Out of Darkness: Overcoming Depression, Lust, Fear & Hate Kathryn Kuhlman

One of the major personal problems that we discover in the lives of human beings today is that of depression, discouragement, of glue. I am amazed how many people write in and say, oh, Catherine Kuhlman, I find that I awaken in the morning so discouraged. How can I get victory over this feeling of depression that I have in my life? Today, you and I are going to have a little heart -to -heart talk about something that sooner or later affects each of our lives. I'm going to give you a portion of the Word of God as found in 1 Peter, the second chapter, the ninth verse. It's a beautiful thing. I've always thought it was such a beautiful description of what can happen to anyone when faith dawns in his mind. And this is it. Who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Let me repeat it again. Who hath called you out of darkness You and I, as God's children, have been called out of darkness into his marvelous light. To think that the shadows, to think that the bloom, to think that the obsession, the hate, the sin, the lust, the grudges in a human mind, these things which weigh a man down and take the joy and take the happiness from him. can all be dissipated by one, the one who calls you out of darkness into his marvelous light. These are the things that we have been called out of. We've been called out of the shadows. We have been called out of the gloom, out of hate, out of sin. We have been called out. of lust and jealousies and depression into his marvelous light. For all of these things that I just named are a pot of darkness. This terrible darkness that throws us into a mental state of depression. Hate will throw you into a mental state of depression. Jealousy will throw you into a mental state of depression. A grudge will throw you into a mental state of depression. Hate. There's nothing that'll throw you into a mental state of depression as quickly as hate. You see, that's what's wrong with the world today. We have been thrown into this mental state of depression until we're literally living in darkness. And in the final analysis, it will cause fear. And the greatest enemy that you can take into your life is the enemy of fear. And all of these things are from... our state of darkness in which we live. But when we become God's children, when we accept that Christ is our Savior, and God becomes our Heavenly Father, and we become heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ Jesus, a very part of His royalty, we are called out of these things. We're called out of this darkness and into his marvelous light. Now you understand why I say to you that this scripture that I've just given you is one of the most beautiful descriptions of what can happen to anyone when faith dawns in his mind. This is the secret of finding a happy ending to your gloomy feelings. This is the secret of finding joy and happiness in your life of depression and discouragement. When this wonderful experience happens to you, one of its blessings is that you get... A normal mind. And a normal, healthy, wholesome mind is better than silver and gold. Better than any material blessing in this world. That's the truth. Better than any material blessing in the whole world is a normal... wholesome, undivided mind. And there's many a multimillionaire who'd give anything in the world if he could exchange all of the material wealth for a healthy, normal mind. There's nothing like it. You're rich. You're rich. If today you are the possessor, of a healthy, wholesome, and I use that word advisedly, wholesome mind. I've come to the conclusion that there are very few people living today who have a wholesome mind. It's another thing that's wrong with the world today. Few people are thinking straight. Few people have a healthy mind. If men and women had a healthy, wholesome mind, they couldn't read some of the things that they read. They couldn't stand to see some of the things that they feed their minds on. It's a depraved mind that goes after the unhealthy things. They feed on them. We've allowed our minds to feed on things that are not wholesome. And then we find ourselves sick mentally and physically. I tell you the truth. I would no more permit my eyes to look upon some of the things that millions of people are watching today. I think too much of my mind. I mean that. I would no more. You could put a sizable check before me and ask me in return for that check to read some of the things that are on the market today. And I would say to you, you take your check, all the money in the world, would not be enough to pay me to read and to take into my mind some of the things that you can go down and buy for less than a dollar today. Why? Because as soon as you see these things and take these things into your mind, you have allowed disease to enter your mind. And things like these can destroy you mentally and physically. It's like that. One of the blessings and the greatest blessings today is a normal, healthy wholesome mind. And you fathers and you mothers, you are responsible for your children. You are responsible for what they take into their mind. You are responsible for what that child sees, hears, reads. As a man thinketh, so is he. That's scriptural. It's the word of God. Mm -hmm. I'm sure that there are people listening to me right now who are having a perfectly terrible time with themselves because forces play upon their minds over which they seemingly have no control of whatsoever. Their minds are the playground of all manner of emotional quirks. They're weighted down. They're filled with gloom. Their energy is sapped. Misfortunes come, and they can't take them because they can't think straight. Oh, fortunate is the man, fortunate is the woman who can think straight. There's many a man today who's not thinking straight. There's many a woman this hour. It's been a long time since she's been able to think straight. And then when misfortunes come, when troubles come, they can't think straight. And that's a pity. For if one has a good, normal, healthy mind, He can handle these problems. If you have a healthy mind, I don't care what you're confronted with, that pain will not throw you. You'll not be defeated. I'm saying something that's the reason I'm talking very slowly and hesitate and pause in some of these places. I want you to think this thing through. You see, we've come to the place where People no longer want to face the real values of life. Sometimes I wonder if people really do want to think straight. I really wonder. Sometimes you see we're like the ostrich who buried its head in the sand and thinking that just because It didn't see the thing that the thing didn't exist. And we're sort of like that today. We don't want to face reality. We just act as though it'll go away. The woman, when her daughter was killed, was an accident that I remember trying to comfort her. And all she would say was, Tell me it isn't so. Miss Kuhlman, tell me it isn't so. Tell me it isn't true. And she grabbed me and said, tell me, Miss Kuhlman, tell me it isn't true. Tell me it isn't so. Tell me it didn't happen. She just didn't want to. face reality. She wanted someone to come along and say, it's just a bad dream. It'll go away. Don't worry, honey. It'll go away. It's like many folk today are trying to sweep all the garbage under the rug. And just because it's swept under the rug, Sooner or later, you know, they feel it'll disintegrate, but it won't. Somebody sooner or later will pull the rug right out from under them, and there it is. It's right there. We've got to face reality sooner or later. And I still contend that if one has a good, normal... healthy mind he can handle any problem but you can only have a good healthy normal mind if you have the mind of christ the mind of god And when you have the mind of God, when you have the mind of Christ, you will live according to God's laws and God's rules. Oh, somebody said, I knew that sooner or later you'd wind up with the word of God. Of course. You can't get away from the Bible. You cannot get away from God's laws. You live contrary to God's laws and you can get yourself into trouble. Your life will end up a mess. And we bring most of our troubles on ourselves. We just do. I was just thinking the other day, you know. about the things that we're faced with today. We're headed for a catastrophe as sure as there's a god on his throne. We have evidence available to show us that man is headed for catastrophe. A climax in his long history. We're faced with The pollution problem. We're faced with nuclear threat. We're faced with the racial problems. We're faced with the dope problem. And many have spoken out freely expressing the fear that the world will never survive to see the end of the century. But all of these problems that we're faced with today, man has brought on the pollution problem. He can't blame God for it. We'd like to put the blame on God. We'd like to put the blame on somebody else. But you want to know something? This pollution problem that we're faced with, we brought it all on ourselves. Don't blame God for it. Our government would like to blame it on somebody else. Well, blame it on the devil if you want to. He's a good one to blame it on. Did you have to blame it on somebody? Blame it on the devil because it all started with him. It all started with sin. Go with the nuclear threat. God will never destroy, man. We talk about God destroying man? God will never destroy man. Man is destroying himself just as fast as he possibly can. That's right. We are literally destroying ourselves. We talk about the racial problems. Hate is not of God. Don't put the racial problem today on God. God has nothing to do whatsoever with the racial problem. He's doing everything he has done, everything in divine power to destroy hate in the mind and in the lives of men and women. God is love. And perfect love casts about all hate and all fear and all jealousies. Man has brought on the racial problem today, not God. And when Jesus comes back the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, there'll no longer be a racial problem. For he comes back and brings peace and destroys the hate that's in the heart of man. Talk about the dope problem. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We brought all of these problems on ourselves. Mm -hmm. And we have evidence that's available to show us in this very hour that man is headed for catastrophe. And many have spoken out very freely. expressing the fear that the world will never survive to see the end of the century. And yet we brought all of these things on ourselves. Man is destroying himself just as quickly as he possibly can. But beloved, God has the answer to all of these problems. back to the Word of God. We need to come back to God's way for man to live before it's too late.