# God's Psychiatry

## Metadata
- Author: [[Charles L. Allen]]
- Full Title: God's Psychiatry
- Category: #books
## Highlights
- He who formed our frame, Made man a perfect whole; And made the body’s health Depend upon the soul. ([Location 90](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=90))
- We talked of how his physicians had given him prescriptions and he had taken them. Then I took a sheet of paper and wrote out my prescription for him. I prescribed the Twenty-third Psalm, five times a day for seven days. ([Location 109](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=109))
- That prescription sounds simple, but really it isn’t. The Twenty-third Psalm is one of the most powerful pieces of writing in existence, and it can do marvelous things for any person. I have suggested this to many people and in every instance which I know of it being tried it has produced results. It can change your life in seven days. ([Location 115](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=115))
- Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A man is what he thinks about all day long.” Marcus Aurelius said, “A man’s life is what his thoughts make it.” Norman Vincent Peale says, “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” The Bible says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). ([Location 122](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=122))
- The Twenty-third Psalm is a pattern of thinking, and when a mind becomes saturated with it, a new way of thinking and a new life are the result. It contains only 118 words. One could memorize it in a short time. In fact, most of us already know it. But its power is not in memorizing the words but rather in thinking the thoughts. ([Location 124](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=124))
- “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark” (Philippians 3:13), or the spirit of our Lord when He said, “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more” (John 8:11). ([Location 129](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=129))
- So this Psalm does not begin with a petition asking God for something, rather it is a calm statement of fact—“The Lord is my shepherd.” We do not have to beg God for things. ([Location 142](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=142))
- “Your father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him,” said Jesus (Matthew 6:8). ([Location 146](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=146))
- The greatest source of human worry is about tomorrow, ([Location 147](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=147))
- In another place (Psalm 37:25) David says, “I have been young, and now am old: yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Come to think about it, neither have I. Have you? ([Location 149](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=149))
- Study the lives of great people, and you will find every one of them drew apart from the hurry of life for rest and reflection. Great poems are not written on crowded streets, lovely songs are not written in the midst of clamoring multitudes; our visions of God come when we stop. The Psalmist said, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). ([Location 165](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=165))
- Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess—The beauty of Thy peace. ([Location 175](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=175))
- This petition of the Twenty-third Psalm has wonderful meaning for us. God knows our limitations, and He does not condemn us because we have weaknesses. He does not force us where we cannot safely and happily go. God never demands of us work which is beyond our strength and abilities. ([Location 186](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=186))
- . One of the finest ways to relieve a tension in your life is to picture still water clearly in your mind. Maybe a little lake nestling among some pines. Maybe a tiny, cool spring on some hillside. Maybe a calm sea with gentle, rippling waves. After the picture becomes clear, then start repeating and believing, “He leadeth me beside the still waters.” Such an experience produces a marvelous surrender and trust that enables one to face the heat of the day confidently, knowing there is refreshing and relaxed power awaiting under the leadership of one wiser than we. ([Location 192](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=192))
- The person who sincerely seeks to do God’s will, whatever His will may be, will know the leadership of Eternal Wisdom. He will lead you to your Promised Land. ([Location 249](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=249))
- We have spent so much time arguing about what we should not do on Sunday that we sometimes forget what we should do. ([Location 601](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=601))
- Oliver Wendell Holmes said: “I have in my heart a small, shy plant called reverence; I cultivate that on Sundays.” ([Location 612](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=612))
- The Bible tells us to “be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). ([Location 615](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002MT2EJC&location=615))