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    Make Me Like Jesus: The Courage to Pray Dangerously
    Make Me Like Jesus: The Courage to Pray Dangerously
    Make Me Like Jesus: The Courage to Pray Dangerously
    Ebook122 pages

    Make Me Like Jesus: The Courage to Pray Dangerously

    By Michael Phillips

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The bestselling author serves up “a marvelous, full-bodied repast for those Christians who seek God’s presence rather than any blessings he might bestow” (Publishers Weekly).
     
    Most of us want to know God more intimately. But are we willing to boldly face the challenge of what that means? Are we truly willing to pray a prayer that may be dangerous in ways we cannot anticipate? Are we willing to ask God to make us like Jesus?
     
    Author Michael Phillips shares from his own life how he has learned to take up that challenge. Then he examines key decisions in the life of Jesus Christ that illuminate what it means for each one of us to be conformed to the image of his son—to love like Jesus, think like him, pray like him, and trust the Father like him.
     
    If status-quo spirituality is for you, do not read this book. It is a dangerous book—dangerous to the flesh—for the journey toward Christlikeness may be painful and costly. Yet that journey leads to the ultimate purpose God intends for all his children: conformity to the image of his son.
     
    “This book is a gem, written from the heart by a man I have called brother and friend for twenty years. Make Me Like Jesus gives us an open, honest look at what it really means to walk truthfully with Christ.” —Jim Ryun, former Congressman, Olympian, and coauthor of Heroes Among Us
     
    “Phillips offers a much-needed corrective to several popular but superficial descriptions of the Christian life.” —Bishop William C. Frey, author of The Dance of Hope
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateSep 13, 2017
    ISBN9780795350887
    Make Me Like Jesus: The Courage to Pray Dangerously
    Author

    Michael Phillips

    Professor Mike Phillips has a BSc in Civil Engineering, an MSc in Environmental Management and a PhD in Coastal Processes and Geomorphology, which he has used in an interdisciplinary way to assess current challenges of living and working on the coast. He is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation, Enterprise and Commercialisation) at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and also leads their Coastal and Marine Research Group. Professor Phillips' research expertise includes coastal processes, morphological change and adaptation to climate change and sea level rise, and this has informed his engagement in the policy arena. He has given many key note speeches, presented at many major international conferences and evaluated various international and national coastal research projects. Consultancy contracts include beach monitoring for the development of the Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay, assessing beach processes and evolution at Fairbourne (one of the case studies in this book), beach replenishment issues, and techniques to monitor underwater sediment movement to inform beach management. Funded interdisciplinary research projects have included adaptation strategies in response to climate change and underwater sensor networks. He has published >100 academic articles and in 2010 organised a session on Coastal Tourism and Climate Change at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in his role as a member of the Climate, Oceans and Security Working Group of the UNEP Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands. He has successfully supervised many PhD students, and as well as research students in his own University, advises PhD students for overseas universities. These currently include the University of KwaZuluNatal, Durban, University of Technology, Mauritius and University of Aveiro, Portugal. Professor Phillips has been a Trustee/Director of the US Coastal Education and Research Foundation (CERF) since 2011 and he is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Coastal Research. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Victoria, British Columbia and Visiting Professor at the University Centre of the Westfjords. He was an expert advisor for the Portuguese FCT Adaptaria (coastal adaptation to climate change) and Smartparks (planning marine conservation areas) projects and his contributions to coastal and ocean policies included: the Rio +20 World Summit, Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts and Islands; UNESCO; EU Maritime Spatial Planning; and Welsh Government Policy on Marine Aggregate Dredging. Past contributions to research agendas include the German Cluster of Excellence in Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) and the Portuguese Department of Science and Technology.

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      Book preview

      Make Me Like Jesus - Michael Phillips

      MAKE ME

      LIKE JESUS

      The Courage to Pray Dangerously

      MICHAEL PHILLIPS

      New York, 2017

      Make Me Like Jesus

      Copyright © 2003 by Michael Phillips

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

      All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard® (NASB). © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org). Scripture quotations marked (NEB) are taken from The New English Bible. Copyright © 1961, 1970 by the Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press. Scripture quotations marked (RSV) are taken from The Revised Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the Natinoal Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission

      Electronic edition published 2017 by RosettaBooks

      ISBN (Kindle): 978-0-7953-5088-7

      www.RosettaBooks.com

      WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT

      Make Me Like Jesus

      "This book is a gem, written from the heart by a man I have called brother and friend for twenty years. Make Me Like Jesus gives us an open, honest look at what it really means to walk truthfully with Christ."

      —CONGRESSMAN JIM RYUN, Olympian and coauthor of Heroes Among Us

      "Michael Phillips and I do not know each other, but we are pilgrims walking the same road. I have a feeling we will be like Christian and Faithful as they navigated their way to the Celestial City in Pilgrim's Progress. The road we are on is so narrow and unattractive to 'normal' Christians, it's inevitable that we will bump into one another. In Make Me Like Jesus, Michael has echoed the heartbeat of the ancients who had something I still do not possess, and that, summed up in the words of Oswald Chambers, is 'spiritual abandonment.' My road took me, literally, through heart surgery before I accepted that road as the only one for me. What will it take for you? Maybe this book?"

      —RON DICIANNI, artist and author

      This is not a book for the faint-hearted, but it is a book for anyone who wants to explore the depths of Christian commitment. Michael Phillips offers a much-needed corrective to several popular but superficial descriptions of the Christian life. He dares us to abandon all candy-coated versions of the gospel in order to experience the real gospel. His challenge is to go beyond admiring Jesus, even beyond praising Jesus, in order to resemble Jesus.

      —BISHOP WILLIAM C. FREY, author of The Dance of Hope

      THE AUTHOR

      Michael Phillips is one of the most versatile writers of our time. In addition to his reputation as a best-selling novelist, he has penned more than two-dozen non-fiction titles. These diverse but lesser known devotional and theological writings illuminate biblical themes with profound wisdom and insight.

      Phillips is also known as one of the men who helped rescue Victorian Scotsman George MacDonald from obscurity in the 1980s with his new publications of MacDonald’s works. His efforts contributed to a worldwide renewal of interest in the man C.S. Lewis called his master. Phillips is today regarded as a man with rare insight into MacDonald’s heart and spiritual vision.

      Phillips’ corpus of more than a hundred fiction and non-fiction titles is praised by readers, theologians, laymen, and clergy across the spectrum of Christendom. About one of his books, Bishop William C. Frey said, Michael Phillips offers a much-needed corrective to…superficial descriptions of the Christian life. He dares us to abandon all candy-coated versions of the gospel. Commenting on another title, Eugene Peterson adds, Michael Phillips skillfully immerses our imaginations…he takes us on an end run around the usual polarizing clichés.

      The impact of Michael Phillips’ writing is perhaps best summed up by Paul Young, author of The Shack, who said of the afterlife fantasy Hell and Beyond, When I read…Phillips, I walk away wanting to be more than I already am, more consistent and true, more authentic a human being.

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

      1       God's Ultimate Purpose

      2      The Prayer of Christlikeness

      "Make me like Jesus."

      3      The Prayer of Childship

      Father, what would you have me do?

      4      The Prayer of Relinquishment

      Not my will, but yours be done.

      5      The Prayer of Death

      My God, my God, why . . .?

      6      The Prayer of Life

      That they may be one as we are one.

      76      The Prayer of Joy

      That they might have my joy fulfilled in them.

      The Bold Christianity Series

      Bold Thinking Christianity

      Practical Essential Christianity

      Make Me Like Jesus

      A Sacrifice of Obedience

      All four titles are also available in print form.

      INTRODUCTION

      This is not a book for everyone.

      Time is a commodity we all prize. Therefore, to prevent you from exerting valuable energy on a message that does not interest you or that you are not ready for at this particular juncture in your life, I am going to offer several reasons why you should not read this book . . . and one very good reason why you should.

      To decide not to proceed can sometimes be prudent. The single book that has had the greatest impact on my life more than any other originally came to me before I was ready for it. One day my spiritual mentor eagerly handed me the small volume and said it would change my life. In trying to read it, however, I found myself hopelessly bogged down within a few pages.

      Disappointed, I took the book back to him. I just couldn't get into it, I said. I didn't even understand what the author was talking about.

      That's okay, my friend said. Don't worry. Keep it a while longer. Put it aside. Another day will come, and then it will be right.

      I did as he said . . . and indeed that right time arrived a couple years later.

      Suddenly the book I had found boring and dry exploded with meaning. I couldn't put it down. I read it three or four times in continuous succession. Never before, and never since, have I encountered a book that so resonated with my spirit.

      It was all in the rightness of the timing. I am so glad I waited.

      Spiritual development cannot be rushed. There is no such thing as hothouse maturity. Wisdom takes time to be nurtured. God is never in a hurry. Recognizing this process at work, especially within oneself, prevents much frustration and impatience.

      Therefore, if the circumstances do not seem right for you now to respond in a complete way to the principles with which this book is concerned, waiting until later may be the wisest course of action.

      FOUR REASONS NOT TO READ THIS BOOK

      Primarily I am writing to practicing Christians. If you have not yet reached that point in life where you are attempting daily to live according to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ as set forth in the Bible, then what follows will have little meaning for you. I recommend that you wait until such time as you are ordering your life according to his teachings and commands—for I believe such a time will come to you. Then perhaps you will remember this little book and will again seek out its life-changing truths for what they can offer you.

      Not only do I write to Christians. This is a book for those who have been energetically devoted to their walk of faith for some time and who have made substantial progress toward maturity in that walk. There are many points of emphasis needed for new and relatively young Christian believers, and these are valuable assets in the early stages of growth. I have written on such important topics myself. But this is not such a book. If you are just starting out as a Christian, then what follows will not have the meaning for you that it will later. I recommend that you wait until such time that you find yourself hungering

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