Overcoming Fear, Anxiety and Loneliness Kathryn Kuhlman Psalm 34

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