Today I have a question I'm going to put to you,
which I think is important to every human being.
And I propose to have a very serious talk with
you about it. And the question that I want to
ask is just this. Are you getting what you want
from life? Really now? Life is a very serious
thing. Life is very important. Every human being
is important. This thing of life is really something.
You as an individual and if only you as a person
could know how important you are to God. how
important you can be to this world, how important
you can be to those around you, with those with
whom you associate. And the longer I live, the
more I realize how vitally important life really
is. And I'm glad that I started to give of myself.
early in life. I'm asking you, are you, as an
individual, a father, perhaps a mother there
in that home, perhaps a businessman, a young
person, perhaps a young person still in school,
perhaps a young person who's graduated, perhaps
you're someone unemployed, Are you getting what
you want from life? Perhaps it would be a good
idea, fantastic as it sounds, to muffle every
telephone, to stop the motor of every car, to
halt all activity for an hour someday, just to
give people a chance to ponder for a few minutes
on what it is all about. Why are they living?
And what do they really want? I think this is
a very wise suggestion. But the sad fact is that
many people have no clear idea what do they want
in life. And many others who think they know
what they want are not getting it. There's so
much confusion out there. You get on the freeway.
Some of you people really... It takes you an
hour to go to work in the morning. It takes you
an hour or longer than that to come home in the
busy traffic. You get home at night completely
exhausted. During the hours that you spend at
work, there's confusion, there's noise. There's
uncertainty until finally you forget that you
are an individual. You get caught up in all this
confusion. You get caught up in the swiftness
of life and living. You get caught up in the
noise. You don't realize it. You really don't
realize it. Now just consider, in 24 hours, how
much quietness and stillness is there in your
life. Maybe you live on a busy street. I always
remember what one of Dave Wilkerson's young dope
who had been delivered from dope. And Dave Wilkerson
took him off the streets of New York because
all the kid ever knew was the noise of New York
City. And after he was converted and after Dave
Wilkerson brought him real salvation through
the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, he took him
to the farm at Raresburg. And a couple of weeks
later, I was out on the farm. And I was talking
with him and he said, you know, Catherine Kuhlman,
this quietness is driving me out of my mind.
Oh, he said. The first week I thought I would
climb the walls. This quietness. He said, do
you want to know something? This is the first
time in my life. that I have ever been where
it's really quiet. You know, he says it's scary.
I've never forgotten that. The quietness almost
gave him a nervous breakdown, you know, because
he was so used to the unnatural that sometimes
I think, you know, We breathe in so much pollution
that if we ever got someplace in the world where
there was no pollution, the cleanness of the
air would hurt our lungs, would really hurt us
to breathe. Because we've lived in the unnatural
so long that the pureness of the natural and
the right way, to breathe and live is foreign
to us. That's the reason. Honestly, I know it
sounds fantastic. I know it. But, uh, do you
go to bed at night? There's no telephone ringing,
and yet you'd swear the telephone was ringing
because you've heard that telephone ring all
day long. Uh -huh. You're sure that there's the
motor of a car running outside. There's no motor
of any car running outside. But you've been in
that traffic so long. You lie down at night and
you're still dodging the cars. You're still on
the freeway. You're still on the highway. Do
you know what I'm talking about? Uh -huh. The
clerk behind the counter has so struggled with
the public. for eight hours until the poor soul
is lying there trying to sleep and she's still
trying to satisfy an unreasonable customer. You
know exactly what I'm talking about. Exactly.
It's a sad fact that many people have no clear
idea what they want in life. They really have
never stopped long enough to think whether or
not they are getting what they really desire
from life. I believe that. Some folks never get
a grip on success. The main thing they really
want. Because there's so many other things, they
won't. let go of. What does that mean? It means
that a great many people never do get what they
want because they cling to wrong ideas, wrong
attitudes, wrong approaches, wrong ways of living.
In order to make your life a success, and I dare
say there isn't a single human being this very
hour, but what really. when they get quiet long
enough and are honest with themselves. But what
wants to be a success, I don't think any person
really wants to be a failure. I mean that. Every
person really wants to be a success. Now, the
Bible is a marvelous book for many reasons, and
one is that it tells the truth. And the Bible
says, no good thing will he, that's the Lord,
withhold from them that walk uprightly. Do you
want to know what that really means? Oh, it's
so simple. There it is. The one who has all power
in heaven and earth, the one who has perfect
wisdom, the one who knows man, the one who is
the great creator, the one who cannot lie, the
one who is absolute truth says, No good thing
will he, the Lord, withhold from them that walk
uprightly. And how do you describe a man who
walks uprightly? It's one who knows what is right
and what is wrong and holds to that which is
right. In all of this confusion, in all of this
noise, having been caught up, In a generation
that is just loaded with frustration, sometimes
I think we forget what is right and what is wrong.
Our morals have gone out the window. We really
don't quite face the fact of thievery. What is
stealing? We get the idea that anything that
you can get your hands on without being caught
is rightfully yours. It's just like that. There
was a time when I was a girl in Concordia, Missouri.
Dear me, if you took another youngster's pencil,
it was his. And if you took it, that was stealing.
If you took something out of another kid's lunch
pail, that was stealing. If you took something
that was not rightfully yours, that was stealing.
And as children, we knew what was stealing. We
didn't have to say, Mama, is this mine or is
this his? We knew and we had a conscience about
it, too, let me tell you. And if we took something
that was another kid's, I'll tell you, we couldn't
sleep all night. Our poor little conscience is,
oh, you know, he would just like that. Even do
a piece of candy. You wanted it. It was his.
You took it without asking for it. And then you
prayed, oh dear God, don't let me die. I've stolen,
it's swallowed now. Please keep me from dying.
Because you knew you had stolen. Now remember,
febri is still febri. Adultery is still adultery.
Lying is still lying. The word of God has not
been... altered for this generation, and sometimes
I think we have lost sight entirely as to what
is right and what is wrong. Anything that we
do and can't get by with is right, is the attitude
of this present generation. Do you know what
I say is right? It's the Word of God. Here it
is. It's strange how many people today seem to
have the notion that a person can permit himself
any kind of wrong thing and get away with it.
And if you can get away with it, it's right.
It doesn't work that way. The Lord will withhold
nothing from the man who walks uprightly. The
man who doesn't walk uprightly is defeating himself.
And if you are living contrary to God's laws,
you may feel as though you're getting away with
it, but you're not. You are absolutely defeating
yourself. Oh, you say, I got away with it. I
got by with it. Nobody will ever know. All right.
Let's suppose no one will ever know. Suppose
you'll never get caught. But you still have to
live with yourself. And if you're living contrary
to God's laws, my friend, you're def... Beating
yourself. So if you want to get from life what
you really want, get right with yourself and
right with God. Learn to be honest with yourself.
And with God's help, eliminate from your living,
from your thinking, anything that is morally
wrong or psychologically unhealthy. You've got
to do it. Oh, if I could only somehow. I wish
I had the ability. I wish I had the vocabulary.
I wish I could do something to get men and women
to understand that, first of all, you've got
to be true to yourself. You've got to live with
yourself. I have to know that. Kathryn Kuhlman
is right on the inside. Before I can go out and
face the world. Before I can stand on that stage
and preach about the power of the Holy Ghost.
I have to first of all live with Kathryn Kuhlman.
And know that inside of me, I'm right. I'm clean.
looking at myself in the mirror. Oh, it may not
be a beautiful face that I see, because recently
I decided that they aren't making mirrors like
they used to make them. But anyway, regardless
of what I see in the mirror, I can say to the
one whose face I see, well, I'm not doing a perfect
job. I have my faults. I have my failures. And
I'm sorry. But Catherine Kuhlman, you're doing
the best that you know how. I don't know how
better to do it. I want to grow. I want to be
a better person today than I was yesterday. I
want to be more like my master today than I was
yesterday. I want to be a better person tomorrow
than I am today. I think there's also something
further intended by the statement that the Lord
will not withhold any good thing from the person
who walks uprightly. To walk uprightly rightly
means to walk in right ways. You can't walk in
wrong ways. You can't walk with wrong people.
You can't have wrong thoughts. As a man thinketh,
so is he, the Bible says. You cannot have wrong
thoughts. At the same time, walk uprightly. You
can't do it. It's amazing what the mind, really
the mind governs the entire body. The mind can
be your master. Know that. Success or defeat
can literally depend on your mind. If it's wrong
thinking, you're not going to walk uprightly.
If there's wrong thoughts, wrong thinking, there'll
be wrong living. As a man, think it. And this
comes from the highest authority in heaven and
earth, and therefore it cannot be argued. This
is the word of God. What are your thoughts, my
friend? If this very moment you can tell me what
your thoughts are, I can tell you whether or
not you're walking uprightly or whether you're
walking the wrong way. To walk uprightly. means
to walk in right ways. Wonderful Jesus. Make
the simple words real to hearts. Amen.