Abiding in Identity


Book Description

But, really, who are you? Are you ready to let that question shake you to your core-as you peel away layers of false identity built on shifting and ephemeral factors and learn to embrace your true self found in Jesus Christ alone? No job, no family relationship, no personality type or nationality or accomplishment can offer you what Christ does: an abiding identity of righteousness in Him. Nate Sweeney-Directional Leader of Catalyst Church in Bentonville, Arkansas, and Founder and Directional Leader of The Abiding Network-has a calling and passion to help people know Christ and make Him known. The author of The Abiding Church and Abiding at the Feet of Jesus now takes us deeper still in this powerful study of the Christian's identity. As you read this book, you will discover: What it means to be righteous in the here and now, not just someday in eternity False ideas you assumed at salvation that are hindering your current growth Ways you might be substituting legalism and self-righteousness for an abiding relationship How overcoming temptation and renewing your mind lead to a path of transformation The cost and joy of discipleship when you submit to Christ as Lord Plus, each chapter concludes with workbook questions, an action step, and a journal prompt to aid you in personalizing and applying the truths you have learned. Will you let this world's system and the enemy of your soul define you? Their subtle tactics often feel familiar and safe. But if you are tired of both religious facades and false pretenses of grace, begin reading Abiding in Identity: Who I Am Because of Whose I Am today-and open the door to living in radical discipleship and authentic righteousness!




Discovering Our Spiritual Identity


Book Description

Each chapter in this workbook by Trevor Hudson is peppered with "holy experiments," simple practices that bring you into God's presence and help you experience life as his beloved. At the end of each chapter is a set of questions which are ideal for discussion with one or two spiritual friends or a small group. A Renovaré Resource.




The Truest Thing about You


Book Description

There are many true things about you—true things you use to build an identity. Parent. Introvert. Victim. Student. Extrovert. Entrepreneur. Single. These truths can identify you, your successes and failures, your expectations and disappointments, your secret dreams and hidden shames. But what if your true identity isn't found in any of these smaller truths, but in the grand truth of who God says you are? In other words, lots of things are true about you—but are they the truest? David Lomas invites you to discover and live out the truth of who God created you to be: you are loved, you are accepted, and you are made in God's image. It's time to move beyond the lesser voices and discover why everything changes when you become who you really are.




Leadership as an Identity


Book Description

Ask yourself this question: What type of character qualifies the people God chooses to use? The question itself assumes an atypical answer, simply because it leaves out so much. To ask only about one's character seems inadequate when defining a leader. We surely need to ask about character, but also about personality, communication skills, IQ, education, previous experience, and more... don't we? Crawford Loritts disagrees. He answers the question with four simple words: Brokenness, communion, servanthood, and obedience. These four traits form the framework for Leadership as an Identity. By examining each trait, Loritts undermines many pervasive assumptions about leadership that are unbiblical. According to Loritts, God doesn't look for leaders like the world does. He looks for disciples, and ironically, as these disciples follow Him, they will lead.




Living Fearless


Book Description

Jamie Winship spent nearly 30 years living and working in conflict zones, and during that time he has learned an important truth: all human conflict originates from fear, and fear originates from a false view of God, ourselves, and others. Until we exchange what's false for what's real, we will never experience being fully alive, fully human, and fully free. Unpacking the power of knowing our true identity in Christ, Winship takes us on a journey of telling ourselves the truth, changing our mindsets, and experiencing actual life transformation that leads to radical courage in the face of all that life throws at us. With humor, clarity, and real-life practicality, Living Fearless is your invitation to listen closely to what God is trying to say to you about himself, about the person he created you to be--and also about all those other people he created and loves. If you want to discover the incredible difference abiding in Christ will make in your life and faith, get ready to do "a new thing" with God.




Compelled by Grace


Book Description

Grace is compelling when it is allowed to make its way into every aspect of the Christian life. With our personal abandonment and absolute trust in Him, God will lead us through a journey in life that will provide us the most challenging, yet satisfying, spiritual adventure we could ever desire. This book offers just such a journey for the reader, as we venture into Gabe 's valley and discover the kingdom secrets waiting to be revealed. Make some time in your busy schedule and take a walk through the story you will read in this book. Perhaps you will discover something you have been looking for, an important kingdom secret God wants you to know.




Sacred Rest


Book Description

Staying busy is easy. Staying well rested-now there's a challenge. How can you keep your energy, happiness, creativity, and relationships fresh and thriving in the midst of never-ending family demands, career pressures, and the stress of everyday life? In Sacred Rest, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine doctor, reveals why rest can no longer remain optional. Dr. Dalton-Smith shares seven types of rest she has found lacking in the lives of those she encounters in her clinical practice and research-physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, sensory, social, creative-and why a deficiency in any one of these types of rest can have unfavorable effects on your health, happiness, relationships, creativity, and productivity. Sacred Rest combines the science of rest, the spirituality of rest, the gifts of rest, and the resulting fruit of rest. It shows rest as something sacred, valuable, and worthy of our respect. By combining scientific research with personal stories, spiritual insight, and practical next steps, Sacred Rest gives the weary permission to embrace rest, set boundaries, and seek sanctuary without any guilt, shame, or fear.




Abiding in the Father ́s Love


Book Description

We were created to live loved by the Father. This is much more than just a one time encounter. Our Father wants us to abide in His love. It is possible to make abiding in His love our lifestyle and Jesus wants to reveal the love of God to us. He wants to take us on a journey into the heart of the Father. On this journey two important things will be revealed to us. First, we find out who God really is, that He is our loving Father. Secondly, we will realize that we are His beloved children. We find our identity by knowing His heart. This revelation has impacted me beyond what words could ever express. It has healed my heart and led me into a life of rest and freedom. God has given me a new identity and I have found my home by abiding in His love. In this book, I want to share with you some of the insights and revelations that has strengthened and encouraged me throughout my journey of knowing the Father. It will inspire and encourage you in getting to know God as your Father, as well as helping you to be established in your true identity as His beloved child.




Opening to God


Book Description

Spiritual director Benner invites believers to discover openness to God as the essence of prayer, spirituality, and the Christian life. Using the four movements of "lectio divina," he explores prayer as attending, pondering, responding, and being.




Paul and the Creation of Christian Identity


Book Description

In the dominant interpretation of the Antioch incident Paul is viewed as separating from Peter and Jewish Christianity to lead his own independent mission which was eventually to triumph in the creation of a church with a gentile identity. Paul's gentile mission, however, represented only one strand of the Christ movement but has been universalized to signify the whole. The consequence of this view of Paul is that the earliest diversity in which he operated and which he affirmed has been anachronistically diminished almost to the point of obliteration. There is little recognition of the Jewish form of Christianity and that Paul by and large related positively to it as evidenced in Romans 14-15. Here Paul acknowledges Jewish identity as an abiding reality rather than as a temporary and weak form of faith in Christ. This book argues that diversity in Christ was fundamental to Paul and that particularly in his ethical guidance this received recognition. Paul's relation to Judaism is best understood not as a reaction to his former faith but as a transformation resulting from his vision of Christ. In this the past is not obliterated but transformed and thus continuity is maintained so that the identity of Christianity is neither that of a new religion nor of a Jesus cult. In Christ the past is reconfigured and thus the diversity of humanity continues within the church, which can celebrate the richness of differing identities under the Lordship of Christ.