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Langston Hughes creates a past experience into a true to life drama of guilt, deception, and grief, in “Salvation.” He reveals the story of how he was forced into receiving Christ by his peers, relatives, and preacher. Helpless and alone, he struggles against overwhelming odds. After a long-winded sermon the children of the congregation are asked to come forward and accept Jesus.

Instead of moving forward, Langston waits for the Lord to come to him. When nothing happens, Langston goes forward anyway just to please his aunt and the church. In the end be is not only grief-stricken, but has Lost all belief in God.

Group pressure forced Langston into doing something that was totally against his good judgment. When Langston’s friend Westley went forward the pressure increased twofold. Not only was he exposed to the persuasion of the church, but he realized that if Westley did it, it might be admissable. A similar situation might be Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

When Adam saw that Eve had taken of the fruit and was unharmed, he too ate of the tree of knowledge. Westley certainly hadn’t been struck dead, so why not give in to save further trouble? If he didn’t get saved everyone would turn against him. In a sense the congregation became his God because they pushed him into going to the platform.

The author gains the respect of the reader by telling the story from his point of view and in his own voice. He tells the story truthfully as accurately as he can remember it.

The highly vivid descriptions of the church, the preacher, and his aunt, help keep the momentum of the story rolling. Langston provides the main character an audience and the reader a bit of human excitement. He recreates the true drama of facing an opposing force without any outside help.

Although Langston Hughes believed in the reality of Jesus, he was deceivingly forced into doing something completely against his will. He fooled everyone by making an insincere decision. His emotions and feelings come out in the end of the story. Langston could hear himself thinking during the ordeal and he knew that he was alone. His final decision was based on what was sufficient for the congregation, not himself.

“Salvation” is an awesome portrayal of what true salvation is all about. It is a heart decision, not just walking down an aisle. It was Keith Green, the Gospel Artist, who once said: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, anymore than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.” Endquote!

It is my sincere desire that those who don’t know the Lord who read “Salvation” may understand what it really says in I John 1:9: If we confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved.”

Notice, confession is from belief in the heart, not out of peer pressure or submission to what everyone else wants you to do. I sincerely believe “Salvation” by Langston Hughes makes those who have merely walked down an aisle, not because they wanted to find Jesus, think twice.

When one truly finds Christ, it’ll be from the heart, not from anything else…

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“Helping ALL to Succeed”

The records of Jesus’ prayers constitute a priceless document of one perfect being expressing himself to another.

Though Jesus must have been involved in prayer all the time, all we have in the Bible is six prayers of Jesus.

There are three kinds of prayers, and we know for sure that the mortal Jesus was involved personally in two of them. The three types of prayers were:

a. Personal prayers, offered by an individual in seclusion.

b. Public prayers, where one person acts as the voice of the group.

c. Set prayers, offered up only in connection with sacred ordinances, such as the ordinances of the temple.

Jesus taught us how to pray in public, and we know that prayer as “the Lords Prayer”. “Lead us not into temptation”, “Give us today our daily bread”, etc, are givaways that it is a public prayer.

There is not one single mention of first person in singular, showing that it is, in deed, a public prayer.

But we will not look at the public prayers of Jesus in this article. We shall look at the two privately uttered prayers that we have in writing.

We do have a couple of private prayers that was uttered in public, but we must consider them as teachings of the crowds, and testaments to the history of man, as much as personal prayers.

The two genuinely personal prayers that we have access to are his intercessory prayer, offered shortly before he entered into the Garden of Gethsemane and his heart-rending plea to his Father that the cup, if possible, would pass him by.

The intercessory prayer we appear to have in its fullness, but Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane must be but a fragment of the entire prayer (remember that there was time enough for the disciples to fall asleep).

Why do we have one prayer from A-Z, and only a fragment of the other prayer? In order to answer that question there is one thing we must realize.

Since Jesus was all alone when he offered up these two prayers, there was no-one present to record them for inclusion in our Scriptures. If no-one was present to record the prayers, how come we still have them today?

In order for us to have access to these two prayers of Jesus today, God must have revealed the content of them to someone who was worthy to view these holy moments, and who could be trusted to accurately record the occurrences.

No doubt, this trusted man was a prophet, seer and revelator. This prophet was obviously permitted to view and record the entire intercessory prayer of the Lord, and recorded it to our benefit.

The content of this prayer is doctrinally important, since it declares how the Father and the Son are one, and that every believer can become one in the exact same way.

There is no room for a dissection of the entire prayer in this article, but it can be found in John 17: 1-26.

Whether the prophet who was invited to view the personal prayers of the Master was permitted in his revelation to witness the entire suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane we know not, but it is clear that only a small portion of Jesus’ prayer was public domain;

“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt”. (Mathew 26:39)

Perhaps the words of the suffering God were so poignant that we could not bare to hear them.

Perhaps such a moment is too sacred to be had among the children of men, who will not shun to make light of the most sacred of things.

Perhaps we should rejoice that the words of that pivotal moment never could become part of “The Life of Brian”.

Arnold Ahlstrom is a Scripture-Sleuth, which is why he is building the site http://www.jesus-explained.org. He completed his Masters research in Psychology at the University of Lund in Sweden. Figuring out the How’s and Why’s, and sharing it with others, makes him truly happy.
Read more about the prayers of Jesus at my website which is at http://www.jesus-explained.org/jesus-prayer.html

Evangelism has moved in the last 20 years from being a monologue (one-sided conversation) to a dialog (two-way conversation.) There are people all around us who are receptive to spiritual discussions and open genuine spiritual guidance. George Barna sites, “That 62% of American adults consider themselves to be not merely religious, but deeply spiritual.” This means that there is more than a 50-50 chance of getting into some type of spiritual conversation with people who travel in and out of your life. Learning to engage people in a meaningful, spiritual dialog is critical for a spiritual leader.

Here are four ideas for increasing the spiritual conversations in your life:

1) Make It a Priority

It is important for a leader to think strategically about their conversations throughout the week. If you don’t plan it or make room for it, the likelihood is that it is not going to get done. I agree with Brian McLaren’s statement, “We should count conversations rather than conversions, not because I don’t believe in conversions, but because I don’t think we’ll get many conversions if we keep emphasizing them.” The number of conversations you have is directly related to the number of conversions you will see happen over a year. In coaching church leaders we use the 3 by 5 rule. If leaders are going to be serious about connecting with people they need to uncover at least 5 new contacts a day, equaling about 35 a week, which will lead to 3 “sit-downs” for a meaningful conversation.

How many contacts does it take for you to get a meaningful sit-down with a person?

2) Pray for Opportunities

I remember praying one morning, “Lord, it has been a while time since I led someone to you. Open the doors and show me who I need to speak to today.” As soon as I finished praying that prayer a man walked over to me and said, “Doesn’t that book (my pocket Bible) get old after a while?” which I replied, “It gets better every time I read it. Would you like to read it?” He took the Bible and began reading it. This resulted in a number of great conversations that eventually led to him and his family to attend our church and embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior.

When is the last time you asked God to open new doors of opportunity for you?

3) Get out and into your community

All too often we are so isolated from the world in which you live. Look at your calendar and see what fills your week. I encourage church planters to think about tithing their time to community service and interaction. As a planter I put in 60 plus hours a week. This meant about six hours a week out in the community like playing in a noon basketball league on Tuesdays and Thursdays or coaching my children’s baseball and football teams. My week could be filled with serving on various community committees within the school district or through the Chamber of Commerce. It could also involve attending community events or joining professional groups like Toastmasters International. I could easily fill up my six hours a week.

Opportunities abound when we get out into our communities. Jon Cawston, a church planter in Plainfield, IL., joined a local entrepreneurial networking group. After a couple of months of being in this group, he was wondering why he was there and was feeling out of place. Then a crisis took place within the group and he discovered that he instantly become “the chaplain” of the group which led to spiritual conversations.

Can you imagine all the spiritual conversations that could take place if your staff and leaders were encouraged to tithe their time to community service and interaction?

4) Establish routines and cultivate relationships

Beyond the tithe of your time in your community I encourage leaders to establish routines and patterns so that you build relational presence with business owners and servers. Think strategically about all your interactions and pray that you can be a redemptive influence within that social network. A couple of tell tale signs of this is, “Do people know your name?” or “Do you know peoples names?” Reggie McNeal loves to ask his servers, “I am going to pray for my meal and I always pray for my server. Is there anything I can pray for you specifically?” I can see this really working as you cultivate relationships and move them from the mundane to the spiritual.

What places do you frequent in your community?

Jesus, Paul and James used the analogy of the farmer when it comes to spiritual leaders patiently sowing, working and cultivating the work of the gospel. When it comes to engaging in spiritual conversations you need to have an attitude of a farmer, faithfully working and cultivating your community. The first two suggestions deal with the leader’s attitude, the next two suggestions deal with putting leaders in a position for engagement.

I learned a simple lesson over twenty-five years ago from an old missionary who said these words to me, “Gary you can’t serve God where you are not!” That statement helped me move away from dreaming about future ministry to engaging myself in the daily personal ministry right in front of me every day.

Gary Rohrmayer has a unique focus in mentoring leaders within God’s mission. He is a sought after personal coach for pastors, church planters and missional leaders. He specializes in the areas of spiritual formation, church multiplication and church health.
Your Journey Resources & Coaching Website
Gary Rohrmayer Blog

How can an organization that claims to be the ambassador of the creator of the heavens and earth become so ineffective at a global level? How can an organization that claims to be the ambassador of the one who created life lose so much influence over time? How can an institution that claims to be the ambassador of the one who is intimately involved in His creation be so divided? How can an organization that claims to be the ambassador of the one and only true God create such a disappointing church?

It would seem that the only people who haven’t figured out that they have lost influence in the world would be those that claim to be such ambassadors. At a surface level it would seem that the church has chosen to close itself off. It would seem that the church has created its very own bubble of self denial and smugness.

I have lived and worked in the church for the past 14 years and I have to say that my eyes have been opened to a world that I never knew existed. I have experienced and seen things in the local church that would make your stomach turn. I have heard and witnessed things in the “bride of Christ” that would cause any rabid fan to run away. I have seen people hurt, lives destroyed, people crushed, and arrogance abound. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of the local church and let me say, there are reasons why the church has become disappointing to so many.

I have seen to many people turned away from the church to remain silent. I have heard too many sermons of sincere pastor’s talk about changing the world with no real impact. I have read too many reports of how the church has lost influence in our world and seen to many variations of worship and practice of religion that the church ignores. It would seem that the entire world has moved on leaving the church behind, and what is sad, is that everyone knows it except for the local church. We have lost our right to be a viable option to those who are hurting and broken. We are a joke to the younger generation, and we have taken ownership of something that belongs to God.

I am not an atheist or one who thinks the church is dead or forever washed up. I am someone who has lived in the church world for the past 14 years and finally came to the conclusion that we are unable to accomplish what we claim. We are unable to translate what we believe into a reality.

I can not imagine too many pastors picking this up and reading it. For one reason, pastors could never be that honest with themselves. We are called to motivate and inspire people to action. We have to believe what we preach or we would all be doing something else.

To be honest, if we were for one instant to verbalized what I am going to share in this book we would loose our jobs and be completely ousted from our congregation. We have worked way to hard to risk reputation and pension for the sake of being brutally honest. And for some they would say I am completely wrong and lost my mind. Then enter into prayer, praying that God would change my mind and bring me back to a place of sanity.

Just the thought of writing this makes me feel like a traitor. I feel like I am turning my back on the one thing I have loved for so long. I have lived in a false reality for so long that it is like walls crashing down around me with the realization that the Church is not what it claims and promotes itself to be.

I am not saying that pastors are feeding us with lies and false hood. I’m not saying that pastors know what they are saying is false. I am not saying that the church doesn’t change people’s lives and doesn’t do an incredible amount of good. What I am saying is that the church has fallen short of accomplishing the mission God has called it to.

Wake up church and take responsibility for the condition we find ourselves in.

Phillip Longmire is a pastor taking an honest look at the local church. Come and share your thoughts at his blog. The Disappointing Church

Look around you and you will see them. Close your eyes and you will feel them. I’m talking about angels. They come in many forms, many colors, and many sizes, including male, female, and animal forms. They have different roles and serve different purposes. There are healing angels, messenger angels, protective angels, warrior angels, guide angels, teaching angels, and angels that inhabit certain places.

Angels are super compassionate beings that vibrate at a very high frequency, so consequently they are flooded with brilliant light in their natural form. There are hundreds and thousands of them with us. They need human prayers, either spoken out loud or in thought to move them to action. There is a symbiotic relationship between humans and the angelic beings. They cannot interfere unless they are asked through prayer or meditation.

That’s why anyone could be directed in a moment to pray for a total stranger, so that the angels may act even half way across the world. Angels also can be directed or commanded into action long before an accident or a tragedy has occurred, because you have already called them and released them into action by your words or your thoughts on a continuous basis long before anything has happened. If you are moved to pray for someone or some place and you don’t know why, just stop and pray. Direct angels to work on the behalf of the person or place that you are praying for.

If you don’t know the cause of your urgency to pray release and call all angels that may be appropriate. Call the healing angels, guide angels, warrior angels and protective angels. Speak to them directly and tell them that you want them to go immediately to the person or place that you are feeling or seeing at the time. “Angels protect her/him, help her/him right now. Do everything that you need to do to help her/him.” Or you could say, “I wrap this place in light right now. Warrior angels stand guard right now.” You can be very specific with them, or you can be more vague. But as clearly as you can direct them, it will ensure that the mission will get done very accurately and swiftly. The very precise angel for the job will be assigned. If you don’t know what to say, just say “Angels I command you to help her/him in every way that is needed right now.”

If there is healing to be done, that job is usually done by two or three angels. It is very rare that only one angel is required on a healing mission. Each one of us has a guardian angel that is always with us. When we gather in a group of people, thousands of guardian angels gather with us, at least one guardian per person. But there may be two or three assigned to one person at any given time. When we sing and worship, thousands of angels come to sing and hear the sounds and join in to celebrate. The Angels release a lot of joy and ecstasy in times of celebrations and prayer. One of their natural components is joy. They radiate joy and happiness.

When you direct them, you cannot direct them to manipulate, to hurt anyone, or destroy anything. They work on higher level of love and compassion and they will work with the best intention for everyone. They respect the free will of each person. For example, you cannot direct them to make someone love you or to be with you. You may pray or meditate that the best solution be done for all that are involved. Then the angels will act in the highest manner for each person. You may also pray that she/he be helped to see their ignorance of a situation. I’m sure you have had an encounter with an angel or two, maybe you didn’t even know it. But they are here!! So if you feel directed to pray on someone’s behalf, start praying, the Angels will take care of the rest.copyright 2006 Yoga Kat

Yoga Kat teaches children’s yoga ages 3-6, 7-12yrs and Adults in NJ. The Author of the book DAUGHTER BELOVED and created a children’s affirmation CD and an adult affirmation CD. Available for speaking and reached at yogakat@verizon.net or 201 970-9340–COMING SOON -http://www.thecircleofpeace.com

Even though I could remember talking to the Holy Spirit as a kid, when I was an adult and thought about talking to God, what came to my mind was: “Who are you to think that you can talk to God?” But the truth is, who am I not to? Who are YOU not to? When we think, “Who am I to talk to God?” we deny ourselves a relationship with God and the Holy Spirit. So even though the thought might arise, “who am I to think that I can talk to the Holy Spirit?” it is important to remember that it is just a thought. It’s just something that arises within your mind when you entertain the thought of connecting with God’s Voice.

There are lots of thoughts that arise just like that: “Talking to the Holy Spirit is impossible. Talking to the Holy Spirit is something that only very Holy people can do. Talking to the Holy Spirit is something that takes years and years of devotion and dedication.” All of these thoughts are untrue and keep you from connecting with the Holy Spirit in your life.

When you begin to think about talking to God and hearing His Voice, become aware of what thoughts arise. If you become afraid at the thought of talking to God, that just means that a thought has arisen within your mind that caused you to become fearful. A fear thought could be as simple as, “I’ll never be able to hear the Holy Spirit.” It could be a thought that says, “I’m not worthy of talking to God. God would never talk to me.” It could be, “Look at all the things that I have said and done. Why would God bother with me?”

Allow yourself to become aware of the thoughts that arise when you think about joining with God in the Holy Spirit in dialogue. Do your best to notice those thoughts, emotions, or beliefs as lovingly and kindly as you can. They are just thoughts that arise. They are not the truth. They are not a reflection of you. They’re just thoughts that arise, these little flea bites that distract you for a moment. When you notice them for what they really are and respond to them with truth, love, and kindness, you are free to continue to focus on your connection with God.

Let’s say, for example, that you have the thought: “Who am I to think that I can talk to God?” You can then remember: “Oh yeah, who am I NOT to? It’s my job to be connected with God in the Holy Spirit. That’s my job. That’s all God and the Holy Spirit would ask of me. Who am I not to?”
Or you have the thought: “Why would God want to talk to me?” You can respond, “Because God created me and God only sees my perfection. God wants nothing more than to talk with me through the Holy Spirit.”

“I’m not worthy. I’ve done these things, said these things, or thought these things. I’m not worthy to talk to God,” and you remind yourself, “God just loves. God wants to be in communication with me.”

Whatever thoughts arise, allow yourself to respond to them with Love and Truth. You know the truth in your heart. You know that God only loves you and wants to be in communication with you. So when you have the thought: “Oh, I’ve done these things or said these things. God does not want to communicate with me” you can remember, “Actually, God only loves me,” and continue to move past that thought or move on from that bug bite. Allow yourself to continue to move in the direction of connecting with God in the Holy Spirit. It’s as if you are maneuvering your way around these little distractions or obstacles, the little thoughts that arise, but you respond lovingly to them and remain on the pathway to God.

There is nothing that can stop you from getting to God. There is nothing that can keep you from your Father. Even if you’re not sure how to respond with the truth to a thought that arises, just remind yourself, “Nothing can keep me from my Creator,” and continue to move along on that path.

Since it is only a thought that can keep you from hearing God’s Voice, let yourself notice what thoughts have arisen in the past few minutes. Make note of the thoughts that sound familiar or the thoughts that have come to your mind and allow yourself in the next few days to continue to become more and more aware of what thoughts come up when you think about talking with God in the Holy Spirit. Really look at each thought and allow a truthful response to each one to come to you so that you know no matter what thought arises, there is nothing that can keep you from having a relationship with God and God’s Voice in your life. Focus on this in the next few days and find out how much more connected you feel to God in the Holy Spirit in doing so.

DavidPaul and Candace Doyle teach people how to hear the Holy Spirit within them. If you desire to receive ongoing guidance and direction from God to fulfill your life’s purpose, visit The Voice for God to receive their 30-day FREE audio series on how to hear God’s Voice in your life. Visit The Voice for Love to learn more about their work.