"Trust in the Lord with all your heart" Kathryn Kuhlman Proverbs 3:5-7

Today, you and I are going to have a little heart -to -heart talk about something that's very close to my own heart. And I want to read the first six verses as found in the third chapter of Proverbs. My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of thine heart. So shalt thou find favor and good. understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. Oh, to me, that's a priceless portion of the Word of God. And how often we forget the truth that's found in just these six verses. But I want to repeat that fifth verse for you. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. It is my firm conviction that no man who has ever lived or is living today who has had a... greater spiritual influence on Sweden or the country of Norway, the Scandinavian countries, than Pastor Petrus. Literally thousands and thousands and thousands, only God knows. but thousands in the Scandinavian countries who had been brought to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through the life and the ministry of Pastor Petrus. He's known throughout the world as Mr. Pentecost, and I think that's one of the greatest compliments that can be paid to a human being. There's something about that man of God special anointing. One cannot be in his presence without feeling the wonderful power and presence of the Holy Spirit. A saint of God who is past 80 years of age. And I'm only sorry, I deeply regret that I was not personally acquainted with him years and years ago. I wonder how my own ministry might have been affected had I known him when I was 16 years of age. For I have never forgotten what another saint of God said to me when I was just 16. So young, so inexperienced, that saint of God who is known as Brother McCloud, who one day... took my hands in his bony hands. Oh, there was so little flesh left on his hands. All I could feel was the bones and the love. He was nearing the sunset hour. He saw my zeal, acknowledged my love for the Lord, and knew better than I knew my lack of experience. And he gave me advice that day that I have never, never, never forgotten. And I did not know the full impact of what he was saying to me when he said, Girl, never get out of the will of God. I did not know what dear old Brother McCloud... who went home to glory soon after that, really meant, but he knew the importance of those words from past experiences. And there is no substitute for experience. Well, Pastor Petrus was here in the United States, and we were having dinner together. Oh, that mighty saint of God, just to be in his presence. Just to sit at his feet, I mean that. And we were talking about the things of God and especially the Holy Spirit. He'd been in the service of the Shrine of the Torium in Los Angeles, enjoying the presence of the Holy Spirit. and the manifestation of the power of God more than perhaps anyone else there. And then, as we sat and were eating our dinner, he said, you know, Miss Kuhlman, he's always very definite in everything that he says. You know, Miss Kuhlman, I have watched you very closely since we have become friends. I was in those services when you were in Sweden. I've watched your every movement and analyzed you very closely. And he said, you want to know something? Of course we know that the secret... The success of your ministry is the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. But he said, your own personal success is found in one thing. One. I sat there, wondering what this saint of God was going to say. Waiting almost breathlessly for his next word. And this is what he said. You may talk things over with other folk. I have heard you. As you have said now, what would you do? It was almost as though you were getting the idea of someone else. But in the final analysis, always did what the Holy Spirit told you to do. You never accepted the advice of some man or some woman just because they had given that advice. In every instance, I have seen you turn. And before you made any decision, you got the mind of God on that thing. And oftentimes, and usually, it was contrary to the advice that some man or some woman had given you. Perhaps he was the only one who recognized that in my life. In me. I could have wept. I could have broken forth in tears. For, beloved, I tell you frankly, I have learned the importance of this portion of the Word of God. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean... not unto thine own understanding. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Let me repeat it again. Be not wise in thine own eyes. The very moment that I become wise in my own eyes and think that I am smart, that is the day when I start down the skids. That's the very hour when I am doomed eventually to spiritual failure. That's the moment. If only I could get good understanders. If... Only that man or that woman who is leaning on his own understanding. Lean. Oh, that's a good word. Lean. Lean not unto your own understanding. That is, do not put too much dependence upon your own wisdom. Do not lean too heavily upon your own wisdom because it simply will not support you. The plain honest fact is, I'm sorry to say, is that really none of us is wise enough to get through this world by depending upon his own wisdom and knowledge. God is perfect wisdom. A thousand times a day I am mindful of the fact that God is perfect wisdom. Our wisdom is imperfect wisdom. Then I would be a very foolish person to lean upon my own wisdom knowing that my wisdom is imperfect. But when I lean on the wisdom of God, I am leaning on a wisdom that is perfect. So this is the advice. Do not lean on your own poor understanding, for it will not take you where you want to go. Trust the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. It's imperfect. It will fail in all of your ways, in everything you do. Acknowledge him as your guide. Build all of your thinking around him. Oh, that's such a wonderful life to live. If somehow I had the vocabulary to tell you, to get it through to you, to get it across to you, that this can be such a wonderful life. When you build all of your thinking around him, you'll not be a frustrated person. How in the world could you be a frustrated person? How in the world could you have a nervous breakdown? How in the world could you know failure if you were building all of your thinking and building your life around the Lord Jesus Christ. Solve every problem around Him. He's the center. And everything that concerns you concerns Him also. Therefore, every problem, no matter what that problem is, is solved around Him. Never make a decision without consulting him. And when you consult him, he'll direct your path. If I go to someone else for advice, because they're as human as I am, and their wisdom is as imperfect as my wisdom is, therefore, I might just as well lean on my own understanding and my wisdom as to ask someone else. Sometimes one just does it as a matter of courtesy. Now that's being brutally frank, you know. But it is that way. Because their wisdom is just as imperfect as my wisdom. But there is one who has perfect wisdom. Therefore, I'm very foolish if I do not go to the one who can Direct my path. A perfect path. I know very well that there are people, including myself, who try to decide a great many questions without any thought of God whatsoever. And consequently, we get ourselves into trouble. We're not using the world's greatest sources of wisdom. Just start using this portion of the Word of God. When you apply this portion of God's Word, remember that every disappointment can be a message from God. He has to give you His advice in one way or another. And sometimes He gives it to you through a bitter disappointment. I'm not telling you that your pathway is going to be rosy. I'm not going to tell you that there will not be any heartaches or any trials. perfect wisdom, knowing that which is best for us. He knows that through that trial, through that heartache, we will become a better and bigger person and we'll always come out on the winning side. Always, I promise you that. If you have a thought about a matter and if you've done all that you can about it, You're disappointed. It seems to me you must believe the disappointment as a message from God telling you perhaps that you were not going about the affair in the right manner or that the idea was faulty. I've come to the conclusion that the simpler you are in your relationship to God, the more effective or your daily experiences. After all, it is a child and a parent relationship. Oh, just to be simple in your relationship. That's right. And the simpler you and I are in our relationship to God, the more effective are our daily experiences and the less complicated living becomes. You know, we've gotten this whole thing so complicated when it comes to living that most people are in a state of frustration and confusion. They don't know where they're coming, where they're going. They don't know the sky is... Up or down, most of them do not even have their feet on the ground. So unstable. Let's get back to the simple way of living again. Let's get back to our simple relationship with God. It's just like that. Ask the Lord. His advice on things. He'll give it to you. I promise you. I promise you with all my heart. He'll show you. If you really want to know. If you take your disappointments. And do not whine and complain about them. But say, Lord. What are you trying to show me? Perhaps he'll lead you to something far greater than you had imagined. That's right. Remember, your disappointments may be his appointment. At that moment, it may seem like a disappointment to you. Through that disappointment, after the moment, he may have spared you from a great tragedy. Our eyesight is far too short. Our eyesight is so dimmed sometimes. We can only see just a step or two ahead. when God sees the whole thing, the beginning to the end. Now, the second technique in handling the disappointment skillfully is that when you're sure that what you wanted is not going to happen, then you must develop the art of being able to walk away from the matter and forget it. The longer I live and the more I stay, study human nature, the more I am convinced that a great deal of unhappiness in the world today comes out of not freeing ourselves from old, unhappy past events. If you've committed a sin, for example, don't drag it along with you for the rest of your life. If you've confessed it to God, Get it forgiven and leave it behind. Don't think about it anymore. Don't think about it. Don't bring it up. If you've asked forgiveness for that sin and God's forgiven you, don't drag the old carcass around anymore. Leave it. Forget it. If someone... Doesn't mean thing to you. Don't carry it around with you. Forgive it and forget it. You cannot carry all this excess weight. Walk away from the thing. It's under the blood. Remember that. You must remember that. All these things are so simple. These things are so wonderful. Yes, beloved, if somehow in just this second I could get you to not lean on your own understanding. When temptations come, when disappointments come, when death comes, when trials come, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. Beloved, be not wise in thine own eyes. He is perfect wisdom.