Being Approved by God - A Passionate Relationship Through Love, Surrender, Obedience and Intimacy!

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We are told in 2 Timothy 2:15 to "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Other versions read study to show yourself approved unto God."

We all want approval from one another to reinforce our self-worth, it's part of being human. I know people who are paralyzed in their mind, unable to move forward in life and almost all of them Christians, seeking pathetically for all kinds of approval every moment of their lives to enable them to temporarily feel better. When we start looking for approval at every corner to quantify who we are and our self -worth, we leave behind the Christian life and walk in the flesh with an obsession that takes control over our lives and before we know it the Holy Spirit is nowhere to be found within, because we have allowed this beast to take over our lives. What's deplorable is that it doesn't have to be this way and when we study the word of God we find that He has not forgotten anything; everything we need for this life has been included in Scriptures for our benefits.

I suspect one of the reasons we fail as Christians to observe what we are told in 2 Timothy 2:15, is because we have been duped and bought into that diluted Christianity we have come to know in the twenty-first century, while we are advised in Colossians 2:8 not to get caught up and to beware not to be taken captive by anyone through their philosophy as well as empty deceit. Approved unto God, when we look into the meaning deeper we realize there's a component of the word approved that calls for us to be tried by God so we can become acceptable by His standards holy and righteous people finding favor in His sight. It is of the utmost importance that we understand, being approved unto God has nothing to do with how good or bad we are, or how awesome is our career or our status nor our material possession. What matters is how well we receive His words within as they become part of who we are through the transformation process as God weaves them inwardly into our daily lives. It's about living a sacrificial steadfast life of intimacy with Him through the joy, the learning process, the real experience of being filled with Him, the loneliness of the soul as you go through the narrow gate.

It's also about the destruction that is taking place inwardly as He rebuilds us anew. We experience the joy of the Holy Spirit in our heart, the agony of the dark night of the soul, the pain of being humiliated inwardly and outwardly by Him before the gift of humility is wrought in; the learning process taking place at His feet that makes you feel your mind is exploding as you focus and try very hard to spiritually keep up with the Holy Spirit; the soul that cannot be quenched, the passion that if God does not slow it down for you it will cause your heart to explode, the realness of the Spirit and soul within, and so forth. All of these things that are part of the process of being transformed as little Christ, at least those who truly pledge allegiance to the King, we go through them right here and now to prepare us for life in Heaven. The Christian life that is pleasing to Him is a life of intimacy based on living His word with complete obedience and total abandonment to Him.Then He speaks to our soul and gives us the seal of approval. This approval of His, you carry it with you and it permeates your soul, day in day out and nothing in this world can be compared to it, then you become conscious of how pathetic you were when you were seeking for puny beings approval for your self-worth when you have a God bigger than the universe can contain telling you well done my child I have found delight in you. Who cares about man's approval after such experience?

Aspiring writer who has learned true Christianity at the feet of God through brokenness and seven years of unending and excruciating wilderness process that left the soul undone!
Copyright 2012
Jesse Andre
brokenness70@gmail.com
http://www.apprehended.ca/

Ephesians 4:20-21 "But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus"

I LIVE TO KNOW YOU LORD!

Rediscover yourself with spiritual clothes

Spirituality focuses on the field of the personnel. It is a very private space which is a link to the manufacturer. For many, the essence of spirituality being deprived, this is a case of rarely discussed. Others wear their hearts on their sleeves and openly show their inclinations to the world. Spiritual clothing is great for these sections of people who show their love for the creator with momentum. Many among these believe by presenting their own beliefs moral and social casually, although with a spiritual bent to them.

The concept of these garments is working on a different plan, where these clothes become those metaphorical, meaning some traits of improved character you put on. Spiritual clothing has attained great popularity over the years and there is widespread varieties to choose from all corners of the globe. Religious symbols in the philosophical or moral statements to images of God and words celebrating the creator, there are countless options for your account. The popularity of these garments can be attributed not only to their new concept, but for them as a form of expression. Clothing we are one of the key devices that define his individuality as well as indicators of the taste sense and fashion. Clothing are two impregnated of spirituality that they highlight your own personal ideologies and create eye-catching style statements.

Many clothes have slogans written on them often advocating values such as love, peace and kindness. Another advantage may be attracted to the port that you can inspire or influence others through your personal alignment with the values of the universal world. Wearing spiritual clothing could do its bit for the company in this regard as well. With hostilities and violence increases around the world, establish harmony can be considered a primary objective for companies everywhere in the world and this is where the clothes play an essential role.

If you are a person with an eclectic bent of mind, there are options galore for your needs. There is a Sanskrit slogans, spiritual quotes, representations of the Buddha, Yin and Yang and the lines of the famous poets and philosophers like Rumi poetry.

However, this type of clothing can also be interpreted metaphorically as the clothes that are not available in stores or traps still symbols for the virtues. It is peace, forgiveness, strength, courage, dignity, the charity, simplicity, and purity among others. By putting, we remove the negative elements like anger, pride, jealousy, greed and malice of our souls.

Keeping a dog today values solid core eat dog scenario is difficult, and so, by channelizing body and mind, one can reach the State above by donning his spiritual clothes and throw all the defects and barriers through a thorough review of the car. Thus, as seen, spiritual clothing go further than simply help stand out you from the crowd. They symbolize the agreement with the manufacturer and the materialist philosophy, with being apt social platforms to highlight the spiritual beliefs of the wearer.

If you are difficult to find a clothing store perfect for clothing spiritual, you can approach God Bless Our Hands. They are spiritual and religious clothing. For more information, you can visit online them at: http://www.godblessourhands.com/.

Christianity - What's In It for Me?

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Jesus and the Apostles always had one purpose in mind - to advance the kingdom of God by establishing His rule in the lives of believers and drawing others into His family. None of the Apostles ever made reference to the "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" that is so common in the modern Christian vernacular. Individual faith was given birth and nurtured in the context of a caring community. It was a "one another" proposition for them, each one helping the other to grow in his or her faith. A common Christian culture was passed from one generation to the next as older, more mature Christians passed the Apostles' teaching along to younger believers.

Go It Alone Proposition

Today, Christianity is more of a "go it alone" proposition. Sermons focus on the relationship of individual believers to their Lord and rarely on their relationships with one another. They deal with attitudes more than actions. Messages on the wrath of God against sin have gone the way of preaching about hell. Christians are loath to pick up their cross when they sign up for service to Christ. Consequently, they have become more cavalier in their attitudes towards God's Word. They pick and choose what parts to obey. Love of God has cooled, prayer has become pass?, and expectation for the return of Christ has waned. Worship has morphed into performance as music and drama have become more professional in order to appeal to a clientele immersed in entertainment. Sinners are allowed to go free while their victims are urged to absolve them of their misdeeds. Pastors tell us how to get the most from our spiritual experience, but to what end? Just to serve ourselves?

How does our faith benefit anyone else or advance the kingdom of Christ today? Only one in twenty believers has ever led another person to Christ. Just six percent tithe. The modern church has become the Laodicean church - wealthy, self-satisfied, and complacent, but unable to recognize that it is blind, naked, poor and pitiful in God's eyes. Christians deny the church is in desperate need of repair.

Pious Pedagogy

Christian leaders have not helped matters. They have replaced holistic ministry with pure pedagogy that stresses learning but places little emphasis on practical faith. They have turned churches into lecture halls and classrooms. Rather than addressing real needs on the ground as they develop, they package ministry into formal programs that are targeted to niche audiences. Like the Pharisees of old, they consider themselves the final authority on the Bible. They give lip service to the concept of the priesthood of the believer but do not respect the spiritual authority of the saints, especially those with no formal religious training.

Academic degrees, professional publications and recognition for scholarly achievement have replaced tassels and phylacteries. Storing up and showcasing Bible knowledge have taken the place of a radical obedience to the will of God. Ministry has become almost entirely didactic - a matter of applying the spiritually correct solution to the dilemma du jour. If you doubt it, just go to any Christian forum and look at the responses to the fears and insecurities of troubled inquirers. Everyone has a good word. No one ever offers a helping hand.

Once hallmarks of the faith, willingness to suffer shame for the name of Christ, to take a public stand against His enemies, to address social evils and to sacrifice temporal wealth for eternal riches are all but absent from church leadership today. Instead they remain content to stay within the friendly confines of their churches where they can teach and preach without fear of reprisal. Larger buildings, bigger audiences, better preaching and more professional performances have become the metrics of achievement. Reliance upon the word of religious experts has replaced reliance on the Holy Spirit and the infallible Word of God. But commitment to a caring community, accountability, self-sacrificing service and the advance of Christ's kingdom in anticipation of His return are sorely wanting.

The Casual Christian pp. 213-214

Find more articles like this one in my book, The Casual Christian, on Amazon.com.

Book Review of "The Short List"-Where Only Four Choices Really Matter by Bill Butterworth

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The Short List: In a Life Full of Choices, There Are Only Four That Matter. [Soft cover]

by Bill Butterworth

240 pages, $14.99

ISBN-10: 1434700046

Nonfiction

Review by Steven King, MBA, MEd

Losing a parent is a tragic reality that many have to face. Certainly, such a loss can cause even the busiest souls to stop and re-evaluate their priorities. Quality and quantity of time spent with family suddenly takes on new meaning. Imagine being asked to officiate your parent's funeral. What emotions might that invoke?

Bill Butterworth, notable author and popular speaker, had this very experience. Bill's life had run amok-too much time on the road building his distinguished speaking career. One night, after returning from a long stretch of speaking engagements, his child spoke his first words: "Hey Mom," was aimed at his mother to their delight.

"Hey Bob," was aimed at Bill - not "Hey Dad." The pit that welled up in his stomach was soon minimized by a nagging thought: What type of heritage was Bill leaving for his kids? If his toddler knew him as Bob instead of dad, what type of legacy was he actually leaving for his progeny?

In preparation of the eulogy for his father's funeral, Bill developed The Short List. Reminiscing about the life he shared with his dad, Bill knew his father epitomized the values he wanted to live out before his own family. After quite a bit of soul searching, Bill narrowed his list down to four words: love, honesty, faith, and courage. Perhaps better than developing a "bucket list" of things to do before dying - this list accentuates things to be while living.

Through personal anecdotes interwoven with a seminarian's understanding of Scripture, Butterworth provides a masterpiece of encouragement. Since a multitude of choices bombard us every day-are some more important than others? Absolutely! Living a life of love, honesty, faith, and courage could change our families at every level.

This amazing book reminds the reader of what is important in this life. Stories are the fabric that truly knit us together and Butterworth is a master storyteller. As you share Bill's journey of discovery you will be faced with the same dilemma: Do your daily choices produce a legacy of which your family will be proud?

Easily read, this tome should be digested by all parents to underscore the importance of daily choices. Just ask Bill - there are only four that really matter.

Book Review of "Good Book" by David Plotz

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Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible. [Soft cover]

by David Plotz

352 pages, $14.99

ISBN-13: 978-0061374258

Nonfiction

In a world that is awash with religious literature weekly, it seems that some authors go out of their way to make readers angry. Such is the case when David Plotz, a self-styled agnostic Jew, sits down with the Hebrew Bible and reads it with introspection. His original intention is sound: what happens when an average guy reads the good book and tries to understand it?

For one thing, irreverence happens...a lot. For instance, in Exodus 33, the Bible shares a wonderful story of Moses requesting to see God's glory. Moses is entreating God (Yahweh) to show all of his majesty to him to "prove" that God held him in highest favor. God responds in effect, "I do hold you in high esteem but no one can see my face and live. Go stand in the cleft of this rock and I will cover you with my hand. Then I will allow my glory to pass by and you can see my back." Instead of Plotz being overwhelmed by God's accommodation of Moses, he makes a very crass analysis. He says, "...Or, to put it another way, God moons Moses."

Perhaps Plotz could have exclaimed how he did not understand the theological significance of why Moses would want to see God in his fullest glory instead of resorting to what could be construed as tactless language. Such investigation might have provided ample fodder for a few books.

Nonetheless, the reader will discover that tact will be in short order throughout the rest of the book. Plotz makes no apologies for this - in fact, his defense is an age-old false maxim that the Old Testament (what is the Hebrew Bible) demonstrates a God that is vengeful, capricious, and bent on ?ber judgment. In this way, Plotz feels somewhat vindicated in his irreverence since his reading of the Hebrew Bible does not bring him any closer to God.

Who should read this book? All Christians!

While the language is downright disrespectful, Plotz does provide decent plot summaries of each book of the Hebrew Bible. If you can overlook his banal insensitivity, you will learn a lot about the Old Testament. But remember, some of his insights will not be appropriate for, let's say, your Junior High Sunday School class.

Review by Steven King, MBA, MEd

Was Jesus A Creationist?

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(Mark 10:6) "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female."

This week, one of the hot news stories out of the United Kingdom was about Richard Dawkins' statement that he was an agnostic. Richard Dawkins the author, lecturer and hero of those who think God is a silly concept sat in a moderated discussion (some say a debate) with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. If you remember, Dr. Rowan Williams was the clergyman who presided at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

In the aftermath of this "debate" the media fixated on whether Richard Dawkins really is the "World's Most Famous Atheist." During this televised event, Dawkins classified himself as an "agnostic" rather than an "atheist." But just to make sure everyone understood his position, he mentioned that he was almost certain God does not exist.

Does it really matter whether Dawkins is an agnostic or an atheist? Although the media thinks this is big news, they completely overlooked the one item that should have been newsworthy for the Christian audience. According to the article in The Telegraph, the Archbishop "said that he believed that human beings had evolved from non-human ancestors but were nevertheless 'in the image of God.' " This stems from the other statements in which the Archbishop denied the literal account of creation in Genesis. If you read the sentence carefully, he really believes we ascended in an evolutionary process. In other words, we evolved into the image of God. Unfortunately, once you throw out the literalness of the Genesis account, you also have to throw out the words of Jesus Christ.

In a 2006 interview, we find Dr. Williams believes creationism is a "category mistake" and should not be taught. In Mark 10:6, Jesus makes a profound statement proving He believes in the literal creation account found in Genesis. In fact, if you combine this with the other places where Jesus references Genesis you discover that He did not believe the Biblical account was an allegory at all, unlike the current Archbishop of Canterbury. There are many today who are " theistic evolutionists." But it is an impossible position to maintain while believing in the teachings of Jesus. If we allow for Jesus to make a "category mistake" here, where else does He teach in error? If Jesus made any errors in His viewpoint of the Scriptures, not only does it call into question all of His teachings, it also makes Him less than God. He becomes just another rabbi with some radical opinions. It is extremely important that Jesus believed and taught in a literal creation account from Genesis.

It doesn't really matter whether Richard Dawkins is an agnostic or atheist. At the end of the day, it all ends up in the same place: unbelief. But we do need to recognize and distinguish ourselves from churchmen who cloak themselves in the logic of scientific theory. The media had no problem with the Archbishop because it really wasn't news that he held this position on creation. But those who want Christianity represented to the world and believe in a literal Biblical interpretation better take heed who is taking their side in the public arena. And we all better beware whether the pulpit is filled with someone who believes the teachings of Jesus.

The Renewed Mind - http://www.mychangedmind.com/

Live a different life by thinking differently about life!

Letters From the Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr Reviewed

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In MLK Jr. letters he paints a picture for me with words of the time that was before me. The time where my ancestors would frown upon if they saw the young people of today and the way they take education for granted. I can only imagine the strength it took to live in era where you are considered less than human.

In MLK Jr.'s letters from the Birmingham jail time was mentioned, some will probably agree that he was before his time but I believe he was right on time. A man should not be considered less than a man because of the color of his skin. But a man's true worth should be measured by the life that he leads. I can only imagine how God frowned upon the ignorance people walked in during this time.

For a time when a black man should consider education a privilege not a right, his writing style and ability to express himself literally was amazing. I'm not sure I live in the time where I could only enter a business through the back, where I actually accepted being less another person because of the color of my skin. I don't know many people willing to die for what they believe in, but this man laid down his life.

Many people can learn the skill of writing but only a few people or actually talented enough to change lives with their words. This review involves an important part of history and man of great courage and character. These letters provide a personable form of education that goes beyond the classroom, they were relevant then, they are relevant now, and will be relevant in the future.

The civil rights movement was not just about racism, it was so much more than that. The movement represented change and spirituality that never been experience before, you proclaimed what God intended for all people. When I think of Martin Luther King Jr., I don't think of just a doctor of religion... I think of a spiritual healer and leader a truly fulfilled his calling in life.

In conclusion I can't help but think of Maya Angelou's "I know why the caged Bird sings". Behind caged walls of great man of God cried out that although his prayers were answered immediately, they were answered just in time, our time. We still have a way to travel but we owe a huge part of where we are to this man.

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