We are saved or born again by believing and accepting Jesus as Lord and essentially the Greek definition of believing is trusting our self to Christ. By accepting Him as Lord we joyfully lose our life and this is denying self for His sake then we shall find our life in Him. The definition of deny in Matthew 16:24 is to lose one’s interest which is losing our life for His sake. Self-denial is a willingness to forgo all and forgoing as He directs. In this booklet denying self for salvation and daily denying self is considered an act of faith giving way to good works. Works from denying self will not save us but when we deny self for Jesus sake we are saved. In other words faith is for salvation not works of holiness, sanctification… etc. and the faith of denying self for His sake is our salvation but not by works of denying self.

One out of three married women sitting in an average conservative Christian church is in a confusing and painful marriage relationship. Those women believe they are alone. I want them to know they aren't. They believe they can't find peace. I want them to know they can. They believe they don't have choices. I want them to know they do.This book isn't for the parents who raised them. It's not for the pastors who condemn them. It's not for the friends who don't understand them. And it's not for the partner who dehumanizes them. This book is for the woman in the pew who somehow, by God's divine intervention, finds it in her hand and has to catch her breath because she suddenly feels like she's free falling.I wrote this book just for you. Let's dig in.

In this compelling study of two seventeenth-century female mystics, Bo Karen Lee examines the writings of Anna Maria van Schurman and Madame Jeanne Guyon, who, despite different religious formations, came to similar conclusions about the experience of God in contemplative prayer. Van Schurman was born into a Dutch Calvinist family and became a superb scriptural commentator before undergoing a dramatic religious conversion and joining the Labadist community, a Pietistic movement. Guyon was a French layperson whose thought would be identified with Quietism—a spiritual path that was looked upon with suspicion both by the French Catholic Church and by Rome. Lee analyzes and compares the themes of self-denial and self-annihilation in the writings of these two mystics. In van Schurman's case, the focus is on the distinction between scholastic knowledge of God and the intima notitia Dei accessible only by radical self-denial. In Guyon's case, it is on the union with God that is accessible only through a painful self-annihilation. For both authors, Lee demonstrates that the desire for enjoyment of God plays an important role as the engine of the soul's progress away from self-centeredness. The appendices offer facing Latin and English translations of two letters by van Schurman and a selection from her Eukleria.

Most people just want to be happy and to make a difference in the world. We're often told we'll achieve this by being ourselves - but when we begin to reflect, that's not quite as simple as it sounds. All sorts of questions and countercultural notions arise. Maybe trying to 'be yourself' is not such a good idea after all? In this book Graham Tomlin dares us to let go of some of the assumptions we make about life. Drawing on current research, contemporary events and ancient wisdom, he offers an invitation to journey to places we may never have imagined before. In doing so, he vividly reveals how the revolution that Christianity began can still make remarkable sense of our experience of wonder, love, evil, justice, identity and freedom. Exploring these universal experiences in a down to earth, easy to read manner, Why Being Yourself is a Bad Idea is a book for anyone struggling with the search for identity and self-discovery, and will leave you uplifted and reassured that seeking God can and will help you to make sense of life. 'Intriguing and provocative, speaking to our deepest concerns and heaviest questions.' James Mumford, author of Vexed: Ethics beyond political tribes 'I kept saying "YES!" as I turned the pages of this book.' Pete Greig, author of How to Pray

Andrew Murray was a renowned South African writer, teacher , missionary and pastor who left his mark on the world through his inspiring and knowledgable Biblical exposition in over 240 books.This work, "The New Life," is a beginner's manual to the Christian convert, carefully and simply explaining the foundations of faith. Written in an accessible and easy to understand manner, any Christian, new or seasoned, would benefit from the wisdom, breadth, and completeness, of Murray's timeless words.

According to Hebrews, the Son of God appeared to "break the power of him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." What does it mean to be enslaved, all our lives, to the fear of death? And why is this fear described as "the power of the devil"? And most importantly, how are we--as individuals and as faith communities--to be set free from this slavery to death?In another creative interdisciplinary fusion, Richard Beck blends Eastern Orthodox perspectives, biblical text, existential psychology, and contemporary theology to describe our slavery to the fear of death, a slavery rooted in the basic anxieties of self-preservation and the neurotic anxieties at the root of our self-esteem. Driven by anxiety--enslaved to the fear of death--we are revealed to be morally and spiritually vulnerable as "the sting of death is sin." Beck argues that in the face of this predicament, resurrection is experienced as liberation from the slavery of death in the martyrological, eccentric, cruciform, and communal capacity to overcome fear in living fully and sacrificially for others.

In this expanded edition of her spiritual formation classic, Ruth Haley Barton invites us to an honest exploration of what happens when spiritual leaders lose track of their souls. Weaving together contemporary illustrations with penetrating insight from the life of Moses, Barton explores topics such as facing the loneliness of leadership, leading from your authentic self, reenvisioning the promised land and more.