Study Guides

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.  Psalm 127:1

The trustees of the Valor Foundation have chosen the Infinite Way Letters of 1971, Living by the Word, for the 2014 Study Guide. This is the first of the 11 book series based upon The 1971-1981 Infinite Way Letters by Joel S. Goldsmith. They are fine-quality soft cover books which include Scriptural References and Notes, as well as a listing of the tape recorded classes corresponding to each chapter of the book. In this way students can work with the audio of the classes along with each monthly letter. The Valor Website also provides suggestions for using Lorraine’s class work with each month’s study.

The freedom that this book reveals is a state of permanent freedom. It is not the freedom we experience when we recover from some disease, for in that state we always know or expect that some other ailment can afflict us. It is not the freedom from lack that a wonderful new job or large inheritance may bring us, for these also can fail us.

The freedom expressed in this book by Joel S. Goldsmith is a freedom already within us, which is arrived at through the discipline of knowing the truth, the truth about God, man and “the nature of error” and standing firm in these truths. As he says “if we are not abiding in the Word and letting the Word abide in us, all the evils of this world can come near our dwelling place.“

“It is the nature of God that we be free. It is the nature of God that we be whole,” Joel S.  Goldsmith exclaims and then goes on to emphasize who “we” are – “The son of God is more than a man who lived two thousand years ago; the son of God is the spirit of God that dwelt in the man Jesus, and that dwells in every man, therefore, the son of God is present in you and me.” Discovering that son of God within us, and then knowing what it means to express that in our world, is the message of this volume, one which is particularly relevant today.

Joel Goldsmith states very clearly that knowing the letter of truth is not sufficient, we have to progress towards being taught by the spirit or Christ within us, then our consciousness is changed. He says “Nothing exists for us except what we become conscious of or aware of. Therefore, if we would bring the grace of God into our experience, we must consciously open our consciousness to the truth that ‘I and the Father are one.'”

Joel Goldsmith asks, "Do we know our true identity? Do we know who we are? For therein lies the secret. Are we human beings? Are we sinners? Are we mortal? Is that our identity or is that a mistaken concept…