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By Robert H. Schuller

Here is the good news I want to share with you today. You and I can become emotionally and spiritually healthy human beings, when God, through the sacred sentences of the Holy Bible, speaks to us and becomes our Spiritual Healer in times of sickness.

This morning I have chosen a Bible verse to share, that has done that for me in my life.

"One who rules the spirit is mightier than one who takes a city." (Proverbs 16:32)

Wow! This Bible verse has really impacted my possibility thinking.

General Dwight Eisenhower, the heroic general who led our troops in triumph over Hitler in World War II, once said that the sermon he remembered impacting his life more than any other sermon was a message on "How to Manage Your Moods" which was based on this verse:

"One who rules the spirit is mightier than one who takes a city."

I don't know who delivered that sermon, nor what the content of the message was, but I would agree that, yes, you and I as human beings, controlling our moods, are more dynamic and heroic than a general who conquers a town or a country.

How can you Manage your Moods?

First: Get acquainted with yourself.

Yes, you are a person of cycles, seasons and tides. We all are. Learn to know yourself, your high times and low times. You have times when you are up and times when you are down. Now don't be depressed and say the low time is depression. It often is not depression. You are calling it by the wrong title. You are just taking a breather. No, you're not burned out. It's a brownout. In a brownout, the power is temporarily off, but don't call it a burnout. The power will come back on.

When you're down, maybe it's physical. Maybe you need to exercise more. Maybe you are eating the wrong foods. Maybe you need a medical exam. But if there is no physical reason, maybe you are just on a low tide and that's natural. It's okay. Don't let it worry you. Don't be upset about it.

Second: Don't Be Afraid of Your Moods.

My Uncle Henry Beltman was a missionary in China. In the early 20's, he built missionary churches and schools there. He came back home when his wife became very ill and then, shortly after that, China was overtaken by the Communists, and he could not return to work there again. When Uncle Henry was an old man, over 80, I said to him, "Uncle Henry, I'd like to see where you worked in China. Would you like to see if your buildings are still there? Do you think the Communists destroyed them on their march to get rid of the missionaries? Let me take you there."

I owed him so much. He inspired me to become a preacher. I shall always be indebted to him for that. So he and I went to China.

We traveled modestly as China was not welcoming tourists warmly. We shared rooms, but I couldn't sleep. I began to think of all the heavy responsibilities back home in America. The next morning, at breakfast, I said, "Well, I didn't sleep too good last night."

Uncle Henry said, "I didn't either, but that doesn't bother me."

I said, "Why doesn't that bother you? Sleep is so important, especially at your age."

"No," he said, "I learned years ago, not to worry if I did not sleep. I just rest. Bob, if you need sleep, the body will sleep. Don't worry about it. Just rest. Think, meditate, pray, relax, and rest."

Wow! Ever since then I have never worried if I wake up at two o'clock in the morning and don't get back to sleep. I just rest and relax and give my body the rest it needs.

Don't be afraid of the down time.

But - Never make a negative, irreversible decision in a down mood.

All of nature seems to scream out to you when you are in a low mood to do something, to make a decision, to quit, to pack up, to send a letter, make a telephone call, resign, or walk away. Don't make a negative, irreversible decision in a down time.

The smart decisions are made when you're at your best, not at your worst.

Learn to manage your moods. (1) Get acquainted with yourself, and (2) Don't be afraid of your low moods. It's time to refill, refuel, retreat and just rest.

"One who rules the spirit is mightier than one who takes a city."

When you retreat, guess what? You are managing your mood. When you don't make a negative decision in a low time, you are managing your mood, your mood is not managing YOU.

Third: Accept personal responsibility for your moods.

Somebody asked me the other day, "Of all the messages you have preached in your life, Dr. Schuller, is there one, more than any other, that stands out?"

Yes, there is. I can tell you that in 26 years of televising our messages to the world, overwhelming requests came for a sermon that I preached entitled: "I Didn't Know How Heavy My Luggage Was ëTil I Stopped Carrying It." It was also the longest sermon title I've ever had.

It seems that in all of my travels when I would disembark from the airplane, down the steps or through the jet way, somebody would be waiting to welcome me. Their usual welcome always included the offer, "Let me take your bags." And I would be insulted by that. "Do I look that old? Do I look that feeble? Do I look that sick? No, thank you, I'm strong enough to carry my own bags. They're not heavy."

I don't know when it happened and I don't know why it happened, but there was a time when someone greeted me as I stepped from the airplane. "Oh, let me take your bags." And for some strange, unpredictable reason, I said, "Thank you." And I gave him my briefcase. It was not a big suitcase, but just a little briefcase where I kept papers and books.

I forgot how heavy it was, now suddenly both my hands were free. Then somebody said, "Dr. Schuller, may I shake your hand? You saved my life." I reached out to give them a handshake and a hug. I was now free to comfort or inspire people. I could put my arm around a shoulder.

I didn't know how heavy my luggage was until I stopped carrying it.

What heavy luggage are you carrying? This morning I see a dear wonderful friend, whose name I shall not mention, sitting in church. I buried her husband 21 years ago. Every week she visited his grave. And at least once a month I would visit her. "How are you doing?"

She would reply, "Not good. I can't get over his death. I bring flowers to his grave every week." For about three years she was overwhelmed with grief.

Finally I said to her, "Come here. Sit down." I'll call her Mary.

"Didn't I have a nice funeral for your husband?"

"Oh, you really did, Dr. Schuller. I'll never forget it. I play the tape of the funeral often."

"You play it often?"

"Oh, yes."

"How often?"

"Oh, once or twice a week."

"And you visit his grave how often?"

"Oh, every week."

I said, "Mary the body is buried. The grave is closed. Mary, there is a time when you have to stop grieving and start living. I'm giving you an order. From now on you are only allowed to visit the grave once a year. No more. That's an order from your pastor."

She looked shocked. "You mean it?"

I said, "Yes, I mean it."

"And the tape of the funeral service"

"Put it in a drawer if you want to, but don't listen to it anymore."

Mary listened, and took my advise. A few months later, I noticed her at a church social and her personality was bubbling again. Wow!

You are responsible for your moods. So am I. Remember "The one who takes control of his spirit is better than the one who takes a city."

Manage Your Moods:

1) Get acquainted with yourself

2) Don't be afraid of your moods

3) Accept personal responsibility and

4) Cultivate the habit of controlling your mind.

As our family grew up, we taught all of the children the poem by Ellen Wheeler Wilcox. We said it often at the breakfast table:

"I'm going to be happy today,

though the skies are cloudy and gray.

No matter what comes my way,

I'm going to be happy today."

It was a decision. So when the children would repeat it, I would say, "If something happens today that troubles you, turn the dial in your thinking. You make the choice to be positive."

One of the most shocking experiences I've ever had in my years of travel on the continents of the world happened on my first trip to the Soviet Union. The Cold War was on and I was traveling with Wilbert Eichenberger. A fearful tension surrounded us throughout the country, and we were eager to get out of Russia.

We boarded the train in Lvov, en route to Vienna, Austria. The train stopped suddenly on the border of "no man's land" between Russia and Czechoslovakia. Everybody was ordered to get out of the train. As we stood there on the sidewalk, we watched vehicles approaching along the railroad track and they carried what looked like huge jacks, made of steel, maybe 12 feet high with two arms that stuck out. Two jacks were rolled up underneath each train car. Suddenly the entire train, a half a mile long, with all 30 passenger cars still connected, was raised high in the air, leaving the wheels standing on the tracks.

Then another vehicle came and pushed all the wheels back into Russia. Down the track from the Czechoslovakian side, came an entire new set of wheels that were narrower. Then we noticed there were narrower railroad tracks just inside the tracks from Russia. We learned that Czechoslovakia had put up narrower railroad tracks to keep trainloads of Russian soldiers from storming into their country.

Now, the narrower wheels were being put on for the narrower tracks of Czechoslovakia. The jacks were lowered and pushed away, the passenger cars were put on the new wheels, and we were allowed to board again. We were on the tracks of freedom.

Some of you need to change tracks just like that. The tracks of negative thinking and cynical thoughts that are making you sick. It is time to stop carrying the heavy luggage of your hurts.

Manage Your Moods or Your Moods Will Manage You.

"The one who controls his spirit is better than the one who takes a city."

Fifth: To manage your moods you probably need a miracle.

A hundred million miracles are happening every day and this church specializes in them. We really do. Today, we are honoring our New Hope Telephone Counselors. In September of 1968, this church was the first church in the United States of America to have a 24-hour live, telephone counseling suicide prevention service. We have prevented many suicides. All of this is managed and manned by men and women and young people from this church. Thousands of these volunteers, for over a quarter of a century, have been making miracles happen for those who are desperate for a miracle and they dial the telephone number (714) N-E-W H-O-P-E and they get NEW HOPE!

Some of you simply need a miracle. Recently, Barbara Walters celebrated her 20th anniversary of television interviews. The program I watched was one where she interviewed Arthur Rubinstein. I don't think anybody at a keyboard has ever brought us greater music. And she asked him a very sensitive question. "Is it true that once you battled real depression?"

"Oh yes," he said. "That's true. I was so depressed and the depression was so bad, that I didn't want to live." He said. "I made a decision to kill myself. I looked all over for a rope, but couldn't find any. All I could find was the belt on my bathrobe. So I took it, made a slip knot, put it around my neck... walked into my garage moved in a chair, tied the end of the belt to the beam tight I jumped, and the belt broke! I fell to my knees. I staggered outside of the garage and suddenly, there, like never before in my life I was overwhelmed by the beauty of life. And I have loved life ever since."

Rubinstein was encountered by God. He may not have used that name, but that's what I believe happened to him.

William Cowper needed a miracle. He, too, fought depression. William Cowper also attempted suicide more than once. He put a rope around his neck and the rope broke. So he walked to the river, where he knew of a deep spot by the bridge, but there were so many people on the bridge, he could not jump. He went back home where he took an ornamental sword off the wall and put it to his chest. He threw his body down on it, but the point of the sword hit a rib bone, snapped the sword in two and suddenly, William Cowper called out, "Lord, forgive me." "And at that moment," he said, "Jesus Christ came into my life. I sensed His presence. It was powerful. It was real."

He was born again. He wrote a poem and it became a great hymn of the church. Years later a tornado destroyed our house and we lost everything except the clothes on our back. We went to the little country church in Iowa for a special prayer meeting. What hymn did we sing? They sang the hymn, with the words written by William Cowper, who with Jesus in his heart wrote:

God moves in mysterious ways.

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps on the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

William Cowper

A miracle to match your mood. Is there one? Oh, yes. It will come to you. God is in the miracle business. He's got a miracle to match your mood. That's a promise!

Prayer: Thank You, O Lord, You know us better than we know ourselves. You know our tomorrow's, better than we know our yesterdays. And, You see solutions when everyone else sees only problems. Thank You. Amen.