Are YOU one of those millions suffering from FEAR?
Are you despondent, morose, doubtful, and discouraged?
Do you have an inner sense of timidity, inferiority, and a lack of self-confidence?
Millions do! Here's the positive cure!
EVERYONE wants to be happy. And life was meant to be happy — filled with thrills, joy, pleasures, and rewarding experiences! Why is it, then, so very FEW seem to really enjoy life?
Discouragement, despondency and frustration are not limited to the poverty-stricken and the shut-ins alone! This universal disease of inferiority, timidity and doubt afflicts people in ALL walks of life — every income bracket!
Whether through failure in business, the loss of a loved one, disappointment at unachieved goals, or severe discouragement through handicapping accident — the result is the same — terrible unhappiness, and a "what's the use" attitude.
But whatever the apparent cause — the one ROOT cause is always the same! That one root cause is simply not knowing WHY YOU WERE BORN, in the first place!
Not one person on earth — once he understands the TRUE PURPOSE in human life, the great and awesome DESTINY of every human being — the tremendous POTENTIAL of each of us, could possibly suffer from these terrible feelings of inner doubt, inferiority and frustration.
So — whatever your status, whether wealthy businessman, elderly pensioner, partially disabled shut-in, or young American housewife, you need to understand the REAL CURE for your doubts and discouragement!
The Psychologists' "Cure"
But can you "kid" yourself out of your troubles? Can any of you who are confined to your beds "delude" yourselves into thinking you are not in bed? Can a person who has recently lost a husband or a wife "talk himself" out of his despondency?
Modern psychologists advance empty theories of SELF-confidence — trying to show people how to overcome their feelings of insecurity, timidity, or despondency.
But these very "cures" of the modern psychologists oftentimes are not the CURE — but the real CAUSE of much of this despondency.
My father has told me about a book he read in his late teens, titled, He Can Who Thinks He Can. It was one of the "inspiration" books published in those years — several by this same author, Orison Swett Marden. These books had a profound influence on my father.
He has told me how, as a boy, he was always a follower instead of a leader — filled with a feeling of inferiority. Then, at age 16, away from home for the first time on a summer vacation job, his employer continually expressed confidence in him — told him he was destined to make a big success in life — fired him with ambition and zeal.
For the first time he began to believe in himself. Confidence skyrocketed. These "inspiration" or "pep" books implanted the idea he could accomplish anything if he only thought he could, prepared diligently for it, worked hard and energetically at it, and stuck with it through thick and thin.
Perhaps you've heard him explain, in his broadcasts, how he studied intensively, "burned the midnight oil," adopted a rapid, "hustler" walking gait, generated boundless energy commensurate with a belief in himself that displayed intense "cockiness," and simply "oozed" self-confidence and conceit. But because he studied incessantly, thought intensively about what he was doing, and worked industriously, he was becoming successful — unusually successful, in his field, for a young man his age.
He had gone, as the few who leap out of the inferiority rut usually do, over to the opposite extreme. That's human nature. But he has also told you, over the air, how terribly he had to suffer, later, to have this cancerous disease of belief in himself cut out, and replaced with THE ONLY RIGHT KIND OF CONFIDENCE! More of that, later.
My father had adopted the psychologists' cure for inferiority. And then he had, in turn, to be cured of that cure!
It's human nature to go from one wrong extreme to the other. Instead of finding the REAL CAUSE of his troubles, than has tried to deal with the effect. Many popular modern writers and philosophers have written books and articles telling people how to overcome this timidity and inferior feeling.
"Self-Confidence"?
The methods usually recommended for developing confidence include positive thinking, the desire to reach others and the expression of SELF. The doubts and fears will flee, they say, with faith in yourself.
To cultivate this faith, you must free yourself from hesitancy and anxiety by "kidding" yourself into believing you really have the assurance you lack. This means flattery of the self, careful coddling and pampering of the self.
Among businessmen's groups, speakers' clubs, lodges, and women's clubs, these practices are followed. There is the usual insincere flattery, on-the-surface discussions, empty, useless and profitless conversation.
The real objective behind this practice is what other people think of you!
The only goal set forth for gaining self-assurance is that of gaining more friends, having people "think well of you," and the acquiring of material possessions. By telling yourself "I'm pretty good" or, "I'll make it all right, I don't need anybody else," the "moderns" assure their eager followers they may have plenty of self-confidence.
The ways of this modern society, of flattery, back-slapping and handshaking each other into believing in themselves, lead to the false values and the synthetic foundation for REAL CONFIDENCE. The flattery will begin to take effect. The one being flattered begins to really believe in himself. He begins to think these things are really true about him, and perhaps he is the best speaker, the most personality-filled and competent man in the group after all.
What a let-down it is — what a disheartening SHOCK it is, when this individual finds all the pseudo-confidence has fled, that he cannot meet a difficult situation, and all his ego and trust in SELF is shattered! Then, after being swept to the heights of SELF-confidence and trust in the SELF, he is dashed to the gutter of despair and hopelessness — feeling himself to be a complete FAILURE.
For this is exactly what happened to my father. God was calling him for a very special mission. So God took away his business — his success — shattered his self-confidence — plummeted him from the heights of egotistic conceit all the way down to the deepest chasm of despair, disillusionment, and feeling of utter failure. Then God was able to reveal to him the only REAL confidence, and start him toward REAL success!
The Right Kind of Confidence
What does GOD say about the way to confidence? WHY, THE EXACT OPPOSITE from the psychologists, OF COURSE!
God said through the prophet Isaiah that the wicked man must forsake HIS WAY! God tells us to THROW SELF AWAY — not to pamper and fondle it. God says to GET RID of self — man says to FLATTER self. Man talks about "positive thinking," and God says to forsake even your own thoughts! (Isa. 55:6-9)
The wisest man who ever lived, under the inspiration of God, wrote many scriptures concerning the differences between those following the customary way of this world and those who were willing to listen to the instructions of God. Solomon knew the difference between confidence in the SELF and the right kind of confidence. He called the person who trusts in his OWN heart a fool! (Prov. 28:26)
Jesus Christ directed one of His parables toward those who TRUST IN THEMSELVES. Christ said those who exalt themselves shall be abased; and those who humble themselves shall be exalted (Luke 18:9-14).
Too Many GIVE UP!
The real test of one who has the RIGHT KIND of confidence comes when the "chips are down." The man who sets his jaw and says: "I will NOT quit!" despite all the handicaps and apparent obstacles, is the one who has the quality for success. Solomon wrote, "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small" (Prov. 24:10).
What a great principle — and how FEW really follow it! So many simply lie down and quit when some terrible disaster strikes in their personal lives.
Perhaps it is because it is so RARE when a person who is severely physically handicapped truly SUCCEEDS in life that it is usually so widely publicized.
Think of the examples you have known of persons injured in accidents, or afflicted through sudden strokes or other diseases. Even though partially handicapped, or confined to bed — have they CONTINUED to be their usually cheery selves? Do they strive (if their minds have not been afflicted) to keep mentally alert and growing? Do they enter even the simplest tasks with real ENTHUSIASM, and a WILL to overcome?
Usually not.
Most shut-ins, it seems, fall into the depths of despondency, feeling sorry for themselves — blaming the set of "circumstances" which conspired to bring this terrible affliction upon them. They have the attitude of Job. They know God is good, and that they are "righteous," and cannot honestly understand WHY such a terrible thing should have befallen them — knowing it must ONLY be in the "province of God" and not anything THEY have done!
So, instead of finding the true source of real CONFIDENCE, and surging ahead, even in the face of great adversity — they simply QUIT!
But remember, God says, "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small!"
How can YOU have strength and confidence?