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Altogether too many people are defeated by the everyday problems of life. They go struggling, perhaps even whining, through their days with a sense of dull resentment at what they consider the “bad breaks” life has given them. In a sense there may be such a thing as “the breaks” in this life, but there is also a spirit and method by which we can control and even determine those breaks. It is a pity that people should let themselves be defeated by the problems, cares, and difficulties of human existence, and it is also quite unnecessary. In saying this I certainly do not ignore or minimize the
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Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. But with sound self-confidence you can succeed. A sense of inferiority and inadequacy interferes with the attainment of your hopes, but self-confidence leads to self-realisation and successful achievement.
The greatest secret for eliminating the inferiority complex, which is another term for deep and profound self-doubt, is to fill your mind to overflowing with faith. Develop a tremendous faith in God and that will give you a humble yet soundly realistic faith in yourself.
“According to your faith be it unto you.” (Matthew ix. 29.) So the bigger your problem, the bigger your prayer should be.
“If ye have faith...nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew xvii. 20.) He removed that one, shuffled expertly through the cards with one hand as he drove, selected another, and placed it under the clip. This one read, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans viii. 31.)
Dr. Karl Menninger. He said: “Attitudes are more important than facts.” That is worth repeating until its truth grips you. Any fact facing us, however difficult, even seemingly hopeless, is not so important as our attitude towards that fact.
But if, on the contrary, you mentally visualise and affirm and reaffirm your assets and keep your thoughts on them, emphasising them to the fullest extent, you will rise out of any difficulty regardless of what it may be. Your inner powers will reassert themselves and, with the help of God, lift you from defeat to victory.
To practice it simply affirm “God is with me; God is helping me; God is guiding me.” Spend several minutes each day visualising His presence. Then practise believing that affirmation.
Emerson declared a tremendous truth: “They conquer who believe they can.” And he added: “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.” Practise confidence and faith and your fears and insecurities will soon have no power over you.
‘Romans 12:2.’ I do not write out that verse for my patients. I make them look it up and it reads: ‘...be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind...’
sixteenth-century mystic: “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except God. God alone is sufficient.”
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
How we think we feel has a definite effect on how we actually feel physically. If your mind tells you that you are tired, the body mechanism, the nerves, and the muscles accept the fact. If your mind is intensely interested, you can keep on at an activity indefinitely. Religion functions through our thoughts, in fact, it is a system of thought discipline. By supplying attitudes of faith to the mind it can increase energy. It helps you to accomplish prodigious activity by suggesting that you have ample support and resources of power.
A friend in Connecticut, an energetic man, full of vitality and vigour, says that he goes to church regularly to ‘get his batteries recharged’. His concept is sound. God is the source of all energy—energy in the universe, atomic energy, electrical energy, and spiritual energy; indeed every form of energy derives from the Creator. The Bible emphasises this point when it says: “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” (Isaiah 40:29)
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you...” (John 14:27)
“‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’ (Mark ix.23.)
“The Shield of faith, where with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” (Ephesians vi.16.) Faith, belief, positive thinking, faith in God, faith in other people, faith in yourself, faith in life. This is the essence of the technique that teaches. “If thou canst believe,” it says, “all things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark ix.23.) “If ye have faith...nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew xvii.21.) “According to your faith be it unto you.” (Matthew ix.29.) Believe—believe—so it drives home the truth that faith moves mountains.
Even if you may be down to the worst, the best is potentially within you. You have only to find it, release it, and rise up with it. This requires courage and character, to be sure, but the main requirement is faith. Cultivate faith and you will have the necessary courage and character.
“‘I believe I am always divinely guided. “‘I believe I will always take the right turn of the road. “‘I believe God will always make a way where there is no way.’”
‘With God’s help I am now emptying my mind of all anxiety, all fear, all sense of insecurity.’
‘I believe that my mind is now emptied of all anxiety, all fear, all sense of insecurity.’
‘God is now filling my mind with courage, with peace, with calm assurance. God is now protecting me from all harm. God is now protecting my loved ones from all harm. God is now guiding me to right decisions. God will see me through this situation’.
‘I place this day, my life, my loved ones, my work in the Lord’s hand. There is no harm in the Lord’s hands, only good. Whatever happens, whatever results, if I am in the Lord’s hands it is the Lord’s will and it is good.’
“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew xviii.18-20.)
“If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed...nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew xii.20.)
William James, who was one of the very few wise men America has produced. William James said: “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” As you think, so shall you be. So flush out all old, tired, worn-out thoughts. Fill your mind with fresh, new creative thoughts of faith, love, and goodness. By this process you can actually remake your life.
“‘The Lord is the strength of my life...in this will I be confident.’ (Psalms xxvii. I,3.)
Marcus Aurelius, one of the great thinkers of antiquity, who said: “A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Sage of Concord. Emerson declared: “A man is what he thinks about all day long.”
“There is a deep tendency in human nature to become precisely like that which you habitually imagine yourself to be.”
“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” (I Corinthians ii.9.)
The late Mrs. Thomas A. Edison told me that when her famous husband was dying he whispered to his physician: “It is very beautiful over there.” Edison was the world’s greatest scientist. All his life he had worked with phenomena. He was of a factual cast of mind. He never reported anything as a fact until he saw it work. He would never have reported: ‘It is very beautiful over there’ unless, having seen, he knew it to be true.
