Christ is the Mystery no. 84

As a man thinks in his heart no 3

April 27, 2013

Brian Kocourek

Wednesday night we examined the trial of our faith that Peter spoke of that is to come at the time of the Revealing of Christ in this hour. At the great appearing of Christ, which we know took place in the ministry of William Branham.

We read from the Wuest Translation that this test is to be given to us for the purpose of approval.

I Peter 1:7 Wuest Translation "in which last season you are to be constantly rejoicing with a joy that expresses itself in a triumphant exuberance, although for a little while at the present time if perchance there is a need for it, you have been made sorrowful in the midst of many different kinds of testings in order that the approval of your faith, which faith was examined by testing for the purpose of being approved, that your approval being much more precious than the approval of gold which perishes, even though that gold be approved by fire-testing, may be discovered after scrutiny to result in Praise, Honor and Glory at the time of the Revelation of Jesus Christ;

Now, notice that we are to be constantly rejoicing with a joy that expresses itself in a triumphant exuberance, although we will go through trial if there is a need for them.

So we looked at the purpose of the trial and saw there is a need, because the trials themselves come forth from the need we have. In other words, no need, no trials. But where we come up short we will receive testing in that area because the test shows our weakness and where we need to apply the blood and apply the Word, because we are washed by the washing of water by the Word.

And seeing we are ordained to pass these tests we also need to understand what the purpose of the test is all about, and we saw that the test is to bring about a certain result. That is the purpose of any test. To see where you are, compared to where you should be.

Therefore, we can say that every trial that you go through and every time you are put to a test by God do not be troubled by the test, but rather look at what the focus of the test is in your life, so you can know where you are coming up short.

The circumstance which surround your life are there because you sowed them. So just remember one thing: that all those tests are only the result of the seeds of your own thinking that have spawned forth from the garden of your own mind.

Remember, God through Paul promised us in Romans 8:28 "That all things are going to work together for your good, and the tests you go through are part of "God working in us to will and to do".

Paul tells us in Romans 5:3-5 that we should glory in our tribulations. That means we should glory in our tests. Now, the Greek word for Glory here is not doxa, this is not the values or opinion of God that Paul said we are to do in our testing. The Greek word is kauchaomai and it means, (to boast) and to vaunt (in a good or a bad sense):--(make) boast, glory, joy, rejoice. In other words if you are going to boast about anything, let your boasting be how you suffered with Christ.

This reminds me of when brother Bosworth was met by a mob of 25 persons who with heavy hardwood clubs, who pounded him with all their power cursing and declaring these heavy clubs made from the oars of a boat. But he offered no resistance but committed himself to God and asked God not to let the blows break his spine. And so God stood wonderfully by him and no bones were broken except a slight fracture in his left wrist. When they left off pounding him with the clubs, he got up, others of the mob knocked him down and started hitting him in the head with their fists. He was thus knocked down several times several times but was not for any moment unconscious which was a miracle of God's care. Then he was not allowed to take his train, but had to walk the 9 miles to Calvert Texas where he got a train at 2 pm for home.

The suffereing during his pounding was terrible but as soon as it was over, he looked from his wounds and bruises to God and He took away all suffering and put His power and strength upon Br. Bosworth so that he was able to carry that heavy suitcasewith his right arm for over nine miles and never had the slightest anger or ill feeling towards these men who beat him so badly and the walk to Calvert in the dark with mook-light was the heavenly experience of his life and the Lord gave him wonderful intercession for those who beat him that He should forgive them and prepare them for His coming.

He said his back was mashed to the bone on his back down nearly to his knees but sine the beating he has been free from all suffering. He said others had been made nervous and broke down and wept as they were shown the wounds on my body but I been absolutely free from nervousness, no fear and not even tired. He has been so precious to me since that I have thanked Him many times for being privileged to know something of the "fellowship of His Sufferings". If this mobbing was a result of some unwise thing I had done or for speaking anything but His Own sweet Message, I would be very sorry, but since it came for plain obedience in preaching His Gospel to every creature, it has given me great joy to experience this which was as common among the early Christians in the first centuries of the church. I feel as a result I am several notches brighter in the Christian Life.

So you see how his trials, his test, showed his current standing with Christ? And he found that he was much further along in his walk than he had even supposed, and seeing his response to the test helped him to know where he stood, and as he said brightened up His Christian Life.

Now, what if Br. Bosworth would have responded by fighting back? what if he found himself all mad and cursing and doing what normal human behavior would do? Well, for one, the story would not be worth telling.

And today, our problem arises when we do not understand how our tests are actually God testing us for our reactions.

Do we blow off like a buzz saw and get mad when someone crosses us? Do we want to get even? I am sorry for you my brother and sister if this is your level of Christianity, because you are flunking the course of life.

From his sermon, Elijah and the meal offering 60-0310 P:30 brother Branham said, "He tested the Hebrew children to see what kind of a reaction they'd have. They'd confessed among the heathens that there was a living God, there was a Jehovah God, and that He was God of heaven and God of earth, and He held every soul in His hand. So God let them be tested. And they had met all the requirements; they had prayed up and got everything out of the way. And they would not bow down to the king's image. And he heated the furnace seven times hotter than it ever was. And no doubt that Satan was trying to tell them this is the end of the road. I like the way they talked, "Our God is able to deliver us from that fiery furnace; but nevertheless, if He does not, we'll not break God's commandments. We'll stay true. Let our faith ring out through the years to come, that we stayed true to the promise of God."

And from his sermon, Elijah and meal offering 60-0310 P:25 brother Branham said, "And she had met every requirement. She'd lived clean; she'd lived decent; she'd lived honorable, and she had met all of God's requirements. But, looked like He was silent. God does that sometime to test you to see what kind of a reaction you'll have. Don't forget it. If you pass over the platform, you're prayed for, and hands laid on you, and it seems like nothing happens, that doesn't stop faith one bit; you have met God's requirements. Now, if you have met them... Now, if you're holding back on God, you know your heart condemns you. And we know, "If our heart condemns us not, then we have..." Now, but if our heart condemns us, there's no need of coming across the platform; there's no need of asking God for anything, because you don't have faith to receive it. But when you have met every requirement that God requires, then faith steps out there and said, "God is God. I've met the requirements."

Be certain of God 59-0412A P:20 One morning there was some Hebrew children was going to be burnt up. And they knew that they had done God's will. And they said, "We're not afraid of the king's commandments. Our God is able to deliver us from this fiery furnace. Nevertheless, we'll not bow to his image." Now, God was going to give them a test to see what their reaction to their action would be. And He let them walk right straight to the fiery furnace before He ever moved. But when all of God's requirements has been met, and you're certain of God, that God will do it, stand still then, and God will do it. If you set in these meetings, and you seen the Lord God move out over the audience, healing the sick and afflicted, and yet, you seem to still have your disease... And when I ask for them to put hands on each other, and you've made your wrongs right before Him; you've accepted Him, and you've been baptized in Christian faith, and your heart's clean before Him, then sometime when God delays His answer He's only wanting to see what you'll react by. Just be sure that you believe that it's God and then hold on to it. Don't you move.

But as I mentioned before, sometimes we see the test and we want to blame others, we think it is out of our control but know one thing for sure, every test you take is commensurate with where you are and where God wants you to be. When we think of our trials as coming from an outward source, something out of our control, that is when we begin to loose focus on what God is doing in us, and we get sidetracked by the specific trial itself.

But we are told by the Apostle Paul that we should glory in these trials and tests, because he went on to say, "knowing that tribulation (the tests) works within you patience; and patience when it brings forth fruit, it brings forth experience which is character, and character brings with it an earnest expectation, and having this earnest expectation it makes us to be not ashamed, because we know that the Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which God has given to us by the receiving of His Word.

Therefore we can see how God uses all circumstances in our life to bring forth His Character and Grace in us. In other words without those tests, trials or circumstances, we would not know where we are in our path to adulthood, and adoption.

Therefore we must understand that since our character development is dependent upon receiving outside feedback so that we will produce in our thinking the very thoughts of God, then we ought to be able to see how dependent we are to have trials and tests in order to bring us into fulfillment toward the ultimate goal of receiving the very mind of God.

Church Age Book Chapter 4 - The Smyrnaean Church Age P:19 "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trials that are to try you." That is what Peter said. Is it strange that God wants us to develop a Christ-like character that comes through suffering? No sir. And we all have trials. We are all tried and chastened as sons. Not one but goes through that. The church that is not suffering, and is not being tried, hasn't got it isn't of God. Heb. 12:6 "For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."

Church Age Book Chapter 4 - The Smyrnaean Church Age P:18 Why does He stand by? The reason is in Romans 8:17-18, "And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Unless we suffer with Him we cannot reign with Him. You have to suffer to reign. The reason for this is that character simply is never made without suffering. Character is a VICTORY, not a gift. A man without character can't reign because power apart from character is Satanic. But power with character is fit to rule. And since He wants us to share even His throne on the same basis that He overcame and is set down in His Father's throne, then we have to overcome to sit with Him. And the little temporary suffering we go through now is not worthy to be compared to the tremendous glory that will be revealed in us when He comes. Oh, what treasures are laid up for those who are willing to enter into His kingdom through much tribulation.

From Brother Branham's sermon, Life 58-0512 P:8 Brother Branham said, "Now, the Christian church should have real character then. And if the Life of Christ is in the church of Christ, then it's got to have the character of Christ. It'll produce the Life of Christ. It's just a no more than just what we call in the south, common sense. If the Life of the Spirit of Christ is in the church, it has to produce that Life, because the life that's in you, makes your character."

Therefore, everything you are, even your Character comes forth from the garden of your mind, your thoughts that are in your heart, that make you what you really are. And the garden of your thoughts affects every thing that is already in you, not only affecting your character, but molding your character, even materializing the circumstances of your daily life. And the way you handle those circumstances will reflect whether you are aware of your standing in the family or not.

And God uses all the circumstances in your life in shaping your character into it’s final product that He predestined for you.

Therefore, every trial you endure, every test God puts you through, they all come about as a result of the seed thoughts that lay within your heart. Therefore, every thought seed that is sown, and allowed to fall into the fertile soil of our minds will produce it’s own, after it’s own likeness or nature.

Sooner or later each thought seed we have sown in our hearts will have to take blossom and become manifested in our lives as an action or deed. And each action or deed will bear it’s own fruit in terms of opportunity or circumstances. As the Scripture tells us, good thoughts will bear good fruit and bad thoughts will bear bad fruit.

Therefore Loving thoughts create an atmosphere of help, and trust, which crystallize into habits of Grace, kindness, and charity, which creates further circumstances of friendliness and cheerful benevolence, and reciprocity on the behalf of those who are the recipients of your loving thoughts.

As Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith grows exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other abounds;

Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Therefore, Pure thoughts create an atmosphere of holiness and sobriety, which then materialize into habits of sanctification and self control, which further solidify into circumstances of rest and peace.

And Positive thoughts, along with thoughts of courage and decisiveness, creates within you an atmosphere of assurance, and steadfastness, which will bring forth circumstances of success, and freedom. [

And Gentle and forgiving thoughts create an atmosphere of love and trust which solidify into protective and preservative circumstances, and crystallize into circumstances which allows you to minister help and forgiveness to others, which allows those affected to enter into an atmosphere of hope and reconciliation.

If you keep sowing the same particular seed thoughts, be it good or bad, it cannot help but to create an atmosphere around you which will also affect your character and the circumstances in which you live.

Now a garden is a place or a plot of ground that you specifically set aside for growing things that you like, whether for food or for the beauty of just looking at it, such as flowers and roses, etc. A garden is a place where you sow seeds, and you come to water and cultivate those seeds, because you have a purpose in mind. And if we do not cultivate our garden, then other seeds that fall into our garden will compete with the specific thing we want to harvest. Therefore, we must cultivate the seeds which we want and root out those things we do not wish to come to harvest.

Now we don’t go through all that work in taking care of a garden just for the shear enjoyment turning over soil & breaking rocks, if we did we, then prison would be fun. But we must have a purpose.

A garden has to be plotted out, and there must be a plan in your mind as to how you would like to see your garden turn out. For if there is no plan, you will have an awful time trying to harvest what you sowed. Could you image planting a garden where you go out and grab a handful of carrot seeds and you just toss them up in the air, not really caring where they land. Try grabbing a bag of corn seeds and toss them out onto the ground. Then repeat the same process with watermelon seeds, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, peas, and whatever else you would like to harvest. I imagine the sowing might easy, but come harvest time, you’re going to have a real mess trying to sort out just what you sowed.

And yet this is the way many of us go about our daily lives and especially our spiritual lives. Can you imagine someone trying to store up earthly treasures without a plan. And yet that is exactly what we do with storing up Heavenly treasure.

Many of us struggle because we have not learned this first principle of sowing and reaping. We too often look at the man who is wealthy and we say, "he’s a crook and that is why he is wealthy". Now, that may be true in part, but the reason that man is wealthy is because he has applied a principle of sowing and reaping which many of us are not willing to do. He had a plan to gain wealth and he was dedicated to that plan and so his whole life became structured around that that plan, and therefore he reaped what he sowed.

In Matthew 6:21 we read, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

I don't have any jealousy for those who've worked very hard for what they have. They deserve it. But, I do feel sorry for them in the same way in which I feel sorry for the poor farmer who loses his crops to hail or tornado. Because many if not the majority of them who are very wealthy, have stored up their treasure in the wrong place. Because they’ll only be able to enjoy what they have sown for a season. Therefore, I want what will not become rusted, and moth eaten. I want that which will truly stay with me all throughout Eternity. And Jesus told us if we "seek ye first the Kingdom of God, then all these things shall be added us." Now what things shall be added? Well, let’s turn in our Bibles to

Matthew 6:25 - 34 25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Now, I want you to notice that we are told to take no thought concerning certain things. Now He is not telling us that these things are not important to us, but that our thought pertaining to these things needs to be directed, not at those things, but at the Kingdom of God from whence cometh all good things. In other words, Jesus is telling them that their focus needs to be on the right thing. This is the same principle we see in dealing with the poor in very backward countries. The people are starving to death, and we feel sorry for them, but if we just feed them, then they will always be dependent upon us. But if we teach them how to sow and reap, then they will learn how to provide for themselves.

Therefore, what we are looking at is having the right focus. He said take no thought for these specific things. Take no thought with just the eating, or just the specific piece of clothing that you need, but focus on where those things come from and then you will always have plenty. Learn to sew and you shall also reap.

2 Corinthians 9:7-10 Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give{in other words "so let him sow"; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver.

This reminds me here of the man whose family had a poor crop, and they were facing a harsh winter. They had just a bag of grain left over from the poor harvest and the children cried out to eat it. The father said, no for if we do then surely we shall die. They made it through the winter, but it was a real struggle, but when the spring came forth the father planted his seeds and they brought forth a bountiful harvest.

Now, Paul continues, 2 Corinthians 9:7-10 Amplified And God who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your resources for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness and charity, and thus you will be enriched (or increased) in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous, and your generosity as it is administered by us will bring forth thanksgiving to God.

And so, you see, we must have the proper focus and the proper plan if we are to bring forth out of the garden of our mind, a harvest of Eternal blessing. We are promised that God, who gave us the seed to begin with will also multiply that seed as we sow properly.

The 2 Corinthians 9:7-10 NIV says it this way, "Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

We know the seed came forth from Him and therefore it already has in it everything that we will ever need for living and for bringing forth a Character that is in His Image.

2 Peter 1: 2-4 2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Isaiah 60:21 "Thy people shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified." Can you see God’s purpose in His planting?

Isaiah 61:3 "that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.. Therefore the purpose of being planted by God is to bring forth His Glory, which is His thoughts in an expressed form.

In Ephesians 1:2-5 We see that we were in Christ before the world was framed, therefore we are a seed, that was in Him. And are told here that while we were still in Him we were "Blessed with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ." And then he goes on to tell us that in order to bring forth these seeds that were in Him, He had to have a plan. In verse 5 we are told that He pre-planned for us to come forth to the adoption of children to Himself. And this is according to His Will or plan, which He further elucidates in verses 10-11 where he tells us that it will happen according to His Purpose or Plan.

Therefore, I hope you see the importance of having a purpose or plan for every seed thought that we want to bring forth to harvest. In order to reap we must not only sow, but we must learn how to sow as well. Because you can not sow just any which way and expect to reap a harvest that is orderly. And even dumb animals show more sense than many humans do. look at the way the lions work together in groups to stalk down their prey. Look how the birds have lookouts to warn them of danger when it is near. And yet we have people who have no plan for their life, and no purpose other than to get from one day to the next. That is not what God wants for us, that to me is a fallen condition that son of God is in.

In Isaiah 61:11 "For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord will cause righteousness (right-wise-ness) to spring forth in the presence of all nations."

Now the garden is laid out with an order to it. As we see in Genesis 1:11 that every seed will bring forth after it’s own kind, or nature.

Therefore, if we are to be able to bring forth from the garden of our mind in the same way that God has brought forth from His own mind, we must also follow his example.

Therefore, we must have a purpose and plan to the things which we wish to sow and harvest. Our gardens must have an order to it if we expect to reap a good and profitable harvest. Otherwise you will spend all of your time just trying to sort out what it is that you have in your garden to begin with. But as long as our thoughts are without purpose, they are allowed to just drift aimlessly and will never bring forth any fruit. Thoughts which have no purpose fall easily to the anxieties of life, and pleasure seeking and other things which so easily rob you of victory of Peace and Grace, and lead you to a life of weakness and self pity.

And that is what television has done to this country, and now the internet and Face Book have done to people in this Message. They can sit for hours upon hours accomplish absolutely nothing but reading up on what some other person is doing in their life. The Bible tells us in two different places to redeem the time we have been given. and your not redeeming the time surfing through FaceBook.

Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

I have talked to pastors all around the world who have the same story to tell. They will tell you, they had people in their congregations who were very diligent and always had some task to perform, but in the last few years they have become dilatory because they spend so much time on Face Book they get nothing else done.

From his sermon, What it takes to overcome all unbelief 60-0729 P:57 brother Branham said, "Now, we're living in a terrific day, but all that you have need of is already supplied to you, when you believe. So many people, today, I find, when they join church, and here especially, in America, they just become drifters. They're just--"Well, praise God, I've met Brother Branham, and I got saved, and I put my name on the book, and that's all I done." Just drifting, we don't want to do that. You never got saved just to be a member of a church. You got saved to work. We don't dress an army up just to lay around on the corner and flirt with the girls, with pretty uniforms on. We train our army to fight. And we're not at a picnic; we're on a battle grounds. We're right here facing the enemy of our Lord Jesus, and the enemy of our souls. Let us be up and doing with a heart for any strife. I like that Psalm of Life, "Be not like dumb driven cattle," have to drive you in a little corral somewhere and over this way, down this way. Let's be a hero. Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, With partings leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of time. Footprints, that perhaps another, While sailing over life's solemn main, For a forlorn and shipwrecked brother, In seeing our footsteps shall take heart again. Let us do something; we're written epistles.

Therefore, we need to have purpose for our thoughts, and once we have purposeful thinking, we should set out to accomplish what we purpose. That is why I try to keep a small notebook on me or on my phone that has a list of things to get done. Because I will be honest, when I don't have that list nothing will get done. So we need a purpose and plan for everyday of our lives, or we will just drift through life and wake up one day and realize we have wasted away our life doing nothing.

You say, well, I work a long shift, what can I do. You can lead others to Christ during that shift. You say I am not allowed to preach. Well, then be a written epistle read and known of all men.

Let me tell you something, my grand parents generation knew what it meant to work. When my mothers mother was in her late 80's she got wedged under her house in California, because she was under their removing the weeds. Well, her children all in their sixties got on her case and said, Mother, why in the world did you get under their in the first place, and she said, because I know that the minute I stop moving and doing, is the minute I will die. And she at 69 had gotten her nurses license.

But this generation has become a bunch of mush, but let me say this, most men who retire at 65, if they have no purpose in their life they don't last any more than a couple years in retirement. You need a purpose and plan in your life. And that is why I can't understand some of the young people who have made up their mind at a very young age that they are going to try to coast through life. What a waste of a life.

I admire some of you young guys and women who've planned your life, and you are now reaping. I am proud of those of you who had not done that , but when you got down to your last piece of bread in the pantry and came back fighting for a chance to make a good life for yourselves, and you purposed and planned, and sowed and have begun to reap. And you've stuck with it, and haven't given up, because it's so easy to just crumble and fold your hands and fall to sleep. But that's not what men are made of, they are made of brass which means judgment, and they

Proverbs 6:27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. 28 Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause; and deceive not with thy lips. 29 Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work. 30  I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; 31  And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. 32 Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. 33 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 34  So shall thy poverty come as one that travels; and thy want as an armed man.

In order to prepare our work before hand, we must have a purpose and plan, and that begins in our minds first. We should bring together our thoughts with our actions, tying together our body, soul and spirit into one energized being with one focus.

We should make this purpose our supreme duty, and we should devote ourselves to the fulfillment of this purpose, not allowing our thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings.

"Because proper planning and purpose is the Royal road to self control and true concentration of thought. And even if you fail again and again to accomplish your purpose, as you surely will until your weakness is overcome, the strength of character gained from this will be the real measure of success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.

Just look at Thomas Edison, He tried nearly 10,000 times to invent a workable light bulb, and finally he did it. But what if he had stopped after 9,999 tries?

Edison might have been discouraged, at the ending of each day, but every time he failed, he got back up, the dis- just flew away, and it showed courage.

You see, if you are lacking in courage you end up discouraged.

The word dis-courage comes from two words which means to loose your courage. Don’t be discouraged, be brave, be thoughtful and have a purpose in your heart that whatsoever you set your mind to do, you shall finish. After all, are we not made in our Fathers image? And is not He the Author and Finisher or our Faith. Did not He say, "That which I have began in you I will perform it even unto the end"?

2 Timothy 1:12 "For I know whom, I have believed, and am persuaded, that He is Able, to keep that which I’ve committed, unto Him against that Day.

From the message, Serpents seed Brother Branham said, "A little poem, that used to help me so much when I was a kid, goes something like this: There was a noble Roman, In the Roman Emperor's days; Who heard a coward croaker, Before the castle say: Oh, it's safe in such a Fir tree, There's no one who can shake it. 'Oh, no,' said the hero, 'I'll find a way or make it.'

And again from Jehovah Jireh he said, "When you begin to seek the flower bed of ease, you're on your road out. I like that old poem: Must I be carried home to heaven on a flower bed of ease, While others fought to win the prize, And sailed through bloody seas? No, I must fight, if I must reign, Increase my courage, Lord.

And again another Poem he told us goes like this, "A man of words and not of deed, Is like a garden full of weeds". And that is exactly what I have been trying to bring to us in these message of the garden of the mind. What have we in our garden tonight, thoughts with Purpose or weeds.

Mighty Conqueror Standing sometime ago, I was in the Westminster Abbey at London, England, and I seen the form of the poet that wrote the Psalm of Life, Longfellow, and I thought of his poem, Tell me not in mournful numbers, Life is just an empty dream! (Just eat, drink and be merry.) And the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! And life is earnest! And the grave is not it's goal; Dust thou art, and to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. Lives of great men all remind us, that we can make our life sublime, With partings they have left behind us, Footprints on the sands of time. Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing over life's solemn main, For forlong and shipwreck brother, Deeds shall take heart again. Let us be up then and doing, With a heart wherein we strive, Be not like dumb driven cattle, be a hero in this your life. .... and from [Go Wake Jesus] he said, Be not like dumb, driven cattle, have to be drove into anything. Let's believe, be a hero in the strife,

Isaiah 58:11 "And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose water s fail not. "

People who have no central purpose in life fall easy prey to petty anxieties, phobias, and cares of this life, and it leads to self-pitying, all of which are indications of weakness, which weaknesses lead, just as surely as deliberately planned sins; to failure, unhappiness, and loss. For weakness will not endure in a world where the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Just as in nature, the wolf-pack usually looks for the weakest lamb, or the one straying from the flock, so too does the devil look for the weakest of the flock to devour.

Therefore you should have a purpose in your heart, and you should set your sights on obtaining that purpose. You should make your purpose the centralized focus of your being. And your purpose should reflect the season which you live.

Even God has a purpose to guide and direct the sum of His own thinking. For without purpose, our thoughts would only drift. When you have purpose guiding your thoughts, you have a control tower of your thinking, that takes over the control of your actions and speech as well.

Isaiah 14: 24 "The Lord of Hosts hath sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand."

Next we must cultivate away any seeds that are not in our desired harvest. If we have weeds growing up, we must cut them down before they take over our garden. This must be done on a regular basis, for to fail to do so will allow to grow and use up the nutrients reserved for the harvest plants, and thus it will choke off the life of the harvest plant, preventing them from maturing.

Matthew 13:22-23 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hears the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, chokes the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23  But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heares the word, and understands it; which also bears fruit, and brings forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

A strong man can not help a weaker man who is unwilling to be helped. And even then the weak man must become strong on his own, for he must by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in others. There is no one but himself that can alter his condition.

He can only rise, conquer and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable by deferring to lift up his thoughts. Arnold Schwartzeneggar began as a tall, skinny, weakling of a man, but he was determined to change his situation and he worked and worked until he began to grow muscles that most people never even thought existed. But he had a purpose and his purpose came together with his thoughts and gave rise to the icon of the American Hero. I am sure he had no idea when he began that he would one day live in America. But the circumstances that were created out of shear effort gave way to where he is today. In order to do this, his purpose had to be that which brought together his thoughts with his energies, and actions, and therefore tying together his body, and soul into one energized being with one focus.

The Apostle Paul said in his 2 letter to Timothy 1:12 "For I know whom, I have believed, and am persuaded, that He is Able, to keep that which I’ve committed, unto Him against that Day. You are the one who has to make the commitment.

E-35 God In His Word 57-0323 You put me on record tonight in these recorders. I have no apology for this remark that I'm fixing to make. I believe, and can prove, that the right mental attitude towards any Divine promise of God will bring it to pass. Yes, sir. The right mental attitude, but you've got to have the right attitude. The attitude is what brings the results. If you say, "Yes, yes, I believe it but I don't know now." That's not the right attitude. The right attitude is to receive it, and say it's "Thus Saith the Lord." Then it's right. Let us pray...