Did you ever feel that you wanted to just talk
to members of your own family? You know, just
take your shoes off and sit on the floor. Maybe
you don't sit on the floor. I do. I can always
remember this little girl. Oh, if Mama told me
once, Mama told me thousands of times. Catherine,
can't you be a lady? Oh, goodness, a light. I
can hear it now. Catherine, sit up straight on
that chair. Don't hang on the chair. Don't hang
on the table. Sit up straight. Be a lady. To
this day, yet I have a hard time being a lady.
I like to take my shoes off and sit on the floor.
And sometimes I think I still hang on chairs.
It's the hardest thing in the world for me to
sit up straight. And not... cross my legs when
I sit down. I guess I'll never be the real lady
like Mama want me to be. Well, anyway, I'm going
to take off my shoes. I'm going to sit on the
floor. And you and I are going to just talk things
over as members of the same family. You would
be amazed how many people especially those who
know me best and know the tremendous responsibility
that is mine, really realize the hours that I
work and the amount of work that I get into these
hours. Few men work as hard as I work, but then
sometimes I think that... women had the ability
to work longer hours and harder than men and
be able to stand the pressure. I believe that.
I mean that, and it's just like that. And the
question is asked me so very often, how do you
do it? Do you worry, Ms. Kuhlman? If you worried,
you couldn't possibly do what you're doing. Now.
for the next few minutes, I'm going to tell you
exactly how I live. And I hope that somehow you
will learn just a little from my own experience.
But remember, you can't give to anyone else any
more than you have experienced. I know that it
works. Because I live like this. Do you want
to know something? Life is a very restless, a
very disrupted thing. Until we give ourselves
to something beyond ourselves. Until we obey
something that's ultimate. And obey it supremely.
Pay it with every atom of our being. We've got
to do it. A doctor once said, three quarters
of my patients need to find God. And if they
would find God, if they would give themselves
completely and entirely to him, they wouldn't
be in the condition that they're in. A psychiatrist.
who is paid handsomely by his patience, said
to a friend, You want to know something? Most
of my patients do not need me. They need God.
They need a mourner's bench. They need to give
themselves over to a supreme being, to a power
that is greater than themselves. They're frustrated
because they have not learned how to live. And
it's just like that. Mm -hmm. Paul says these
words, in him we live and move and have our being.
We do live. Every human being lives and moves
in... God, for God is inescapable. The very beat
of your heart is made possible because of God.
You live because of His mercy. You live by His
mercy. You move because of His tender mercy.
But how many Do not have their very being in
him. And there's a secret. We live on surface
roots. The tap root has not gone down deep into
God. We do not have our very being in him. And
when you learn that glorious secret of having
your very being, in Him, then you've learned
the secret of how to live. It's just like this
thing of praying without ceasing. And you'd be
amazed how many people stumble over that portion
of the Word of God. Pray without ceasing. It
does not mean that you're to spend your days
on your knees. Some people get the idea that
they can't pray unless they are in a certain
position. They cannot pray unless they're on
their knees. That is impossible to pray unless
they are in a place of worship or kneeling at
an altar. My friend, when you learn that secret,
A praying without ceasing. It'll be the greatest
secret that you have ever learned. There is literally
a place in Christ Jesus where you are in constant
prayer. It's no effort. Absolutely no effort
whatsoever. When somebody says, I am in prayer
two hours every day of my life. Somebody else
says, I spend one hour in prayer every day of
my life. And then, you know, I look at the person.
I analyze their life. And say, help me. I don't
see the result of all that praying. Alone, on
their knees. Don't misconstrue what I'm saying.
It isn't a matter of going through the form of
the thing. It isn't a matter of staying on your
knees. It is a matter of constantly being in
prayer. There is a constant communication. There
is a constant fellowship. 24 hours of the day,
constantly. It is so constant. It is so definite.
that you do not make one single move but what
you're conscious of his presence. You find yourself
getting advice from him. You may not be uttering
an audible word. I can walk down the street and
have as great a communion with my Lord as I can
behind closed doors. It's like that. We've gotten
to the place where the whole thing has become
so much form and ceremony that we've lost the
real power of communion. There is a definite
communication that is constant. It's never shut
off. You don't shut it off like you would turn
off a faucet. and then go to your kitchen sink
and turn the spigot on again when you want water.
It isn't like going to the telephone and you
want some communication with the Lord. And you
go to the telephone and you dial him and say,
Dear Heavenly Father, this is me and I'm desperate.
It isn't something like that. And then when you
get through talking to him again, you hang up
just like you would if you were calling a friend
or a neighbor or a relative. Some people, not
just pause a minute, analyze your own prayer
life. And it's been kind of like that with you.
There is a secret where we not only move, We
not only live, but we have our very being in
him. He's consulted about everything. We wait
for his lady. We get our instructions from him.
And when you have your being in him, those little
checks are there. and you know whether it's right,
you know whether it's wrong. He tells you what
to do. Watch again. When I say he tells you what
to do, I'm not talking about some audible voice.
No, ma 'am. I'm talking about the fact that the
footsteps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.
I am talking about guidance. I am talking about
divine wisdom. I'm talking about being a very
part of Him, and He is a part of you. Do you
understand? I pray the Holy Spirit somehow will
let you see this wonderful secret. And it's a
day -by -day proposition. Are you worried? Fear
and worry are the two greatest evils you can
take into your life. And I am of the opinion
that we're living in the day and the hour when
most folk are either scared stiff, they're worried
to death, And there never was a generation that
was more insecure than this generation. You know,
there's a verse in the Bible. It's in 2 Kings,
the 25th chapter. And I think it's the last verse.
And this is great. And his allowance was a continual
allowance given him of the king. A daily rate
for every day. All the days of his life. Now
what more would you want? His allowance was a
continual allowance. It was never to be cut off.
Absolute security. Look at this provision. A
daily rate for every day. It made no difference
whether he lived to be 35, 65, or 105. Every
day, all the days of his life. Now, when one
has that security, that assurance, and you know
that behind that promise are all the riches of
heaven, all the riches of glory, behind that
promise is the person of God himself, then why
in the world would you have cause to worry? Mm
-hmm. There it is. Do you believe his word or
don't you? Do you really believe his word? There's
assurance. If he clothes the grass of the field,
which today is and tomorrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye
of little faith? If he feeds the birds, if he
paints the lilies, will he not care for you?
So he bids us, by his own solidly care, not to
worse. But God's plan for his own is a day -by
-day proposition, one day at a time. Today I
am in constant communion with him. Today I have
my being in Him. The first thing when I awaken
in the morning, I place myself all over again
in His care and His keeping. I cry unto Him daily
and no successful Christian life is without this
daily communication, this daily communion. in
him where he's children. There's daily food.
As surely as the physical body needs good food
to keep it strong and healthy, the minute you
cut down on your daily food, the minute that
you live on all starches, are the minute you
do without food for the body. Three days, four
days, you become emaciated. Something happens
to the physical. You're no longer the same vibrant
person that you were before. What is true of
the physical body is also true of the spiritual
man. As surely as the physical body needs a good
diet and needs daily food, good food to keep
it well and strong. So should it as a spiritual
man needs spiritual food. Oh, we're so inconsistent
about this thing. Somebody said, oh, I'll tell
you, I had a wonderful spiritual experience 10
years ago. What's happened since? You're still
trying to live on that spiritual experience,
that spiritual food that you had back there ten
years ago. If you'll stop and analyze yourself,
you're as dried up... spiritually today as last
year's corn shocks. You're dead spiritually because
you cannot have a strong spiritual life without
a daily intake of spiritual food. And the greatest
spiritual food in the world is the Word of God.
Feed on it daily. Then there's daily gratitude.
Blessed be the Lord who daily loatheth us with
benefits. If his benefits are daily, then our
gratitude should be daily. Don't you ever, whatever
you do, go to sleep at night without thanking
him for his daily blessings. It's so easy for
us. to ask of him, to partake from his giving
hand, and how few of us are quick to thank him
for his blessings. As thy day, the scripture
says, so shall thy strength be, not as thy weeks,
or months, or years, but as thy day. I don't
care what tomorrow holds for you. He'll be your
glorious bring the nerve. Somebody asked Dwight
Lyman Moody if he had dying grace and he replied,
no, no. But when I come to die, I shall have
dying grace. God bless you.