Victorious Living Part 6 Kathryn Kuhlman Some Ways to be Godly

Well, are you ready for another Heart to Heart Talk? Ready or not, here it comes. You know, sometimes I think that some folk really do not know how to live a daily, consistent, victorious Christian life. Always remember something. We're living not only a spiritual life. That's wonderful. Oh, this spiritual life is marvelous. But remember, after you've been born again, and after you've had that wonderful experience after you've been filled with the Holy Spirit, never lose sight of the fact that you're... Still in a body of flesh. You're still an old material world. Your neighbors haven't changed. The folk with whom you work have not changed. The enemy of your soul has not been converted. You still have to work for a living. You still have to eat. You still have to sleep. You have the same husband. You have the same wife. You've got the same children. Or maybe you wish that you didn't have, but you do have. And sometimes I think, you know, we get so carried away with the ecstasy of our experience that we expect that everything has changed. Our neighbors have changed. Members of our family have changed. And then when we come to the realization that they haven't changed... then we start working on them, not with wisdom. And we can't understand why they don't see the same way that we see things. And we try to force our experience upon them. All for wisdom. For divine wisdom. Make that a part of your daily prayer the very moment that you open your eyes in the morning. Dear God, give me wisdom. And usually the folk who need wisdom most are those who do not see their lack of wisdom. I repeat. We're not only living a spiritual life, but a bodily life. We're still in a world with trouble and heartache and sorrows. We're in the world, not of it, but we're still in the world, a bodily life, and whether we like it or not, A very large part of our time and interest is taken up with things which concern the body. I'm going to tell you something that I feel that is so seldom brought to our attention. I don't know whether it's because we don't realize how important some of these things are or not. A mother sat searching her Bible. Sat reading her Bible. She'd been reading for some time. Seeking after the deeper things of the Spirit. She was so hungry for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And she was seeking the Word of God for light on the baptism. She spent so much time seeking spiritual help that the duties of a household became irksome. And were... either just hurried through, many times neglected. The homeliness was soon gone until it got to be so that the husband wasn't always too happy to come home. Remember, if your husband gets to the place where he'd rather be away from home than to come home, you'd better search your own life. Search your own heart. I'm talking about those who profess spiritual things. I'm talking to God's children. And I repeat, a man's home should be his... Every man who has a family, who has a wife and children, should desire to come home, spend the evening at home, happy to come home. And it's the duty of the wife to make such an atmosphere, to bring about such a wonderful hominess in the home. that the husband will hurry home, that the children will want to come home. If your children would rather be at the neighbor's house than home, then the neighbor has a nicer home life than you do, and there's something wrong with you someplace, and you're failing. It's just like that. I like mama's cookies better than... Any cookies that any of the neighbor women baked. And I'm not so sure those cookies were so good. I can remember Papa saying, when Mama would apologize for the burnt toast, and Mama was awful good at that. And Papa would say, well, Emma, I'd rather have your toast burnt than to... eat anyplace else. It was just kind of like that. We never went to Aunt Belle's, never. And Aunt Belle was a show -off. I might just as well tell you. That was Mama's sister. And Aunt Belle was the kind that when it came to desserts, cake wasn't just enough. She had cake and pie and probably something else. She was kind of like that. You went there and... Maybe you'd have a couple of different kinds of meat. It was just like Aunt Belle. We had never gone to Aunt Belle's house yet when I was a kid. Her table just loaded with good things to eat, and she'd keep bringing on more and more and more. There was never a time but what the next day after we'd been to Aunt Belle's, Papa would say, Well, Emma, I'd rather eat at home than to eat at Belle's house any day. And it wasn't because Mama was a good cook. She really wasn't. She didn't like cooking, you know. She really didn't like it. And my Mama wasn't a slave to her. kitchen. I can remember as a kid, she'd be sitting out on the porch swing, on the front porch. She'd say, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, put the tablecloth on and put the coffee pot on. Here comes Papa. You know? And as long as Papa saw the white tablecloth on the table and the coffee pot was on when he entered, he didn't know for what Mama had slaved all day. to get whatever she had on the table at night. But Mama made a nice home. And we'd rather be home. We'd rather sit at our table. Papa would rather eat Mama's burnt toast. I'd rather have Mama's cookies than any of the neighbor's cookies or any of Aunt Belle's food. These are some things we need to think about. Well, so here is this mother searching her Bible, reading the Word of God. She spent so much time with her head buried in the Bible that one day she was very deep in study and her little girl, just a baby girl, toddled up to her side with a broken doll and said, Mommy, please mend my... Dolly for me, please? And with an impatient gesture, the mother just pushed the little one aside and said, Honey, I have more important things to do than to be troubled with your dolly. Go on, honey. Go on. Can't you see that Mama's busy with her Bible? And the little one turned sadly away. And the mother continued her search for holiness. But the search was a fruitless one. And the mother closed the Bible with a sigh and sought the little child. And she found her little baby girl lying on the rug with her little doll. in her arms, with the tears still wept on her pretty little face. The mother's heart was smitten with conviction. God spoke to her right then and there, and tenderly stooping over the little one, she caressed her with her kisses, and taking her in her arms, she breathed a prayer to God for forgiveness. She said, come on, honey. Mommy will fix your dolly for you. She saw that holiness could not thrive on neglected duties. Her devotion to her Lord was henceforth seen in her care of her family, her husband. her children, her household. And that house became a home again. And the very page of Scripture was lighted up with a fresh glory. There is a holiness in being a good mother. There is a holiness in being a good wife. Holiness also means being a good husband. You cannot say that you are deeply spiritual and following the Lord in holiness if you are neglecting your children, if you are neglecting that son, that daughter, that husband. That wife. I'm saying something that is as practical as the word of God. Do not neglect your family. Do not neglect your children. You are a living example. to them. You may be the only Bible that they are reading right now. In neglecting them, they may lose confidence in you as a spiritual individual, as a godly mother, and years later point an accusing finger at you and say, you. were so busy reading religious magazines, religious books, that you didn't have time to be a spiritual mother to your child. We believe that the Lord Jesus, who watched the children at the play, and the fishermen and the farmers at their work who worked himself and yet made time to be present at a wedding feast wishes you and wishes me to take a real interest in all the concerns of life our own and those of our friends he's given us a capacity for pleasure and he longs to see us enjoy his gift of life. Whatever we do, beloved, there must be joy in what we do. You know, I was thinking again of the daughter who came to me and said, Miss Cooma, do you have to teach fasting? Because I resent fasting so much. Is it in the Bible? And I said, yes, fasting is in the Bible. It's something that's very wonderful and something that the Bible teaches and God honors. But I said, why do you resent fasting so much? And really the look on her face. This young girl was distressed. And it was something that was vitally important. And it was something she resented and something that she hated. Even when she spoke the word fasting, she almost spoke with vengeance. I said, why do you hate fasting so much? She said, well, I'll tell you exactly why. She said, every Friday, my mother fasts. She attends your miracle services. in the First Presbyterian Church here in Pittsburgh. She's been coming to your services. And every Friday is her fast day. And honestly, she says, she makes us all so miserable that we hate to come down to the breakfast table Friday morning. She said, I hate Friday. Dad hates Friday. My little sister and brother. hates to see Friday come. Because we know that when we sit down at the breakfast table, Mom comes in with a long face. She pours Dad's coffee. She serves the eggs and the toast and cereal. But she does it with this long face. Every minute she does it, she reminds us that she's fasting. She would love to have breakfast, but it's her consecration. She's fasting. She pours Dad's second cup of coffee, and with it there's always a little sermon about fasting. And her face is so long. Miss Goodman, couldn't you just please leave out fasting in your teaching? I said, Honeybunch, I can't leave out something that's in the Word of God. It's your mother who has to know that there's joy in fasting. And when it becomes a drudgery and she fasts with a long face. and it becomes kind of a form and ceremony with her, then she might just as well sit down at the breakfast table on Friday mornings and eat two eggs instead of one. She might just as well eat breakfast. Because it doesn't mean anything more to her than just a form, a ceremony, a duty, for the real joy has been taken out. And she's... only making it a burden to her family and something they'll hate all the rest of their lives. It's like that. You know, God has given us a physical frame which needs food. It needs work. And that's something, listen, a part of God's great plan for humanity is work. He never expected us to be happy without work. And man is made for work. And man is happiest when he works. It's no disgrace to work. It's a part of God's plan for a healthy human being. He's made us for work. He's made us for food. He's made us for exercise. He's also made us for relaxation. He wants us to enjoy our meals. He wants us to enjoy our work. He wants us to enjoy our recreation. The marvelous realm of nature. He made it for us. All things bright and beautiful. All creatures great and small. All things wise and wonderful. The Lord made them all. And for our pleasure as well as for his glory. But the world, dear Lord, that you have made for us, the world that you made for us to live in peace, we've made into an armed camp. We live in fear of war to come. We're afraid of the terror that flies by night and the arrow that flies by day, the pestilence that walks in darkness, and the destruction that wastes at noonday. We are the one who has changed all of these things. Not God. God made these things beautiful for us to enjoy. Oh, I just love those words. all things wise and wonderful the lord god made them all for our pleasure as well as for his glory the world is so full of a number of things i'm sure we should all be as happy as cakes God expects His children to be careful about their dress and their manners. Surely He desires us to be attractive Christians. Sometimes I've seen God's children look so unattractive that I think even God's a little ashamed of them. I mean that. I remember how hard Mama used to work when I was a youngster. She'd sew late at night, even after Papa had gone to bed, to make me nice little dresses because she delighted in me. I was her child. She wanted me to look nice. She was proud of me. I wore a bonnet when I was a youngster so that I wouldn't have so many freckles. so that when she would take me out, she could be proud of me. I think my Heavenly Father wants me to dress and look and act so that he could be proud of me. I really believe that. I look my best. I try to look so well. that my Heavenly Father would be proud to say, that's my.