one power | Robbins Hopkins

Feb 18 2010

Unifying Prayer

Over many years, I have learned to use a particular type of prayer for spiritual healing. My prayers for wholeness have evolved and changed, continually seeking to capture the inherent power of Divine Presence.

I call this specific type of prayer, unifying prayer. Unifying prayer differs from intercessory prayer, centering prayer or supplication prayer, in that unifying prayer specifically emerges from knowing that we are One with All That Is. Unifying prayer calls upon our own Divine Resources, within a sacred space, working with other Divine Energy Beings for the purpose of calling forth Divine Grace for a person, place or situation.

Unifying prayer comes from

knowing that we and God, are One
knowing that Right Relationship with All That Is is our natural state
knowing that seeming imbalances can be transformed or shifted through Divine Grace

Healing comes from Divine Grace. Healing does not come from medicine, our prayers, surgery or therapy. All these things do have their place in healing but are really ways through which Divine Grace is made available through caring individuals in the course of one’s healing. This is a very important distinction. Healing comes from Divine Grace, the energy of Divine Presence being received by those needing healing. Many, many healing modalities can be employed to enable Divine Grace to be received.

If medicine healed in and of itself, all people with a cold would be able to take the exact same medicines and all would heal, every time. Because healing comes from Divine Grace, we have to receive this energy to heal. We may not even be consciously aware of receiving Divine Grace but that is what leads to healing. Generally imbalances manifesting as illness in the body come from blocked energy we humans have created, held onto, nurtured, etc., which disconnects us from Divine Grace. When medicine, prayers, therapy help us release blocked energy, we have the opportunity to reconnect with Divine Presence.

Divine Grace is Love in action. Every time I work with someone who is out of balance physically or mentally, I begin by opening Sacred Space so that I can join with other Divine Energy Beings to work together to call forth Divine Presence for a person, place or situation.

This is what I say:

I call forth my I Am Self ( the part of me that is wholly Divine) , the Ascended Masters, the Angelic Host, the Divine Cosmic Light Beings of the Universe, the Nature Intelligences, Divine Ancestors and Divine Physicians to help me hold this Sacred Healing and Wisdom Circle.

Because I am of Divine Essence like all beings, I have the authority, right and power to call such a circle into existence for the purpose of healing. I imagine that together we are very powerful. Together, all that I call forth is amplified by the Divine Beings working with me. Further, when I listen, the exact wording needed for a person or situation often emerges from the combined knowing of Divine Beings. Still though, in all situations and in all ways, Divine Grace does the re-balancing, the healing, the pacing of the energy shifts, creation and implementation of the plan. I simply call Divine Grace forth, knowing that balance, wholeness and peace is the natural state of bodies, places and situations.

Unifying Prayer begins with the knowing that God and I are One, inseparably, for all eternity. This is the aspect of unifying prayer which sets it apart from all other prayer. This type of prayer emerges out of this knowing of Oneness with all things. Therefore, in unifying prayer, the Lord’s Prayer for example becomes, you give us this day our daily bread, you forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. You lead us not into temptation and you deliver us from evil. In the use of this wording, we are affirming the power of the Great Oneness/God from our sense of knowing of the Oneness ourselves.

Divine Grace, we call forth the Sacred Flame from within Emil to consume the blocked spiritual and fear energy manifesting as depression and self-inflicted pain. This unifying prayer restates our connection with All That Is by affirming that the Sacred Flame is within Emil. The prayer names fear and blocked energy as the reasons behind the manifestation of the imbalances in his life. No power is given to the imbalances. The act of calling forth the Sacred Flame itself is an act of Oneness, recognizing that all people can call forth the sacred flame form of God.

God please help Emil because he is a good person and has lost his way. This prayer assumes that the person praying, God, and Emil are all separate from one another. These words give the impression that God needs to be informed that Emil is a good person. Also, inherent in this prayer is an assumption that help for Emil is not being given by God at the present time. Further, this prayer bases the request for help on a judgement that because Emil is a good person, he deserves help. This stance goes against the Divine order which again and again states that the Highest Good is always what is being desired for us.

I see the Light in Emil and call for the highest benevolent outcome of his current circumstances. This is a unifying prayer affirming that the Light, a form of God, is within Emil. Further, the specifics of the outcome are left to All That Is. However, our calling this energy into this dimension from the realm of unformed energy is very powerful and supports the presence of Divine Grace for Emil.

We lift Emil into the Light and pray for his complete recovery from depression. This is not a unifying prayer because it talks about lifting Emil into “the Light” meaning that Emil is now, out of the Light. We are always in Light even when we are manifesting energy which is out of balance. Further, depression is spoken about here as a condition with its own power rather than as a condition which is temporarily present due to blocked energy which can always be transformed by Divine Grace.

Our words are powerful healing tools. Use prayers which reflect the power we are working with. Make certain that your prayers affirm the Oneness, All Power, All Knowing, Omnipresent characteristics of God. When the words correctly and powerfully reflect the Truth that is God, they are charged with a power beyond human means. They then carry the charge of the power of the Great Grace to heal.

Nov 12 2009

Beloved I AM Presence

The I AM Presence is part of every person on Earth though many of us have no idea what this means. The I AM Presence is the Oneness which exists way beyond our bodies, our lifetimes and our memories of experiences in this world. The Oneness is the state of consciousness which manifests as connectedness with All That Is. The I AM Presence is that which is Eternal about us, and thereby is pure love, pure wholeness and perfect balance.

The I AM Presence actually can’t be captured in words though that does not stop me nor others from trying to explain this state. The I AM Presence is a state of consciousness which is available to all peoples, any place, all of the time.

When I call forth the I AM Presence into a sacred space, I think of this as calling the Highest Energy of the Most High. Do I really know what this means, how it was created, or from whence it came? Not really. What I do know is that when I call this energy, I and others feel compelled to speak the Truth, are touched by an energetic state of being, each sensing this in his or her own unique way. I know there is a qualitative difference in space when I call the I AM Presence into that space. I feel a sudden and vast support, power and infinite knowing way beyond the capacities of my own being.

Recently when working with St. Germain’s energy and teachings, I was struck again by the power of recognizing the I AM Presence in All That Is. When we recognize an other’s birthday, contributions, gifts, or talents, our relationship with that other person is strengthened because of this recognition.

Happy Our Birthday :) bu Hamid Saber — Happy Our Birthday 🙂 bu Hamid Saber

As we feel gratitude and appreciation for another, the goodness of the relationship grows. What we focus on, grows. If we walk through the halls and say hello to others, our relationships are strengthened by these acts of recognition. This very same principle is at work when we recognize, speak with, call forth, love and honor Divine Presence.

Before we begin to recognize the Divine in specific ways, the concept of Divine Presence remains shadowy, vaguely unformed possibilities for a rainy day. When we recognize Divine Presence, that relationship grows, is strengthened and the goodness itself expands as we take this into our heart, minds and our being.

You may ask what is the difference between the I AM Presence and God? I really don’t know. For me, the I AM Presence is within and without as is the “kingdom of God”. Perhaps they are different aspects of Divine Source or perhaps they are exactly the same. What I know is that the I AM Presence is here, now and is an integral part of me and probably has been for all my existence. I am sure that I am moving more deeply into Divine Space when I recognize my Beloved I AM Presence. I know these connections only come through Silence and meditation. It is not possible to know the I AM Presence with one’s mind. I can know of the I AM Presence with my mind but in order to know the I AM Presence, my mind has to be quiet and calm. That is the way it works.

Last week I discovered in Silence that one can be out of Right Relationship with one’s I AM Presence. Right Relationship is defined by Divine Knowing and means being in perfect harmony with something or someone. Being out of Right Relationship with the I AM Presence looks like not acknowledging this Presence, being skeptical that one is good enough to have a relationship with the I AM Presence, denying the Divine Presence in our life or remaining undecided about whether to believe in a Goodness beyond ourselves. This is very similar to wanting to have a relationship with another while never accepting offers to date, to mingle or to be in the public where meeting someone might happen. If we don’t acknowledge the Great I AM Presence, it can remain an elusive uncertainty for as many lifetimes as we would like.

St. Germain’s teachings encourage us to Love our I AM Presence. That was a new thought. How do I Love my I AM Presence? I am certain that I can’t love something that I have never recognized. So, calling forth the I AM Presence into meetings, gatherings, arguments, decisions, prayers, meditation and illness is a perfect way to have this energy take form in your life and grow in power, presence, vitality and form.

TRY THESE COMMANDS

I call forth my I AM Presence in Its full Power and Knowing

I send unbounded Love to my I AM Presence and invite this energy into every aspect of my life.

I call the Ascended Masters to teach me about my I AM Presence

I release all my blocked energy regarding the existence of my I AM Presence.

I call for the expansion of my consciousness so I can embrace the I AM Presence as a force in my life.

Recognizing the I AM Presence leads to more abundance. Every constructive form on the Earth came from some Cosmic Being’s Love.

The birds, the trees, the plants, the water, the mountains, the animals and all of us came from Love. It does not matter what we call this Comic Being. It matters greatly what we learn from the beauty, love and power of life around us. All life around us was created from Love because Love is the only eternal force in the Universe. Further, Light comes ONLY from Love. Light ALWAYS overcomes the darkness.

When we recognize our Mighty I AM Presence, we are saying YES to Love, to Oneness and therefore to Light. Abundance is a quality of the Light. Practice recognizing the Beloved I AM Presence and experience more Love, Light and Abundance in your life. We get all the help we need as we begin to take steps to bring this energy more fully into our daily lives. As we begin to take steps towards the recognition of Divine Presence, the Love, Light and Abundance of life will show itself more frequently and completely in our day to day world.

Oct 18 2009

One day in India

My time in India was a time of sharp contrasts and self-reflection. I have not been surrounded by that level of ever present poverty with the exception of working in the Yucatan in the late 1960s, since I was in India three years ago.

The contrasts of the grinding poverty and the brilliant saris in the middle of the street seemed strange. Isn’t poverty’s color grey or somber? Everywhere one looks in the towns is rubble, dirt, rocks, thatch huts, make-shift housing that is not make-shift, beggars, and need. Yet the street markets are filled with flowers, fruits, and vegetables of every rainbow color. The living things of color dot the context of greyness like determined hope.

In the middle of all of this, a family serves 14 of us, the guests, a hot lunch everyday we are in their home and invites us to bask in their cheerfulness and love.

One can see the need in the faces of the street children, their outstretched hands immediately present when we stop. More need is etched in the wrinkles of the aged women who live on the streets.

One feels the overwhelming press of people, everywhere. When looking at the sidewalks, they are usually 4 deep with people, all the time.

Townspeople viewing an accident by Liz Spiwack

The roads are pressed with people, all the time. There are those permanently connected to the ground through affliction and physical impairment, at every turn.

One has to release all sense of normalcy as we move through the throngs of people, motorcycles, auto-rickshaws, bikes, cars and trucks. All is up to God, in every single way. My sense of order, fabric of the society and the way one makes sense out of the world does not work in India as She has her own rhythm and vibration, completely apart from what is familiar to those of us visiting. All the assumptions we hold do not work there. There is another order of society which is not visible to us, however hard we try to see it. I am constantly reminded that I am a visitor, in all ways.

The best we can do is to get a driver we can speak with who can be our go-between. The best we can do is to eat all things cooked which are put before us and to eat nothing raw. The best we an do is to be respectful of the religions ceremonies we are invited to attend and release all thoughts of what we are doing in India. It is not clear why one is necessarily called to India, it just simply happens.

Nothing is familiar, but a shared love of the Divine arrived at from vastly different paths, yet shared all the same. That is the amazing walk in India.

Amidst an endless background of poverty, one experiences the holy shrines, the elaborate religious festivals, the chanting of devotionals, the taking of prasada, blessed holy food, the use of the vibuti, the gift of amrita and cum-cum. All the outwards ways of worshiping, are unfamiliar but the sharing of the Energy of Divine Presence is completely familiar.

It is as if all the signals for living are completely switched around and one has to make one’s way on faith that all will be fine. Every moment of every day, one has to walk in faith that all will be fine. Simply the process of putting on a sari in and of itself is daunting.

Robbins dressed for the puja by Liz Spiwack

How does one put on 8 yards of material and move through the day? All the conflicting energy around one’s public self and one’s private self gets a good shake-up. Who are we really at the end of the day? What is it that makes for order and “ordinary” time. Certainly, not anything that shows on the outside. That is all jumbled up because of the clothing we are wearing and the process of walking barefoot through all the shrines and homes, and the process of chanting and praying in Sanskrit, or Hindi, or English. Can we really connect when we are this far out of our comfort zone?

I am so relieved again to find that my time in Silence is a constant. It is a constant I can find again, there, with all those people who are so different from me. It is a constant that sees me through, even in the strangeness of the clothing I am wearing, the sounds I am hearing, the visions I am seeing, the smells I am smelling. The Silence is my welcoming friend of deep solace. It is my refuge that somehow reassures me that I am fine, that I am whole, that I am in that place for something I can’t understand with my mind, only with my heart. Silence leads me to the space of deep connectedness with All That Is, including the very strange surroundings and customs I find myself partaking in.

Am I being true to myself? What does all that even really mean, while being in India? Do my outside actions really reflect who I am. Probably not, as I feel off-kilter much of the time I am there. I welcome smiles and kind words of those helping us through all of this. I welcome the room given to us to rest where there is an air conditioner, a western toilet and places to leave our things.

Sari Lesson from Ribini for Robbins by Liz Spiwack

I am touched by the helpful hands of young woman who teaches me to wrap the sari more securely. I welcome the intimate stories of the woman in conjunction with her husband and family, who has overseen the expansion of support for 25 rural schools in south India, the creation of an orphanage, a medical clinic and an aging folks home. All this in the midst of overwhelming physical poverty.

In their home, there are two large shrines to All That Is, known to them and many others, as Sai Baba. There are all sorts of stories of the pictures and statues spontaneously producing vibuti, sacred ash, which has to be scooped up regularly. There is another reality they are living with, which I thankfully know in Silence, Love and Blessing. We connect even though we are worlds apart, we are One. That is beyond all that I could ever imagine, really way beyond anything my mind could have thought of. That is why I have been called to India. We are really All One, even though we may only have a glimpse of it one day in India.

My thanks to Liz Spiwack, one of my traveling companions, for the sharing of these photos from our trip for use in this post.

Jun 10 2009

Loving Self

Loving Self is the fastest way to create a stronger connection with Spirit. However, most of us are not proficient in doing this. We may think we know all about Loving Self but it is the last area we master, as spiritually developing beings, in body. This can take several lifetimes to fully master. However, we are given all the chances we need to make decisions for ourselves which are loving and in integrity with our spiritual, True Selves.

1. One step to Loving Self is embracing that God and I Are One. We are not separate from God/Spirit. We may feel disconnected but in truth we cannot be separate no mater what we do, feel, don’t do, think or imagine. We are One with All That Is and that’s the Truth. Most of us do not know this however because we give our power to human fears, emotions and thoughts every day. This results in making us feel we are separate from Divine Presence.

Many of us do not gift ourselves with the experience of meditation and authentic prayer,

so we do not have the daily opportunity to learn from Spirit that we and God/Great Spirit are One. Even if we do meditate, we may not be actively releasing our human fears, thoughts and emotions. Therefore, we may be peaceful in Silence and then go right out and have an argument with our co-worker because we are not releasing our fears and concerns proactively, clearing our energy field and making more space for Divine Presence in our lives.

At the very least, affirm out loud and daily,

There is One Power, One Source, One Life Force.
I Am One with All That Is.
I Am an Individualized Expression of God.

This brings Divine Knowing more readily into our energy fields as we affirm these truths regularly.

2. Loving Self has nothing to do with personal indulgence and everything to do with living in integrity. Loving Self is going out with friends and NOT over drinking, over eating, over smoking, over spending, over gambling or over sexing with others. Anything prefaced by “over” is not living in integrity. We usually know when we have “over” done something though frequently, not at the time. Perhaps for a time it feels easier to pretend to ignore this information we have about ourselves. This pretense is costly to us. When we “over do” we are by definition, out of balance. This absolutely affects us mentally, emotionally, spiritual and physically. Living in integrity is Loving of Self and by the way, benefits not only ourselves but all whom we meet.

The energy of being with friends, can be a very self loving experience if we are able to be our authentic selves in their company and receive affirmation for our own True Selves. This looks like being able to say I’m sorry for something we have done which was unkind or unthoughtful and being forgiven. This looks like being able to say, “this was great but now I need to get some rest to function tomorrow”. This looks like being able to set good boundaries for ourselves and have our friends or partners respect this in us.

3. Other acts of integrity include saying “no” to requests of us which are not good for us, helpful for others or respectful of our own inner knowing for ourselves.

Robert (name changed) is a management consultant in his late thirties, in international management. When just setting out, he felt he had to take all work that came his way for financial reasons. He loved the bi-play around negotiating new work, agreeing on the rates, specifying deliverables and getting the contract. However, time and again, he experienced a sense of deflation when it was time to actually do the work.

Robert did notice repeatedly, that if a contract was good for him, it was almost without exception, good for the clients as well. He began to try to determine while negotiating contracts, if he would enjoy the actual work. He made some spectacularly bad choices during this time. His fear of having enough money continued to play heavily into his judgment about clients. After 3 years of working with this rather directly, he turned away a very large contract for 6 months of nearly full salary, because it felt really wrong for him.

After that time, he had appreciably fewer bad contracts show up in his life, because his learning was complete. His soul was at peace with regard to these learnings and therefore he no longer attracted these situations to himself. He had learned to live in integrity with himself and not to “prostitute himself” for the sake of prestige, money, recognition, or safety. In Loving Self enough to only accepting work situations which were good for him, Robert radically transformed his life for the good, in all areas, not just with work.

In facing these situations for yourself ask the following:

Is this a loving choice for me?
Am I being honest with myself, about whether this is good for me ?
What is making me consider working (or staying) in this setting which I know is crummy for me?

4. Loving Self requires proactive attention to our deepest needs. If we are not getting enough exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep, or spending endless hours before a computer or TV, we need to attend to this. It is a loving act to pay attention to these things. If we are deeply lonely, we need to take steps to be with others even if it feels like a big risk. If we are in a bad relationship, we need to ask for Divine Help to come forth within us, release all that is our part of the bad relationship, and bless the other person regardless of the past. If we are bored, we need to name the fear behind this and face it squarely so that we can move on from the languishing energy.

Loving Self is creating more compassion with ourselves in all areas of our lives. Love heals all things, no matter the size or complexity of what we might be facing. Clear the fear you carry connected with the situation, call in Love even though you may not know what next steps to take because such acts create a stronger connection with All That Is, which leads to Inner Peace.

Jun 04 2009

Intentional Partnering with God (excerpt)

Sermon for May 24, 2009
Comm-Unity On the Hill,* Washington, D.C.
Rev. Robbins S. Hopkins, Ed.D.

Editor’s Note:

I recently began attending a Sunday service at a Unity Church in Washington, D.C. I found this group after several people independently recommended this spiritual group to me. I am very happy with this group’s inclusiveness, openness and joyful singing. This post is an excerpt of the sermon I offered when asked to speak one Sunday. To see the full sermon, click either on the title Intentional Partnering with God on the navigation bar at the top of this page or click on the link at the bottom of this page. If you are looking for a place of worship, do consider coming one Sunday to visit. Specifics about the congregation are offered at the end of the full sermon.

Opening Prayer

Spirit of the Living God, we open to the Presence of Love within us and among us, as we gather here today. Our thanks for the blessings of our lives and for this time of worship and reflection together. And So It Is. Amen.

Sermon

I am so happy to be here with you, today. I have been earnestly looking for a spiritual congregation for three years where I might worship and share my talents. I fortunately have had a lot of sign posts and help along the way. At the Sacred Circles Conference in February of this year at the National Cathedral, four different people told me of this congregation. In fact, the workshop for that conference which I gave was held in this very room.

After those four different conversations, I imagined a loud voice saying rather pointedly to me, “Robbins, are you getting this? This is the place you have been looking for.” I just laughed. I rarely get messages which are that emphatic and pointed. It would have been most unwise for me to ignore that. So, I have been happily coming here since the end of February.

I am also so pleased to have been asked to speak with you. I am a minister of spiritual healing. Among other things, this may be the very first place in years perhaps ever, really, that I could say this out loud, from the pulpit and not wonder if a significant number from the congregation might actually get up and leave. This is the absolute truth.

As a minister of spiritual healing, I work with unseen energies. I work with energies in our mind, in our hearts, in our bodies, in our relationships, in our spirit, and in our Universe. Unseen energy includes feelings like fear, anger, love or appreciation. Unseen energy also includes the energy of my passed mother, my relationship with my brothers, a client’s depression, loss or cancer, the energy of Ascended Masters like Jesus and Buddha, the nature spirits, energy of our ancestors and the presence of the Angelic Host, to name a few.

Editor’s Note: Click here to see full sermon. http://robbinshopkins.com/intentional-partnering-with-god/ or click on the title Intentional Partnering with God on the navigation bar at the top of the page, for the full text.

Sermon for May 24, 2009 Comm-Unity On the Hill,* Washington, D.C. Rev. Robbins S. Hopkins, Ed.D.

Opening Prayer

Sermon

Sermon for May 24, 2009
Comm-Unity On the Hill,* Washington, D.C.
Rev. Robbins S. Hopkins, Ed.D.