Showing results by narrator "Jim Wentland" in All Categories

No one can doubt that Jesus was the wisest man who ever lived. Anyone who could transform other people's lives as he did must have possessed the secret of the ages. Jesus possessed a secret so profound, so powerful, and so awe-inspiring that he became the greatest figure in human history. Jesus had knowledge of a power so great that it commanded the wind and the waves. And you and I wish to discover this secret and to make use of this power.

We are all on the receiving line, wishing to get the most out of life. We wouldn't be normal if we didn't wish to enjoy living, for life is made to live. How could there be a song unless someone sings it? But sometimes we fail to realize that there is an exact law of life which tells us that in the long run we shall only receive what we give.

Did you know that you are a wonderful person in your own right, that life has set a unique stamp of individuality on you, and that no one else can ever take your place in the scheme of things? No two persons have identical thumb prints, no two blades of grass are alike, no two leaves of trees, no two snowflakes are ever identical.

The ideal of this brotherhood is to draw angels and men, two branches of the infinite family of God, into close cooperation. The chief purpose of such cooperation is to uplift the human race. To this end the angels, on their side, are ready to participate as closely as possible in every department of human life and in every human activity that holds cooperation in view.

I think you are all familiar with the sixth Beatitude: "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." I daresay it would be unwise to pick and choose among the beatitudes, and yet I daresay most people look upon this beatitude as the particular star in the heavens. It really seems the most inaccessible - not only the promise, but the conditions that must be met in order for the promise to be fulfilled. We must be pure in heart to see God - and what wouldn't man give to see God!

Friends, we are all in search of something that will make life worthwhile. And this something that we are in search after is God, the living Spirit, God the eternal presence. Not a God that is far away from us, but a God who is ever closer to us than our very breath. The discovery of God in yourself is the greatest discovery you can ever make. And so, today, I am calling this talk, "God Is Your Adventure".

Blake asked the question: "Why is it that the Bible is more entertaining and instructive than any other book? Is it not because it is addressed to the Imagination, which is spiritual sensation, and only immediately to the understanding, or reason?" The one book, called the Bible, is composed of 66 books. Take this challenge. Study each book as though the depth of your soul is speaking to your surface mind. As though the ineffable Imagination is speaking to the human Imagination, and not to your immediate understanding or reasoning mind.

You will find this a very practical night, for I feel that the truth of the working of God's law should be looked upon as intensely as anything in this world. So tonight I want to show you quite clearly how God's law operates.

Today I want to tell you the story of a beautiful young woman who proved in her own experience that there is one divine presence in everything and in everyone. This is the story of a young school teacher who learned how to solve her problems through meditation and prayer.

Some time ago I read a short article called "The Scent of Fear" in which it was claimed that fear exudes a scent that an animal can smell. The author claimed that this scent of fear arouses an antagonism within the animal and he often attacks in self-defense.

I want to tell you about a 10-year-old boy who was brought to me because of a continual trouble with his throat. His eyes, too, were somewhat affected. He was getting good medical attention, but in spite of this his throat trouble persisted and without any apparent physical reason. It was thought that perhaps his problem was an emotional one.

There is a creative urge back of everything you do - an urge to express life, joy and happiness, an urge to reach out to everything that lives, as though you belong in the universe in which you live; to be one with it and have an enthusiastic zest for living. Man's nature is such that it is necessary for him to express life, to come into the fulfillment of joy and happiness and he is disconsolate until this happens.

The miracles of Jesus were valid. He was neither a trickster nor a slight-of-hand artist. Jesus meant exactly what he said and said exactly what he meant. He deliberately followed his teaching by providing physical evidence that he had access to a spiritual power which he used as consciously as you and I use any other laws of nature.

When Emil Coue came to this country a number of years ago, he brought with him a piece of string with 20 knots in it, and an idea of which the string was but a symbol. His ideas that if you run your fingers over the 20 knots, repeating rapidly, "Every day, and in every way, I am becoming better and better," you will finally arrive at an affirmative realization of life. His piece of string was a method for changing the thought patterns that are more or less set within our minds.

Now tonight let me share with you some experiences to show you that it is all your own wonderful human imagination. You might have read last Saturday's Los Angeles Times. On the front page in bold, bold type is the story of a plane. A story was told, and shown on TV, and made very, very popular by Rod Serling.

The weight of the world on my shoulders, I lit a Newport with my trusty Zippo Anarchy lighter and reflected on this career I've been pursuing for most of my adult life, dealing with life-and-death situations on a daily basis and coping with the consequences of things I've done in the line of duty. The choices you make can cost you. In police work, as in life, even when you do the right thing sometimes things turn out horribly wrong.

When you find your own wonderful human imagination to be the creative power of the world, you will find it a "wild vine", where you have misused this talent and imagined every unlovely thing in the world. Now, when you find it, you must prune it, and, so, you prune it by the proper use of it, and you stop misusing the power that is Christ-in-you.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal - that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights....

Today we are going to talk about your future. Life has set the stamp of individuality on your soul. You are different from any other person who ever lived. You are an individualized center in the consciousness of God. You are a personal activity in the action of God. You are you, and you are eternal, and you are free.

Then the disciples of Jesus asked, “What must we do that we may work the works of God?“ all the reply that Jesus gave was, “Believe”, and this was the substance of all his instruction. Set your thoughts in a certain direction; make your mind to hold thoughts that believe in the Good as possible. That is all that is necessary for us to do to increase our belief, to extend the boundaries of what we believe to be possible. All that we are now is the result of our believing; every action and word shows forth what we have been believing, and are now holding in mind.