by Alan Langstaff

We send out the Langstaff Letter each week (usually on Thursday), and in turn, we also receive letters from the people who get our letters. So today I want to share a few of those letters received this last month. To start with, here is a response to the letters regarding the Holy Spirit.

“You bring back a very clear memory of my experience! I had been born again only a few weeks and was in a prayer meeting. At the end of that meeting it was announced that the prayer room was open for people to be prayed for to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. As I walked down the hall to that room, I said to the Lord, I don’t know what that is, but I want everything You have for me. Later that night, I awakened from sleep and received the Baptism and tongues! I asked and God gave”
– N.S.

Also, another letter regarding the Holy Spirit.

“I have received the Baptism of The Holy Spirit many years ago as you probably did, With many missions trips and with people here have prayed for and laid hands on people to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with tongues if they wanted it. I would pray them one at a time and the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit moved. I gave all the Glory, Honor and Praise to God, it was an honor to do His Work.”
– G.

I also want to share a portion of a letter I received from a friend who is both a teacher and a theologian. He writes – 

“Thank you for this, Pastor Alan. Thorough…as usual! And also very clear, as usual! The only addition I would make is adding in Romans 8’s mention of “groanings too deep for words”, wherein the Holy Spirit makes intercession with our own spirits, in accordance with the will of God. Many Catholic charismatics, in the early days, would comment that believers already “possessed” the Holy Spirit, but needed Him to be “released in power” in their lives — thus not receiving a new “dose”, so to speak, so much as a divine intervening to enable the Spirit within them to operate with greater freedom and sovereignty than before….

Today, 58 years ago (May 28, 1968, at 3:40 pm CDST, it was the Tuesday before Memorial Day that Thursday and just prior to Pentecost Sunday that year on June 2), I was healed of seven maladies, delivered of a spirit of condemnation, and baptized in the Holy Spirit — all at once, after prayer from a team of intercessors at Teen Challenge in Chicago. I had wondered how I would “honor” that day/today’s date on the calendar, when I got up this morning — and then was greeted with this wonderful article from my old friend and co-worker from days past!”
– L.W.

Finally, I want to share a portion of a letter received this week. It is from a friend whom I first met in prison. I have shared his story before but just to review things I was Presiding Elder of a Ministerial Association and two of our members in Ohio went each week to minister to prisoners. I asked if I could come along with them one day. It was during this visit that I met “Irish Johnny.” He was working on the T.V. ministry in the jail, and he asked me to be a guest on the show. It lasted almost an hour, and during the taping, I felt my heart bond to Irish Johnny. He was in jail because he committed murder and was there many years in a life sentence. After the visit, we kept in touch by email, and eventually, when he came up for parole (which he was initially denied) I wrote on his behalf to the Parole Board. Eventually, he was paroled, and there were people ready to help him following his release. Just this week, he wrote this email, which I want to share with you.

“I know it has been a while since I’ve last contacted you. I want you to know that all is well with me, my wife, Dee, and our family. Between Dee and I we have 10 grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren, and one more great grandchild on the way! The vine is still very fruitful! 

The ministry I started 3 and 1/2 years ago is growing. We now have a website: madetobefreeministries.com …

I share the story about the dream you had when you were in the early stages of your ministry And you wanted God to bless you with everything he had for you all at once. In the dream you were on an operating table surrounded by doctors, with Jesus, being the main doctor standing at the head of the operating table. Do you remember sharing this with me? You said all the doctors surrounding the operating table said you needed operations on many parts of your body. Jesus informed them, that the operations would have to be done one at a time, for if they did them all at the same time it would kill you! 

You shared that dream with me because I had shared with you that I wanted all that God had for me and I wanted it right now! The dream told us both that God would, in fact, bless us with what he had for us, but in his time, and not all at once!

I remember our talks and the impact you have had on my life through the Holy Spirit! 

Be blessed my Brother!”
– Johnny

Irish Johnny is for me a demonstration of how a person can be changed by the Gospel of Jesus. Irish Johnny is now a new man, and he is leading as a new man in Christ, both as a husband and as a family man, and through the ministry he feels led by the Lord to commence.

I urge you to check it out. It is madetobefreeministries.com.

A FINAL THOUGHT

We send you this letter each week, and we would love to hear from you. Such as the testimonies related to the Langstaff Letters on the Holy Spirit. Some of you are new to this letter, and others have been receiving it for years. Perhaps you know friends who would benefit from receiving this letter. All they (or you) have to do is send us an email address to kairosmin@aol.com, and we will add you to this list. 

God bless you as you read this letter,
and God bless you in your whole life.