Victorious Living Part 5 Kathryn Kuhlman Daily Provision & The Joy of the Lord

Well, today you and I are going to have another one of those heart -to -heart talks. I don't know when I got started calling it Old Fashioned Missouri Cornbread. I don't know. Maybe it's because I like the way Mama made her cornbread. She made it differently than any cornbread that I have ever eaten in my life. It wasn't... thick, you know. It wasn't, I guess, the kind of cornbread that they call real good cornbread is supposed to stand about two inches high and a little fluffy. Well, Mama made hers thin and a little juicy. It was really soggy, but it was juicy. Oh, you may not have liked it. And you'd be amazed how many people have sent me recipes for cornbread because I refer to Zora Cornbread. But none of those recipes that you've ever sent me were right. No, ma 'am. They never were like Mama's. And to this day, I get so hungry. For the way Mama made the cornbread when I was a kid, those cold winter mornings in the Zora. Sometimes we had molasses syrup, but it tasted just as good without it because I loved it. And Mama always said, it's so good for you. And the kind of cornbread that I give you. I would like to feel is so good for you. Not stiff. Not fancy. Not two inches tall. A little soggy. Maybe a little too thin at times. But good for you. You know, we're talking about living this. Christian life, and it is a day -by -day proposition. Let us never forget that. Now, when you read the Word of God, you'll find that as thy day, so shall thy strength be. Always know that He'll not give you strength tomorrow for today's trials. Never. It's a day -by -day proposition. He'll give me strength for today. When I wake in the morning, I have this confidence. I have this assurance. I have this security that no matter what happens to me today, I know that my Lord and my God will give me strength for what I have to face that day. If I knew when I wake in the morning, everything that I would have to face the next 24 hours, it would kill me before I ever left the room. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't take it. If I knew before I ever left my room, the disappointment that I would have to face that day or all the work that I would have to do, I'd get tired before I ever left the room. If I knew everything that was involved in the next 18, 19, 20 hours, I would just crawl back in bed again. Pull the cover over my face so that I can't take it. But I do not know what I'll be faced with during those hours of that day. But I go out secure. I leave. with a trust, with a confidence in my heart and my mind that as that day, so will he supply the strength for that day. And so, I've lived low these many years without having had a breakdown. Now, people have nervous breakdowns when they try to see beyond that day. You can't do it. If right now, I would just stop and think of what my calendar looks like. And I visualize all those dates on the calendar, and every day is full. I'm supposed to be in Dallas, Texas. I'm supposed to be in St. Louis. I'm supposed to be in Washington, D .C. I have all these telecasts to make. I have all of these radio broadcasts to make. I've got all these sermons to preach. I have all this mail before me. I've got all of these prayer requests to take care of. I've got this commitment. I've got another commitment. If I stopped right now and thought about that calendar and mentally saw those dates on the calendar and all the things that I have to do, well, I might just as well say goodbye, folks. Let somebody else take over the rest of the broadcast. I'd be out of breath. thinking about all the hours I have to spend in the air and all the work that I have to do and all the sermons that I have to prepare. And, you know, I just don't. I just don't do it. And that is the reason I've never had a nervous breakdown. And if you are on the verge of a nervous breakdown, it's because you're trying to live more than one day at a time. Moment by moment. That's how to live a victorious Christian life. Don't cross that bridge until you get to that bridge. Don't cross those deep waters until you get to the brink of the water. Don't lie awake at night and worry all night about that thing that... you're going to have to do the next day. If you do, you're going to be so tired and such a nervous wreck that when you face that thing the next day, you don't have the refreshed mentality to do a good job or the refreshed body. Go to bed and sleep and commit that thing to God. That's perfect trust. That's perfect confidence. That's where our faith in Him comes in. You sleep. If anybody's going to do the worrying, let God stay up and worry. Let Him worry about how He's going to take care of it. If anybody's going to do the worrying, just let God do it. And it's just like that. You go to bed and you sleep. You commit it to him. And if anybody has to work during the night, let him work on the thing. So that when you awake in the morning and you have to face that thing, you're refreshed mentally and spiritually. Where do you think I keep going? Now, I don't think a single one of you listening to me just now know how much... Work I put out in one day or how long my hours are and everything that I do. I don't think a single person listening to me. I could not be doing the work that I'm doing if I didn't live and practice the very thing that I'm telling you now. Oh. Oh, that wonderful promise is in 2 Kings, the last verse of the last chapter. A daily rate every day of your life, so long as you shall live. I've lived on that promise. I've claimed that promise for years and years. A daily rate. Not a weekly rate. Not a monthly rate. Not a contract for five years. It's a guarantee. A daily rate. Every day of your life. So long as you shall live. Oh, if you're worrying about going to poorhouse. Oh, Miss Cooman, I tell you, my husband died and I'm a poor widow and I tell you, I'm afraid I'm going to wind up in a poor house. Oh, honey, not if you have the same Heavenly Father that I have. And I'm sure you do have. Your Heavenly Father is my Heavenly Father and my Heavenly Father is your Heavenly Father. There is just one God. And either you believe his word or you don't. A daily rate. You say, where is that, Miss Cooman? I wasn't so interested when you first gave the scripture, but I am now. Where is it? Second Kings, the last chapter and the last verse. A daily rate. Giving you the king. Who's the king? Our Heavenly Father. If that isn't security, so many people, you know, turn to the government for their security. Well, honey, I'm not so sure that those checks are going to continue to come in every month from the government. That's not... Real security? I can point you to one who'll give you better security than even the government. Do you realize that the United States government can go bankrupt? Whoever thought that the Pennsylvania railroads would ever go bankrupt? Whoever? Now, let's be realistic about this thing. Why, if my papa knew that the Pennsylvania railroad went bankrupt, he would turn over in his grave. There was a day when they would be the last institution to ever go bankrupt. But they did. Who has the assurance that our government cannot go bankrupt? And there goes your Social Security checks. Let's just be realistic about this thing. Our real security is in Christ Jesus. I'm secure in something that is secure. And as a child of God, you can be secure in something that is real security. God will never go bankrupt. Never, never, never. Never. In the sermon just last night, We were talking about the church, not as a denomination, not as an institution. I was talking about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, where Jesus himself is the head of his church, this glorious body of believers. You and I are born into his. church, this invisible church. With Christ as the head, his church will never go bankrupt. His church will never know defeat because he is the head of his church. But when you come to a denomination, that denomination can go bankrupt spiritually. And there are a lot of denominations that are suffering spiritual bankrupt state today. But not his church. And if you are a part of his church, that invisible body of believers, it'll never go down in defeat. You have guaranteed spiritual wealth. and victory if you are a part of this invisible body. And so it is, beloved, with your trust and your confidence in him. Not for one minute do you have to go down and defeat. Not for one minute do you have to worry about poverty, about... Because you have one who has promised you a daily rate. All the days of your life, even if you live to be 104. Ask Mr. Hinderlighter and he'll tell you. that he has victory in Christ Jesus. He'll tell you that the Lord has never let him down, even at a hundred and four. You'll never live too long. And no night will be too dark. You do not have to be overcome by any burden. Oh, that's glorious. Just stop right now and remember to whom you belong. Because if you live that kind of life, moment by moment, day by day, you'll find that you'll be a happy person. It's a happy life. And I still contend that people living the victorious life are the happiest. They're the most human of all people living. There is a joy. You can't help it. It isn't something that's forced. It's something that's spontaneous. I always know when I see an unhappy Christian that they're missing the boat someplace. There's something wrong someplace in their life. And I don't care what the circumstances are. I don't care under what circumstances you may have to live. God has still made provision for you to be happy because the Word of God continually speaks of the joy of the Lord. And the promise is so profound that the joy of the Lord is your strength. what those words really mean. The joy of the Lord, the joy that He gives me in serving Him, the joy that I get from helping others is my strength. It's something you can't analyze, but it's something that's as real to you as the air that you breathe. No one will ever know the joy that I get out of helping others. No one will ever know. No one will ever know the joy that I get out of giving. I get a far greater thrill, a far greater joy out of giving than perhaps the joy that the folk receive and the pleasure the folk receive who have. to whom I've given, is kind of like that. Inside of me, it's such a glorious world. It's such a glorious life. It's so challenging. I don't know whether those people in Vietnam got as big a thrill out of receiving what I've done for them as the joy that I got out of giving to them. You know, it's just kind of like that. I'm so excited about the hospital that... The Catherine Cruman Foundation is building in Vietnam. I get so excited about it. Those wheelchairs that we've sent over. Those bed sheets, those pillowcases. My word, I got the thrill out of sending all that stuff. You would have thought that I was furnishing a magnificent home someplace. It's just like that. And the bed that we've sent over. And I can just visualize these sick people. The comfort that they're finding in lying on a good bed. The comfort that they get out of nice clean sheets. The wells. The money that we've sent over for them to drill wells. And I think of all the little dirty bodies that'll get a bath for perhaps the very first time in their lives. It's just like that. like that. Even in sending you the letters in reply to your prayer requests. That piece of paper is more than just a piece of paper to me. You are a human being. And when I read that letter, I don't see just that paper and that envelope. I see a person. A personality. I live with You am as one with you in that need that you are expressing in that prayer request. Do you understand? Some will live or die. Never understand. But that's the reason that you're not a happy Christian. That's the reason that you have never experienced the real joy in being a Christian. Love is something that you do is inescapable. It's something that's spontaneous. Now, if you have to force yourself to live the kind of life that I'm talking about, then you have never had that experience where you have literally become a part of God and God has become a part of you. If you have to force yourself, then there's something wrong. You are not a part of Jesus, and Jesus is not a part of you. There is a place where literally you get your vitality from him, and his vitality flows through your body. You take on the personality of Jesus. You can't help it. You can not help it. You will take on the personality of Jesus. And the joy of the Lord will be your strength.