You know, there's something about that 34th Psalm.
I can just read it and read it. And by the way,
that's another part of my Bible that is almost
threadbare. I'm going to tell you something.
The Lord's going to have to come pretty soon.
Just for the sake of my poor Bible, we're going
to have to have this great catching up pretty
soon or my Bible that I'm using presently isn't
going to hold out to the end. And when I pick
up another Bible, it just doesn't seem the same,
you know, because this one has become just a
part of me. Do you have a Bible like that? If
you don't, start getting one. It's great. Well,
anyway, that 34th Psalm, and I want to read just
one verse, the fourth verse, but let me just
read a couple of more because I couldn't possibly
be satisfied taking only one verse out of this
glorious Psalm. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually be in my
mouth. I could stop right there. And I'll tell
you something. If you will practice that first
verse, you have the secret of living a happy,
successful, daily Christian life. I will bless
the Lord at all times. Not just when the sun
is shining. Just... When everything is going
well, then wham, the bottom drops out for you.
And there goes your song, and there goes your
joy, and there goes your happiness. That's not
what the psalmist said. He said at all times,
when there is no sunshine, When the bottom is
dropped out. When the paycheck is not coming
in. When all of the children need new shoes.
And the bills are piling up. That's one of the
all times. His praise shall continually be in
my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the
Lord. the humble shall hear thereof and be glad
o magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his
name together i sought the lord now get those
first four words i sought the lord and he heard
me You'll never seek him with an honest, sincere
heart, but what he'll be right there, and he'll
hear you. It all depends on how you seek him.
Whether it's just merely out of curiosity, just
a verbal thing. But when you seek him sincerely
and with your whole heart, he'll be there. He'll
hear you. He'll not let you down. I promise you
that. Upon the authority of God's word, I promise
you that when you seek him with all of your heart,
with every atom of your being, and you're sincere
in your seeking, he'll be right there. He'll
not turn a deaf ear. And what did he do? And
delivered me from... all my fears. The other
day you and I had a little heart -to -heart talk
about this thing of fear, and I was amazed, and
yet I should not have been, at the great response
that we got from those who were a part of that
heart -to -heart talk. Your response was tremendous.
The response came from young people, from adults,
and I still say that the greatest enemy that
we have today is the enemy of fear. This is a
fear -ridden generation. And so I want to talk
to you today for a few minutes about one of the
most basic problems of human life. And it is
just that. Fear is constantly, persistently cropping
up in human experiences. And you will agree with
me that this is a fear -ridden generation. You
cannot get on the bus. You cannot get on the
streetcar. You cannot get on the plane. You cannot
take a train. You cannot get into conversation
with anyone. We got it so whether it's in a city
or in a department store or just a perfect stranger
standing on the street corner waiting for someone.
But what, after a few minutes, the conversation
will turn to fear. What's going to happen? troubles.
There's a deep, unconscious anxiety in the world
today, induced in part, no doubt, by the finished
possibility of a man's being able to destroy
himself. And that's exactly what's happening.
We are all aware of the fact that we're living
in an hour when Man is causing his own destruction.
He's on a toboggan, going down just as fast as
he possibly can, and no one seems to be able
to put on the brakes. No one is being able to
stop the thing. And the very atmosphere is permeated
with this thing of fear. You'll find it in the
home. You'll find it in young people, in the
lives and thinking of businessmen. Our governments.
We're going to talk about this thing for just
a few minutes. Perhaps you think I have started
out in a very pessimistic, negative way today.
I do not mean to. We're only facing facts, that's
all. And we have to face facts. And in everything,
turn to the Word of God because the Bible always
has the answer. Always I sought the Lord, and
he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.
And I like that word, all my fears. For the thing
that I may fear is not the very thing that you
fear or what your neighbor fears. But fear in
any form is a deadly enemy. It'll rob you of
joy. It'll rob you of peace. It'll rob you of
being what you could be, what you should be,
what God intended you to be. Now, in bodily form,
you are an adult. I'd like to think that in bodily
form, I'm very much of an adult. But I do not
see the real you anymore than you see the real
me. I can look at a woman and I think I know
her. Someone may have been an acquaintance of
mine for many years. And I think I know that
person. I feel very sure that I know that person
very well when all of a sudden, wham, something
happens and I find out that... I really have
not known that one as well as I thought I knew
that one. You may think you know me. You see
my bodily form. You see me. Two eyes, a mouth,
two hands, two legs. You say that's Catherine
Kuhlman. You know my disposition. You recognize
my voice. But maybe you do not know me as well
as you think you know me. A man can be married
to a woman for 50 years and not really know that
one as well as he thinks he knows her. It's like
that. For what are you? The real you. The real
you is a mind and not a body. I want to repeat
that. It's vitally important. The real you is
a mind. The body is merely an instrument to be
used by the mind for a certain number of years.
And when you no longer need this body, you'll
slough it off. And you'll say, they'll say of
you, he died, she died. Actually, the only thing
that died is your body. That's all. That's all
that they put in the grave. I say, I know you
when I meet you and clasp your hand and smile
in your face, but it's the body that I really
see. And so it is with me. You say, there goes
Kathryn Kluman. You sit in the audience and you
see me on the platform, on the stage, and you
say, that's Kathryn Kluman. And you can describe
what I am wearing, the color of my dress and
how it looks, the shoes I have on. But remember,
all you see is that body and that which covers
the body. And one of these days, if we do not
have the rapture of the church in the very near
future, probably word will come and say, Catherine
Kuhlman died. But the only... part of Catherine
Cooman that they put in the grave is the body,
the flesh. But the real me, actually me, will
never die. That was not me that they put in the
earth. That was not me that they put in the casket.
It's like that. There may have been a funeral
at your home. Your mother died. A loved one died.
And there was much weeping. But remember when
you stand there, that open casket, and weep over
that one. That person is not there in that casket.
The only thing that died was the body that'll
be placed in the grave. Your mind is the essential
locale of your soul. It is only with the mind
that we can understand, perceive. It's only with
the mind that we can reach God. Can we meet him
in the fingers, the knees, in the foot, in the
shoulder? Can we meet him in the heart? No. The
heart is only a muscle that pumps blood. You
meet... God in the mind. And so it is in the
mind that we're either defeated or we're victorious
over life. And sometimes in the mind we continue
to be children instead of growing up. How many
people have adult bodies and yet mentally they're
only children. They've never grown up. Or perhaps
we grow up in some ways, but in other ways we're
still infantile. If you are plagued by strange,
unreasoning fears that you yourself do not understand,
just get hold of yourself. Look yourself directly
in the face. Talk to yourself. I mean exactly
that. Talk to yourself. I know. Somebody says
Miss Kuhlman's going all for a rocker. She's
telling us now to talk to ourselves. That's the
surest sign I know of people being ready to be
put away. I'm not talking about talking to yourself
like that. That's not the kind of talking to
you oneself that I'm talking about. You see,
there are many people who will live and die never
having... really look themselves directly in
the face. Think of the men who stand before a
mirror every day of their lives and shave themselves,
who have never actually stood before that mirror,
looked themselves directly in the face, and talked.
to himself. Uh -huh. Now, how does one overcome
fear? We're going to get right down to the nitty
-gritty of this thing. And I'm giving you the
fourth verse of this 34th Psalm. I sought the
Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from
all my fears. How does that happen? One thing
I've discovered in my lifetime of dealing with
other people's problems as well as with my own
weaknesses and troubles, and that is that when
you find the Lord and you really know Him, you
get a humble but a very definite sense of respect
for yourself. On the one hand, we're weak, fear
-struck children. And we have to face that and
deal with it. But we are also men and women created
in the image of Almighty God. Whoever you are,
you ought to say to yourself every once in a
while, pulling yourself up as high as you can
to your full height, and say it audibly, I am
by the grace of God. A child of God. I belong.
These people who say they're so lonely, so lonely.
And when they are alone, this terrific sense
of fear becomes completely overwhelming. When
you have the sense of belonging, do you really
know what I'm talking about? Do you really? Have
you had that wonderful experience? That new birth
experience? Oh, there's so much involved in being
born again. That new birth experience. There's
so much involved. It makes you God -conscious.
This glorious security of belonging. Sometimes
I think we take so much for granted. When you
talk about loneliness, I can't really say that
I'm heckled by the fear of loneliness. Because
I never am conscious of being completely alone.
You may enter the room and you only see Katharine
Kuhlman. But what you don't understand is I am
conscious of the presence of Jesus, of the Holy
Spirit. And some of the greatest times of...
fellowship that I have ever had has been when
I've been alone so far as persons are concerned
and yet not alone at all. He was there. It's
that fellowship. It's that communion with the
Holy Spirit. And we do talk things over. I never
hear his audible voice. I'm not talking about
that. But it's amazing what he tells you. It
is amazing. There is definitely a conversation
that goes on. There is a fellowship. There is
a communion. And he takes away All of this fear
of loneliness. When you have had this wonderful
experience of being born again, remember to whom
you belong. And when loneliness and the fear
of loneliness comes upon you, say audibly, i
am a child of god and i belong to him and he
will take away the fear of loneliness