our daily lives that does it.  How often Joel tells us that!

In this chapter, Joel begins with the principle of the nature of individual being:  “You are infinite; all that God is, you are, and all that the Father has is yours.” God is the measure of your capacity—physically, mentally, financially, morally, and spiritually. Even though you may not be able to demonstrate the fullness of God’s power yet, that fullness is there within you. Joel gives us many ways to practice that principle and come to the realization of the infinite nature of our being.  For example:

• “All of God is yours now; all that the Father has is yours now: the life of God is yours; the mind of God is yours; the soul of God is yours. Begin with that principle as a foundation, and then begin to pour, begin to break. You are not dependent upon a government, upon a husband, a wife, or a job, even though at this present time, one of these might seem to be the source of your supply. Therefore, do not cast these aside, but begin right now to break your dependence on them by understanding that you have within you the source of your good—not even God can send it to you because it is incorporated within you from the beginning.”
• “You must begin with this moment to find ways to pour from your cruse of oil, to break your particular loaves and fishes. if you are struggling with a sense of ill health, instead of trying to acquire health, you must begin to recognize, ‘I embody my health; and therefore, it must pour out from the center of my being. I will not seek to gain health, but to express the health which is my divine right.’  If you are struggling with a sense of lack or limitation, you must begin to pour. If necessary, take a few pennies every day and give them away to somebody who can make use of them, but begin to get them into circulation, instead of waiting for more pennies to come in.  [But] Do not be reckless and give more than you have; do not run up a charge account and trust God to meet it next month.”
• “The way to gain forgiveness is to forgive. Begin to forgive all those who have despitefully used you, all those who have persecuted and wronged you. Begin to forgive all the dictators and tyrants of the world who have been a direct or indirect cause of suffering in your experience. Begin to forgive those members of your family who are not appreciative of what you do for them. Begin right now to ask that they never be punished for their sins.”
• “There is only one way to gain recognition from certain people or from the world: give recognition to those people you know deserve recognition.”
• “Always remember to retire every day into a quiet corner, and ask yourself this question, ‘What have I in the house today?’”
• “Discipline yourself so that you never expect good to come to you, but always expect it to flow out from you.” That makes for a life of giving, not getting.
• “Do not look to anyone for gratitude; do not look to anyone for appreciation; do not look to anyone for reward because those things must come to you from God, not from man. … Let your expectancy be from God and then be willing to pour it out and share it with those of your household without asking for reward, gratitude, or appreciation.”
• “In business, “give of your God-qualities without expecting reward, recognition, or anything else.”
• “Make it a matter of daily acknowledgment: ‘I and my Father are one,’ and so I turn to the Father every hour of every day, realizing that the Father is always with me—the divine Presence is always within me. That I within never leaves me, nor forsakes me.”
• Give your “first fruits” to God, realizing that your bounty is infinite because it is God’s bounty. “Give your first prayer to your enemy. Give the first of your supply to God for any spiritual purpose that you wish. Give love out of the infinity of love within you.  Life consists of giving—but not merely out of a bank account. Give out of the infinite boundless supply of God.
• “If your life is lived daily and hourly in that relationship [of oneness with God], with a continuous realization that your awareness of God brings forth everything necessary to your experience, you need never look to any human being for your good. …  ‘What have you in your house?’ If your answer is, ‘I have all the Godhead bodily; I have all the dominion of God; I have the joy of God, the peace of God; I have the security and safety of God; I have the supply of God,’ you will find it appearing in tangible form in the external world. … If you have a consciousness of God as supply and a consciousness of God as the source of all beauty, intelligence, wisdom, guidance, and protection, that is all you will ever need.”
• “Let your life be a life of givingness—giving out of the infinity which you are.”

Another Excellent Class on This Topic

Joel has another excellent class on this topic of “What Have You in the House?”  It is recording 426A, titled “What Have You in the House?” from the 1961 Holland Special Class. This class is the basis for Chapter 6, “What Have You in the House?” in The Journey Back to the Father’s House. This recording is no longer available on this website. If you subscribe to the Joel Goldsmith Streaming Service, you can listen to the recording there. To purchase this recording and/or the transcript from The Infinite Way Office, click/tap here.