About the Book One's search for a sense of stability in this world can be difficult. Have you ever wondered what controls your life? Is it your thoughts, your feelings, or your desires? Is it other people that control your life? If you were able to find a path to self-enlightenment and inner change that would transform your life, would it be of value to you? Using a simple unified model this book attempts to explain the behavior and interactions of individuals, groups, and systems. It presents a unique method that can be used for self-guided personal growth and change. Together the model and method can be used to obtain greater mental flexibility, power, and stability. The long-term goal is continuous personal growth and change. As you proceed with your reading you will gain a deeper understanding of yourself and of our world. You will also gain new tools that you can use when dealing with the people and the systems that surround and impact you. You can use these tools to teach others about your nature and about their own natures as well. Along with stories, quotes, case studies, thought provoking information, carefully worked-out questions and suggestions the author provides in-depth guidelines for self-enlightenment and inner change that will transform the reader's life. He offers clear, rational, practical, and reliable insights that will enhance the reader's ability to make important life choices and decisions.

“When I am weak, then I am strong.” Do we really believe these words penned by the apostle Paul? If so, why do we often rely on our own wits, strength, and resources when the power that God holds is so much greater? Does God’s power matter if He’s already given us talent and ability? Author Dan Schaeffer explores these questions and helps us grasp the biblical truth that God longs to use our limitations to display His greatness. The Power of Weakness invites you to trust God with your abilities and inabilities and find relief from the wearying pursuit of success.

Offers an alternative paradigm for psychology, one that reflects Levinas's criticism of a self-centered notion of identity. Reveals the secret of an "authentic" altruism through a phenomenology of both power and weakness, and of the paradoxes of the weakness of power and the power of weakness.

An intriguing new interpretation of the paradox at the heart of Paul's understanding of his ministry.

Envisioning cruciform community built on resurrection hope After Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he turned from coercion and violence to a ministry centered on the hope of Christ’s resurrection. In earthly terms, Paul had traded power for weakness. But—as he explained in his subsequent letters—this “weakness” was actually the key to flourishing community that is able to experience God’s transformation, restoration, and healing. What would it mean for pastors today to take seriously Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to “imitate me as I imitate Christ” and lead their congregations in this way? Instead of drawing leadership principles and practices from the worlds of business, education, and politics—which tend to orient churches around institutional power and image maintenance—Timothy Gombis follows Paul in resisting the influence of the “present evil age” by making cruciformity the operating principle of the church. Gombis guides the reader through practices and patterns that can lead a congregation past a focus on individual salvation, toward becoming instead a site of resurrection power on earth.

Telling real-life stories of despair, hope and lasting change, Andrew Comiskey lays out the foundations for healing from relational and sexual sin. With chapters focusing on particular areas of vulnerability for men and women, on the battle over homosexuality in church and culture, and on the essential role of the church in ongoing healing, Strength in Weakness makes clear the way to the cross--God's sufficient answer to our deepest needs.

Paul stresses that authentic Christian ministry is characterized by weakness and suffering, specifically the weakness and paradigmatic sufferings endured by the crucified Jesus.