As A Man Thinketh in His Heart So Is He Kathryn Kuhlman Proverbs 23:7

For a few minutes today, you and I are going to have a good heart -to -heart talk about something that's vitally important to all of us. I want to read just one verse of Scripture. It's found in the 23rd chapter of Proverbs, the 7th verse. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. There it is. As a man thinketh in his heart, as you think in your heart, you are that person. If you really want to know what Catherine Coon is like, if you really want to know what I am like, the real me, then know my thoughts. Know what I have in my heart. All the great teachers of every age have declared this simple truth to be factual. That a man's life, a man's character, are the result of his own thoughts, his own ideals. It was a philosophy as old as civilization. but as fresh and as new and as up -to -date as the Word of God. Sometimes I think we forget how practical the Word of God really is. If you really want to know how to live, then start living according to the Word of God. Start reading God's Word. Sometimes we think, you know, that folk are so old -fashioned who... still believe in the Word of God, bless you. If you want real wisdom, if you really want to be an intelligent person, if you really want facts and you want real truth, get back again to the Word of God. As he sinketh in his heart. So is he. Oh, sure. I can remember the son of the family who lived next door to us when I was a child in Concordia, Missouri. They were not a wealthy family. In fact, they were very poor. But even as kids, we used to spend... Hours and hours just dreaming and talking about what we'd like to do and what we'd like to be. And the youngster of whom I am speaking was very poor in his youth, had known none of the advantages that so many young people count essential. He'd started out with nothing to build on except what he was within himself. But he had known what he wanted to be. He knew what he wanted to do. And he kept his dream. He kept his ideals. He kept these ideals and these dreams everlastingly before him. He had tried to live the life that he imagined. And in the end, his dream became reality. And today, he's a very, very successful businessman in Concordia, Missouri. And yet, in reality, he did not have the advantages that many of the other young people in Concordia, Missouri had. And few, if any, had the success in later life that he has now and that he is enjoying. You know, sometimes I am of the opinion that young people count too much on luck and chance these days. Oh, I hear them talking. Perhaps if you had young people in your family, they're constantly talking about this thing of luck. And then, you know, if somebody really makes it to the top, if somebody's really successful, they'll say, oh, it was just luck. or he was just lucky and he was just there at the right time and it was a matter of chance. I guess that's one reason why I'm taking the time to have this little heart -to -heart talk because it's one of the most practical things I can bring you today. It is my firm conviction that there isn't such a thing as luck. You'll never make me believe that there is such a thing as just chance that things just happen. No. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all of his thoughts. I cannot think evil thoughts and be a good person. If my mind is full of evil, if my mind is full of hatred, If my mind is full of jealousy, prejudice, then one thing is dead sure. I cannot be, I will not be a person with a wonderful character. I will not be a good person. My deeds will not be good. Because I... am what I think. You are this very hour what you think. Your character, my character, being the complete sum of my thoughts. As the plant springs from and could not be without the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought and could not have appeared without them. That is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits. Thus does a man garner in the sweet and the bitter fruitage of his own husbandry. A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated, or it may be allowed to run wild. But whether cultivated or neglected, it must and will bring forth fruit. And it's just like that. There's some things you and I can argue from now to doomsday, but we'll not change the laws of God. Oh, there are those who try to disregard the fact that whatsoever a man soweth, that must he also reap. They say it's old -fashioned. Take this present generation. They have all the disregard in the world for that portion of the Word of God. But as surely as a person sows, they're going to reap. Oh, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not five years from now, but as surely as there's a god on his throne, as surely as there is a sowing, so surely must there be a reaping. It's going to come. It has to come. How often I told you about Dr. Trumbull, And the atheist, very boldly, had challenged Dr. Trumbull. He said, I am an atheist. I disregard the Lord's Day. I do not go to church. I make no pretense whatsoever of serving God. of living for God. And yet, he said, I have a next -door neighbor. His farm joins mine. A devout Christian. They have daily Bible reading. When Sundays come, it's the day of worship. He is what the world would call a devout Christian. And now he says, it's fall. My... Crops have been great. I've had bumper crops this year. My silos are filled. My orchards had wonderful fruit. My next -door neighbor has not fared so well. It's now October, and I really am ahead. I have the better crops, the better harvest. Dr. Trumbull, how would you answer that? And Dr. Trumbull just turned the sheet of paper over, and this is all that he wrote on it. God does not make full settlement in October. Mm -hmm. person gets by with one thing with Almighty God. Know that. And so it is true when it comes to man's thoughts. Get it? A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated. are allowed to run wild, you can do whatever you want with your own mind. But never forget, whether cultivated or neglected, it must and it will bring forth fruit. And if no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein. and will continue to produce their kind. Be careful what you take into your mind. Be careful what you allow your mind to feed on. I'm so dead sure about what I'm saying to you just now that I will tell you the truth. I would no more permit myself to look upon dirty things. I would no more think of reading trashy literature than anything in the world. There are books that you could not pay me enough to read. I'm repeating. I think so much. Of my mind, I am so sold on this truth from God's word that you could not pay me to read certain literature, books that I know that people are reading today. Be careful what you take into your mind. Be careful what your young son, that teenager of yours, is reading, is seeing. It will leave its imprint upon that life. Whatsoever a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Just as the gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, And growing the flowers and the fruits which he requires. So many a man tend the garden of his mind. Weeding out all the wrong, the useless, the impure thoughts. Cultivating toward perfection the flowers and the fruits of right. The things that are useful. Pure thoughts. And by pursuing this process. A man sooner or later discovers that he's the master gardener of his thoughts, the director of his life. It's amazing what happens. He also reveals within himself the laws of thoughts, and he understands with every increasing accuracy how the thought forces operate in the shaping of his character. And his destiny. A thought makes a deed. A deed makes a life. And a life brings the destiny. And yet it all goes back to the thought. This must be vitally important or it wouldn't be in the word of God. I read it again. For as he thinketh in his heart, So is he. A man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions. But when he realizes that he is a creative power, that he may command the hidden soil and the seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, He then becomes the rightful master of himself. Good thoughts bear good fruit and bad thoughts, bad fruit. It's just that simple. When you focus on God, when you focus your mind on the things of God, It is amazing what happens to your entire life. You are never defeated. You will never be defeated as long as you know that underneath all the uncertainties of life is your Heavenly Father. You wake up in the morning. You say, God is with me. He's my Heavenly Father. Oh, I've got a big day. I've got a busy day. I know that there'll be things that've got to be licked. Oh, dear me. I've got problems that in the natural. There's no way out. There's no way backward. There's no way forward. But if God is with me and I know that he's my heavenly father, with him we can lick this thing and you go out of your front door knowing that you have all the powers of heaven on your side. You know that God is with you. You know that you're his child. Why, bless you, who? Can lick a man like that? I just ask you confidentially. Because a man like that won't be defeated. He'll not take no for an answer. He'll not take defeat for an answer. He's not going to drown. He's not going to hit the bottom of despair. Because he knows to whom he belongs. Mentally he knows. Not only mentally. He's had that wonderful experience and he knows that he's passed from death unto life. Life everlasting. And that wonderful experience makes him an heir of God. Makes him a joint heir with Christ Jesus. He has that assurance and his mind keeps assuring him of these facts and these glorious truths. And so, therefore, he doesn't focus his thoughts upon the object. He doesn't focus his thoughts on defeat. He doesn't focus his mind on the bigness of the problem. He focuses his mind on God, his partner. He focuses his mind on the victory. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Oh, this is so practical. This is so wonderful. Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts. You will receive that which you earn, no more, no less. Whatever your present environment may be, you'll fall, you'll remain, or you'll rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire and as great as your dominant... Aspiration. As a man thinketh, so is he. No, the thoughtless, the ignorant, those who only see the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of luck. of fortune and of chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, how lucky is that man. Observing another becoming very intellectual, they'll exclaim, oh, how highly favored he is. And during the saintly character and the wide influence of another, they say, my, how chance aids him at every turn. They do not see the trials, the failures, the struggles which these men have encountered in order to gain their experience. They have no knowledge of the sacrifice that that one has made, of the undaunted efforts that have been put forth, of the faith that they have exercised, that they might overcome As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.