Foundations, Part 1

Foundations, Part 1

by Louise Eggleston

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be back. I love our Winni. And I think it’s the only time I’ve ever asked to come back to a camp. And last year I sent word by Alice Kraft to please tell that Winni counselor that needed a leader I was ready.

So maybe that’s the way to do it if you want to go somewhere. Just tell them you want to. “A little louder.” “A little louder.” All right. I can yell. I can make lots of noise. I didn’t make that.

Now, before we pray and get going, I was handed a couple of books to tell you about. One of them is a new one that Mack Fob has just put out, written by the present leader of our World Literacy Prayer Group. You know, our World Literacy Prayer Group in Norfolk is an interdenominational group. And it’s just marvelous the way the Lord has led it to break down all denominational barriers. I, a Methodist, was the one He used to start it in a Methodist church. But it was made out of a card club, and lots of people play cards besides Methodists.

And it happened that that card club just had every denomination in it. And they faced a great tragedy. And out of that tragedy they learned how to pray. It became a prayer group. I was the first leader. And then when my husband stepped over into heaven and I stepped out on the road, why, May Galliford, a wonderful Baptist, took over. And that old prayer group just took a spurt upwards, for she had lots to give that I didn’t have. And they kept growing and getting better and stronger. And then May Galliford’s husband stepped over into heaven, and she went to Koinonia. And an Episcopalian, a wife of one of the high-ranking admirals there in Norfolk. I think he’s an admiral. He’s something big. Anyhow, they had spent three years in Japan in the service. Anne’s an Episcopalian. And the three years that they were in Japan, Anne gave her services, teaching in one of the Christian missions in Japan. They’re in Tokyo. And the lectures that she gave were so perfectly wonderful that when they were brought back to the States, the bishop of that area said, “Anne, I don’t know what we’re going to do without what you’ve been giving to these people. We’ve never had lectures so wonderful as these. We’ve never had God made so real.

We’ve never let… have been able to make our people know how God was able to transform the whole world, and to make things as easy and natural as you’ve made it.” And he said, “I have your lectures, and we’re going to keep those lectures going. But won’t you write them? Everybody needs them.” And so when she came back, they were stationed in Norfolk, and she’d been there just long enough to get the rhythm of the prayer group. And when May left for Koinonia, Anne went in as leader of the prayer group. And Anne has just been perfectly wonderful. I hope you can all know her. She’s young, she’s radiant, and oh, the love that she spills everywhere. Well, she wrote the lectures because the bishop wanted her to, and gave it to some mission board, I believe, to print. And it went through its first edition quickly in a cloth-bound book. But that’s a little higher than people can just afford to buy every day. And when she was ready to have it printed again, I said, “Give it to Norman. Let Mac Publishing Company publish it this time.” And she called him up over the phone and he said, “Send it out.” So here it is. It’s The Transforming Power of God. And she makes it so real.

She makes it so that anyone can take hold of that transforming power of God and use it in any situation, personal. And yet it’s big enough to transform the whole world, because the book the first time was called God Can Transform the World. But this time its name has been changed to The Transforming Power of God. It’s the same book. And everything is in it that used to cost two and a half, but now it’s a dollar and a quarter. So if you want it, it’s in there. And you’ll not be sorry you bought it. Now, I was also told to tell about my new series. I’ve written 14 25-cent booklets for adults, although I think lots of youth have read them. But it was just given me for the last six months that youth are the important people today. It’s our youth of this generation that God is going to use to really bring in the kingdom. We adults are going to have to do an awful lot of helping. But they’re the ones that are really elected to make this old world like heaven. And so the Lord’s just been laying it upon me. I’m starting a youth series. I’ve got four already boiling within me, but only one’s gotten out yet. And this one is entitled, If I Were Young.

Oh, how I’d love to be 16. My, what a wonderful time it is for youth. And I think sometimes youth don’t realize what a wonderful opportunity you have before you. And I want them to know all the wonders of God that are available. And that God is with them more than anyone else in the world, and with them with all power and all wisdom and all the resources and all the plans. Everything. Now, this is the first in a whole series that are going to come out if I can just shut the camps up for a few weeks and stay home. I don’t see it the next six months, but it’s coming out. This was written in the Sierra Camp. Well, it was written as I flew from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But it got typed and sent back from the Sierra Camp. And the picture on the front is me standing in the pulpit talking to the Sierra Camp. And it is, it was a beautiful picture. Maybe you never would guess it. But the background was gorgeous. And so even on the front is a picture of the outdoor pulpit, the outdoor sanctuary, out in the high Sierras. These are 35 cents. You see, it’s a much larger book than the other.

And… I mean, in the little 25-cent one. I just couldn’t stop talking when I was talking to youth. I had to tell them an awful lot. And so, there’s those books. Lots more. And you’ll hear about some more books later. May we pray.

Our Father, every one of us are here because we love You. And we want to know how to love You. And we want to know how to serve You better. And we want to know how to fulfill that part of Your plan that is depending upon us. Make everyone in this audience know that a very special part of Your plan depends upon each one of us. And age is no barrier, whether we are young or old. And physical handicaps are no barrier. But prayer is the most magnificent thing we can learn and give to the world. Make us know that what we have to give is very essential to You. And that You can gather up everything we offer and use it to answer the Lord’s Prayer. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We thank You that we know Jesus did not teach us to pray for something that isn’t someday going to be a reality. And we thank You that we are living in the day when it shall be. Now bless us as a camp. And make each one of us know how dear we are to You. And make us know how utterly essential You are to us. Amen.

Now, since we are here for a great purpose, I mean in the world, and I think we are here in this camp too for a purpose, I am going to start in this morning on some things that I consider the most essential in life. We don’t go out unless we have a strong foundation. The Lord cannot use us until we have our roots down deep and strong. And so this morning I am just going to try to lay in your heart some things that I consider utterly essential as foundations, if we are going to be used in these great and glorious days in which we are living. And dangerous days are always glorious days. Christianity came into being for times like we are living in. And it proved that it was sufficient. For after Jesus came to reveal the way, to be the way, and to prove that the way always works and conquers.

And conquered death, and then left it in the hands of 120, with a great commission to tarry until they were filled with His Spirit, and in the power of that Spirit to go out to the ends of the earth, to carry the good news to every creature. Now, we are still waiting to see that fulfilled perfectly. But when that 120 had tarried, they found a power that could conquer anything. And they proved it even as Jesus did. They proved that everything is subject to the powers of Christ. Now, everyone was against them. The same group of Hebrews that had crucified their Savior was determined to exterminate them. And all Rome was against them. But we know that in less than three centuries, Christianity won. The little group of 120, filled with the Spirit of Christ,

overcame all the oppositions. And Rome itself became Christian. Well, in name. I wish it had become Christian all the way. But at least it acknowledged Jesus. We are here to finish that great task. And it’s a great thrill when we look at it as Jesus did. Realize that nothing is too hard for God. Let’s not forget some of these statements of Jesus. Are they just as true today as when He uttered them? With God, all things are possible. If you have time someday, get out your concordance and look up the statements of all.

All. My heart will thrill you. All things are possible. Well, the statements that we have in the Bible let us know that the good news that the angel sang of when Jesus was born was the good news for all people. And someday all people are going to know that good news.

Jesus died to forgive the sins of all people. And every soul’s sins have been redeemed, if they’ll only acknowledge it, if they’ll only accept it on Jesus’ terms. But the thing is, we haven’t made it real enough. We haven’t lived it out in a way that made everybody want it. And yet the only way that Jesus has today of making Himself known is through those who profess to follow Him. We are His witnesses. We are His ambassadors. And as His ambassadors, all the powers and all the wisdom and all the resources of heaven are ours. And we haven’t taken hold of it. We haven’t taken hold of it because we haven’t actually believed it. For anything in the world that we believe, we can prove.

We are here this week, these ten days, to believe these things, and to plant them so deep within us that they’re utterly natural, that it will be as easy to take Jesus at His word and prove it as it is to breathe the breath of God. That’s what we’re here for. History’s been made before through this camp.

Of course, we in Koinonia never forget that Koinonia was really born right here in this camp. Maybe that’s why I love it so much. Anyhow, lots of things have happened in this camp. Lots of things have happened in every camp. Really, I often wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t had the camps. For more wonderful things have happened in our camps. We had a beautiful camp over in West Virginia last week, in a new place, in a place that wasn’t quite finished. We didn’t have everything as we’d like to have had it, but I didn’t hear one grumble. It was a beautiful camp. And, oh, we saw so many miracles happen. And miracles do happen in every camp. But only when we as a camp enter into it and let it happen through us. I know we’re going to see miracles happen this week. Because, well, I don’t believe I’ve ever faced a group where I feel the oneness of spirit any more than right here this morning. So I know there’s going to be lots of miracles this week. Well, if there is, let’s get our beginnings.

And to me, the greatest thing that we have to learn is that Christ lives in us. I believe that is the most essential thing that anyone who is going to amount to anything in this world has to get deep down within them. The reason the last couple of generations have not been as powerful as they should, the reason we have been failing, we’ve been thinking of God as way off up there somewhere. Jesus once came and lived, but oh, He ascended unto the Father. And there He is way up there watching us. We’ll never win thinking of God as being far off. He is far off for He’s everywhere. He’s everywhere in creation. For everything in His creation was made of His spirit. In the beginning there was only God. God. And God is spirit. And that spirit is love. And so when this old earth was empty and void and there wasn’t anything in creation but God, and that He is spirit, there wasn’t anything else to make anything out of but God and His spirit. And so everything that God created was made of His own spirit. And everything was made so that it could not work happily, healthfully, harmoniously, victoriously, any way but love’s way. Everything God made He pronounced good. Very good.

He didn’t make anything that isn’t good. And right. Now, everything that God made has to go love’s way. But man. Man is permitted to make his own choices, that he might choose to go God’s way. For really, if we just had to be good whether we wanted to be good or not, why, we wouldn’t be very good. It’s not until you see that this is the only way that brings happiness and peace and joy and the things that we want, and you choose to go love’s way. And that’s what God has been dealing with us for all these eons of time, to teach us that there isn’t any other way that ever works but love’s way. And it seems to me that today we’re at the place where we ought to know it pretty well.

Nothing else will ever bring happiness and peace and joy and victory but love’s way. Now, we’ll never find love’s way, and we’ll never bring it into reality and prove that love conquers everything. Love never fails. Love never gives up. Love never gets weary or discouraged.

That’s the way we’re seeking. You’ll never find it until you realize that the living Christ who conquered everything that evil could ever do lives in you, that every cell in your body is made of His spirit and every function in your body is directed by His spirit. I wonder why we’ve been so long realizing it. Who do you think keeps that heart beating, those, that lungs breathing, the blood coursing? Who do you think it is that keeps all this food that you put in your tummy being disintegrated and put into its right elements and sent to every part of your body to keep it growing and overcoming and glowing with health? You’re not doing it. You’re not doing it. It’s the spirit of the living God that indwells you that is doing all these marvelous things. And He’s been doing it ever since we’ve been in the world, and so we kind of take it for granted. And we haven’t stopped to realize that’s the living, conquering Christ who lives in me. And if He does that, He can do anything that God did through Jesus,

using me. But only as He directs. Which brings me back to the central thing that Jesus taught. Of course, if you’ve heard me every year, you’ve heard me say all these things again. For they’re still central. And I can’t get away from them. But I don’t think we’ve learned them well enough. So you’ll have to listen again. The central thing that Jesus taught is given us seven times in the four Gospels. It’s given six times in almost the identical words. And then given the seventh time in mystical terms. Matthew and Luke each give it twice in the same words, practically. And John gives it once in the same words. And then it’s John that gives it to us in mystical terms. This is the central thing that Jesus taught. And you’ll find it over and over in all the parables. Everything He taught is central. And He said, “If you would be my disciple, you must deny self, and take up your cross and follow me. For he who will save his life will lose it. But he who will lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, to get the good news out, will find his life.” That’s why Jesus came, to make known: you’ve got to lose this human life of yours,

these human choices, these human limitations, these human weaknesses. Every one of them are conquerable through Christ. But not until you realize He lives in you. And He lives in you with all the graces and all the powers that God lived in Jesus. That’s why Jesus came, to make it known, that we might know these things. Oh, plant it deep. Don’t ever forget it. All that Jesus had is yours potentially. But only when you yield your little life to His life. Only as you learn to say with Paul, “For me to live is for Christ. And be living again. For I have surrendered my whole life to Him. I’m letting Him live in me now. I’m letting Him make the choices. He makes the decisions. He furnishes the power and the grace.” And like Him, I’m out to carry the burdens of everyone else. That’s your cross. Your cross isn’t your own sins. For if you know Christ lives within you, you just come repenting for all the mistakes you make. And you don’t carry them. You let Him forgive them and blot them out. And He doesn’t remember them anymore. And you mustn’t remember them anymore. It will wreck your life every time if you keep on carrying past sins. And I don’t think I’ve ever been in a camp

where I had to pick up as many wrecks of people who were still carrying past sins of many, many years ago as I did in the West Virginia camp. Oh, don’t carry the sins. You can’t carry them. They’ll crush you every time. Give them over to Jesus. Tell Him you’re sorry. No matter how great the sin, how deep-rooted, how awful it looks to you, He’s paid the price in full. But you must come repenting. You must tell Him you’re sorry. And then you must release it, so that He may take it and blot it out, and blot it out of your memory as well as out of your life. And when you let it continually come back in your memory, you’re wrecking the precious life that He gave you to make useful in the world. And so we must lose our lives and lose our failures and lose our weaknesses and sins. And we must find His life, that perfect life, that wonderful life of Jesus that lives in you. Find it. It’s there. And He wants you to have it more than you want it. All you’ve got to do is accept it. Believe it. There are no limitations except in your faith. All that Jesus gives is done in accordance with your faith.

Lots of people say, “But I’m not worthy.” When did He ever ask you to be worthy? No one’s worthy. And He didn’t ask us to be worthy. He asked us to just repent and believe, and receive, and act upon it. And if we’re going to be sufficient for the day in which we’re living, you’re going to have to go back to those foundational things and act upon them.

Lose yourself. Lose yourself. Lose your limitations. Lose your weaknesses. Lose your sins and your failures. Lose your complexes. And find that life of the living Christ that lives in you. What a wonderful Savior. He lives in us whether we know it or not. But He never makes us. He never makes us. He never forces us. He never drives us nor coerces us. We have to choose Him. He’s chosen every one of us. But it isn’t going to work until we choose Him also.

So if you would be my disciple, you must deny self, that human limited self, and find that great Christ self that lives in you, and then prove it. You don’t have anything until you prove it. Go out and get underneath the crosses of the world. For your cross is not your sins, it’s not your burdens, it’s the heart hungers of all of God’s children. That’s our crosses. Go out and get underneath the crosses of people all around you. You don’t have to look far. They’re all around us. And God sends them to us. Just as fast as we can witness for Him and pour His forgiving love upon them, He’ll send them to you. You won’t have to go looking.

If you would be my disciple, deny yourself. Find that great Christ self, and take up these crosses, and just follow Jesus. That’s all there is to it. You’re following. He opens the doors. He leads the way. He guards everything. He guides. You’re following. Of course, I know that’s awful hard for Americans. We’re used to leading. We want to lead and say, “Now, Father, this is our wonderful plan. Please bless it.”

That’s the best way to fail that I know of. The very best. It will always lead to failure. It will always lead to failure. Just try it. Of course, we’ve been trying it. Now, try the other way. Just come follow Him. Anyone can follow, if they’re humble enough, if they believe, if they will receive. Just follow. And then He makes that wonderful promise, that he who loses his life, loses your own life, loses your human life, will find His life. It’s a definite promise. Just lose your littleness, and you’ll find His greatness. Lose your limitations, and you’ll find out how limitless God is. Lose yourself. Lose yourself. And you will find the Christ self within you. But try to save your own life, and go your own way, and you’ve lost the whole purpose for which He put you in the world.

Now, I’ve stayed longer on this than I will on any of the other points, because to me, it’s central. And it’s essential. And you’ll never move out until you’ve gotten it. So, start practicing it. No matter what you face, remember, Christ is here. He’s facing it. He does know the answer.

And He’ll always give you the answer if you’ll get still and listen. That’s why so many of us fail. We’re such busy people. We’re so active. We want to be doing something every minute. And God can’t show us His way and lead us in it when we’re so active doing our own way and following our own choices. If God is going to take over, you’re going to have to get still and quiet, and confident that He’s there. And remember that within yourself, there is this quiet place where all the answers are, where all the power is available. There is a holy place within you. Have you found it? He’ll lead you into any answer that you need to have. You’ll find the power there to overcome anything that’s wrecking your life. It’s there. He’s more eager to give it to you than you are to receive it. And you don’t have to run around looking for it. It’s here. Get still. Quiet. Sensitive. Listen.

And if you will, He’ll always lead you into the answer. Remember, He wants to do it more than you want it. Always. Because He wants this old kingdom here on earth more than we want it. And He can’t use us until we’ve learned to get still and quiet and listen, and let Him in.

Now, the next point I’d like to make is… that everything in creation is made out of a thought. There’s not one thing that you’ve ever seen or touched or dealt with that was not a thought before it became a reality. And everything in your life was a thought before it became a reality. And if there’s something in your life you don’t like, change your thinking. We are transformed and renewed by the changing of our ideas and our minds and our thoughts. Now, we choose our thoughts. No one makes you think negative thoughts. You think your thoughts because you choose that kind of thinking. And every second you’re building your own life. You’re building it out of your thoughts.

And I think of some of the radio programs and the television programs, and the headlines of the newspapers and magazines, and some of the low literature that’s around. That’s helping to build the lives. It’s heartbreaking. I have a little two-year-old niece. She’s a cute little old trick and awfully smart for two years.

And the television went right much in her home. But they never thought of a little two-year-old bothering about it or taking it in. But one morning, or one evening I believe it was, they were having dinner, and this little two-year-old didn’t want to eat her spinach. And her mother said, “Now, honey, you have to eat spinach to get strong. And you want to be well and strong and play, and so you’ll have to eat your spinach. But you like that spinach. It’s good. You taste it and see.” And so she opened her mouth and her mother put in the spinach and she ate it. Her mother said, “Now, didn’t that taste good?” She said, “Yes, like a cigarette should.”

Well, it taught them what was getting in the mind and thinking of their little two-year-old. I wonder if we are guarding what’s getting in our mind. For every single thought that passes your mind is being built into your own body. Every thought. Now, you and I are making our own lives. And we are here to make them great. We are here to make lives like Jesus. We are here to fill our lives with things that are good and creative and building and kind and loving and helpful. Every time you think of critical thought, you are hurting the other person. But, oh, if you only knew how much worse you are hurting yourself. Oh, if you only knew. You hurt yourself far more when you think something unkind of another than you are hurting that other person. I had another case like that over in West Virginia. She was a trained nurse. In fact, she was head of a hospital. And she came and she said, she showed me her arthritis. She said, “Here I have this wonderful position, and I am becoming almost helpless. I have gotten to the place where I will have to resign from my arthritis. And, oh, I love my work. Now, why did I have to have this arthritis?”

And I said, “Who are you holding resentment against?” She looked rather shocked. I didn’t see why. I thought all nurses and all people like that knew what causes arthritis. Because, well, we don’t always call it resentment, but you’ve been holding a deep hurt. That’s what causes it. You’ve been holding something in here that somebody hurt you. And instead of you forgiving it and doing like Jesus, saying, “Oh, Father, forgive them. They didn’t understand. They couldn’t have done that to me if they’d understood. Please forgive them.”

And she said, “Well, I have. I’ve held a resentment most of my life. But how can you love anybody like she is?” And she began to pour it out, this awful person that had done such mean things to her. And I said, “Well, let’s stop a minute. Let’s think about what they did to Jesus. You haven’t suffered all the things that Jesus suffered. You haven’t been spit upon and slapped and crowned with thorns and mocked and scourged and crucified. And He didn’t resent it. He knew that if they understood, they couldn’t have done it. And so He simply spilled love back upon them and said, ‘Father, forgive them. They don’t understand.’” I said, “Couldn’t you pray that way, Father?” Well, she just wept and she wept. She said, “You know, it had never occurred to me to do that.” “Well,” I said, “it’s the only thing that’s going to take care of this arthritis. They might give you something that will help a little bit, but they can’t cure it. For you never cure anything until you get rid of the cause. And did you know the cause is right here?” Oh, we didn’t deliberately choose any of these things that happened to us. We did it ignorantly. Jesus knew it. That’s the reason He could pray, “Father, forgive them.”

They did it ignorantly. They didn’t understand. But CFO people are enlightened people. We do know these things. We do know that every unloving thought, every critical thought, every thought that condemns or sees the worst in people instead of seeing the best, it hurts them, yes, but it hurts you far more. Did you know every thought you think affects some gland in your body? When you think loving, kind, joyous, happy, generous, that kind of thoughts, oh, your body just rejoices all over. And the glands that build you up just fill your system with energy and light. But every time you have a fear or a doubt or a criticism or anything that breaks the law of love or the law of faith, you are pumping into your own system a poison that you have to overcome.

And if you don’t know how to overcome it with love thoughts, why, there it is. Your record of your life is not written in a book up in heaven. The record of your life and every thought of your life is right here in your own body for the whole world to read. And some of us don’t like our records very well. We’d rather the world wouldn’t see that written in us. Well, it doesn’t have to stay. I don’t care what it is, it doesn’t have to stay. I have seen… Well, maybe I’ll stop and tell a story.

And this happened in the West Virginia camp last year. Well, it started before I got there. I was a day late, because I had been in the Kanuga camp and they overlapped. And I had written to Kanuga to ask them if I could double up and leave a little bit early. And they said, “No. We asked you first. You stay till it’s over.” Well, I was glad Norman was the other leader out at West Virginia, for I knew Norman would double up and it’d be all right. And I’d take a little extra when I got there if they wanted it. So I was a day late getting there. And I got in late at night, later than last night. And I went to bed. So I didn’t know who was in camp. I didn’t know anything about what was in camp. And the next morning when I went in, they said I would be the morning speaker. And I went right up to the front. So I still didn’t know who was in camp. And little did I dream that there was in that camp a precious minister with the multiple sclerosis. I hadn’t seen them bring him in. And sitting down, he looked like other people. So I had no idea he was there.

But it seems that they had asked him. Well, he was a Methodist minister. And he’d just been told that his pulpit would have to be taken away from him, that he’d lost so many of his powers, and he could no longer stand to preach, and his voice was now being affected. And so he’d been told that his church would have to be taken from him. And he was heartbroken. And you never saw anybody with these emotionally induced illnesses that isn’t a wonderful person. Old bums don’t have these emotional diseases.

You never saw a bum with arthritis, or cancer, or multiple sclerosis, or Hodgkin’s, or leukemia, or asthma. They don’t even have asthma. You see, they just don’t seem to have a conscience that bothers much. And it is people that know that they’re failing, that have something in you that hurts them, that starts the frustrations, that brings on these emotionally induced illnesses. So you may know that he was an unusually sweet, spiritual man. Well, I didn’t know he was there, and I didn’t know that in order to please that dear soul, they had asked him to lead the meditation. And in his meditation, he knew that everybody there could see his condition, so he wanted to explain it. And so he had told them, like Paul, he had a thorn in his flesh, and that this multiple sclerosis was the thorn in his flesh, and that, like Paul, he was going to have to know that God’s grace was sufficient and just accept it and live with it. Well, of course, I didn’t know any of those things. They hadn’t told me. And when I got up to make my first talk, now I never jump out on something like this. But when the Lord says, “Tell something,” I have to tell it. And it’s amazing how many times your talks are switched.

Because if the Lord sees a need in the audience and pulls it, you just have to obey. Well, here I was in my first talk trying to lay foundations like I’ve been trying to do this time. And the Lord said, “Tell about Parkinson’s.” Oh, it was Parkinson’s he had. It wasn’t multiple sclerosis. It was Parkinson’s. And, well, at first I kind of brushed it aside. This isn’t the time to tell a story about Parkinson’s. But when the Lord keeps on pushing you, why, you do as He says. So I jumped in. And, no, first I talked about Paul. He made me talk about Paul first. And I said, “You know, this thing about Paul’s thorn in the flesh has been so terribly misunderstood.

If you look it up in your concordance, there’s other places in the Bible where they speak of the thorn in the flesh, but it’s never a physical.” I said, “If you asked me, it was perhaps a woman. Paul wasn’t too fond of the women, so I rather thought that maybe some woman was his thorn.”

But I said, “You know, Paul only mentions that thorn in the flesh in his early book, one of his very earliest books. After that, you’ll never find any limitations with Paul. He just, in the eighth chapter of Romans, he runs the gamut of all the things that can happen to you. And he said, can these separate us from the love of God? And then he gives a ringing no. In all these things, there’s another all, you know, in all these things, we’re more than conquerors through Christ.” In His strength, we’re able for anything. “Oh, the rest of Paul’s books, there’s no limitations.” So I said, “You could never make me think that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was something physical that wasn’t taken care of.” Well, I got that all fixed up.

And then the next thing, the Lord made me tell a story about Parkinson’s. Well, I didn’t know. I saw people doing this and looking around funny and I thought, goodness, evidently it’s unusual to tell a story in your first talk. But I still didn’t know what was the funny thing that was going on. But after I finished that talk, the wife, his wife, was the first one to get to me. And she said, “Mrs. Eggleston, is it really true?” Because I told what causes Parkinson’s. If there’s any views, maybe there’s somebody here is the reason the Lord’s making me tell this. Well, I’ve never seen a case of Parkinson’s in my life that the person who has it hadn’t been dominated by somebody else. And I let it be known that Parkinson’s is always a person that’s so mild and so sweet and so timid, really capable, but they’re not the kind that masters somebody else, you know, but they’re mastered. And I said, somebody has dominated the life and taken their choices away from them. And you know, very often, parents do that. Parents seem to think they just can’t let their children make any mistakes. And so they just have to make the decisions for them, and then when the poor things are on their own and they haven’t got mom and pop and decide all those things.

My, what a weakling you’ve made out of your child. How much better to let them make some mistakes and to see the error, see the agony of mistakes when you’re there to help pick them up but not blame them. Always encourage. Well, she knew when I finished talking that she was the guilty party.

So she came up and she said, “Mrs. Eggleston, is that really right that Parkinson’s is caused from someone domineering?” And I said, “Never seen it any other way.” Well, she said, “You know, it’s really true about my husband.” She said, “His mother and father always dominated him until he was married. He really never seemed to know how to just make a decision. And I was prepared as a religious director. I was as well prepared for the ministry as he. And I felt it was my duty to help him make these right decisions. And really and truly, I have made all the decisions.” Well, I said, “And he was so sweet that he’s never objected, has he?” She said, “Why, no, he’s never shown any evidence of not liking it.” “Well,” I said, “he didn’t outwardly, but inwardly, he was storing it up. And this is the result. Now,” I said, “from now on, you let him make every decision, whether it’s a good one or a bad one. And no matter what it is, you act real pleased. You encourage him. You just boost him all the time and help that man to make his own decisions. And watch the kinks come out.” Well, she said, “I certainly will. Why didn’t someone tell me this before?”

And I said, “Well, I don’t know. For I think most of the doctors know it, but you’re having a thing to sell when you just tell them a truth like that. And so you’d starve to death if you just told them the causes and they had to do it by themselves.” “Anyhow,” she said, “well, I guarantee from now on I’m not going to be the cause of his Parkinson’s, and I’ll help him, and his mother and father are gone so there won’t be any interference.” Well, that afternoon he was in my prayer group. So he wanted to do a little talking about it, and I fixed that all up too. And I let him know that from now on, even though he made every decision wrong, he was going to make his own decisions. And I said, “If you just do, you’ll find that those old kinks will come out. You’ve just got to get out of you these things that have been bottled up. And inwardly, you did resent it, didn’t you?” And he said, “Yes, I did.” Of course, they always do, but they’re too nice to ever let you know it. Well, we watched a marvelous progress that week. Of course, everybody in the camp just loved him and undergirded him, and we watched a, oh, I don’t mean that startling, but the radiance in the face.

You could tell something was happening on the inside, and it always happens on the inside before it gets outside. Well, a short while after that I was in a church. Oh, by the way, when he went back, they didn’t take his church away immediately. In fact, they were going to wait until conference anyhow. They just told him, and they saw this change in him and they saw him getting better. He hasn’t lost his church yet and he isn’t going to now. But a short while after that I was in a church near, in a town near him, just 30 miles from his church. And on the Sunday evening he dismissed his whole congregation and brought them over. And I already saw a greater change in him then. But there was a great expectancy among his people, and, but the greatest was what was taking place in him and his wife. Now, that was last September. This April, they were having a district conference in another city, but he was there. And one of the other ministers, N&W Looney, who was in this camp, wrote me and said, “I just have to write and tell you about your minister that had Parkinson’s.” Said he was there and there wasn’t any evidence that he had ever had Parkinson’s.

That was six months later. You see, really and truly our whole body is rebuilt every three and a half months. And if we could keep every thought positive, loving, kind, building, we could come out of anything in three and a half months.

And he had overcome every evidence of any Parkinson’s in his body in six months. Now, I don’t know when it was finished. But there isn’t any limitations with God. But what are you thinking? For everything you’re thinking you are building, and everything that you bottle up in here instead of giving it to Christ and letting it be redeemed and overcome, you’re wrecking your own body upon. God needs us today, and He needs every one of us at our very best. Let’s give it all over. If you’ve got something bottled up in here that hasn’t been forgiven and hasn’t been released, let’s don’t wait to get rid of them. Let’s get it out immediately and let’s make this week a wonderful week. It can help to change the whole world. We’ve seen the world influenced before through a camp, haven’t we?

Let’s make this the greatest one that’s ever been. Shall we pray? Our dear Heavenly Father, we’re grateful for Your love. We’re grateful for the faith that You’ve placed in us, that You weren’t afraid to trust us with all the plans of Your kingdom.

You weren’t afraid to offer us all the power that Jesus claimed, because all that power that Jesus had is going to have to be claimed and used to save this old world. Make us the kind of children that You can use. Help us to lose ourselves, our littleness, and help us to take hold of all that You’re offering us. And we ask it that this kingdom might become a reality on earth.

Amen.