The Beauty of Beholding God

The Beauty of Beholding God PDF

Author: Darien Cooper

Publisher:

Published: 2021-02-22

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 9780692721575

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How very easy and natural it is to become absorbed in the problems that bombard us daily. These difficulties may range from personal turmoils, heartbreaks with our children or marital conflicts to world dilemmas in general. Such distresses are real. They can hurt despicably and require and deserve answers and solutions.Time, energy, and general wear and tear can be saved if we learn to look straight through our immediate circumstances and behold our God as reigning King, working everything for our good as we learn to respond to Him rather than to situations or people. We can look beyond the immediate to the real reason we are on Planet Earth. We see that our Lord wants to use everything that enters our lives to get us ready to live with Him as His bride forever. Our sorrows and everyday experiences are no longer wasted, but they are used to draw us into a vital love relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in which we receive and display His very life.As such a relationship is developed with Christ, we are blessed - every aching abyss of our inner beings is satisfied - and He is honored and glorified. We learn to enjoy life and others rather than abusing them by trying to make them meet needs and function in ways in which they were never intended.As I write this book I am painfully aware that I have only scratched the surface of the areas of which I write. However, I know if Jesus is lifted up and becomes our Lord and Lover, and if we seek Him with all our hearts, He will make Himself known to us and bring us into a level of living far beyond our greatest expectations.The purpose of this book is to start us on or aid us in that delightful journey back into the heart of God, with Jesus as our Companion, King, Lord, Lover - our all! When He is our God, all else takes its proper perspective. Each problem, whether great or small, can be successfully worked through as we behold Him. His peace and contentment or overflowing joy will then begin saturating us as a way of life.

The Beauty of the Lord

The Beauty of the Lord PDF

Author: Jonathan King

Publisher: Lexham Press

Published: 2018-05-30

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 1683590597

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Why is God's beauty often absent from our theology? Rarely do theologians take up the theme of God's beauty—even more rarely do they consider how God's beauty should shape the task of theology itself. But the psalmist says that the heart of the believer's desire is to behold the beauty of the Lord. In The Beauty of the Lord, Jonathan King restores aesthetics as not merely a valid lens for theological reflection, but an essential one. Jesus, our incarnate Redeemer, displays the Triune God's beauty in his actions and person, from creation to final consummation. How can and should theology better reflect this unveiled beauty? The Beauty of the Lord is a renewal of a truly aesthetic theology and a properly theological aesthetics.

Behold the Beauty of the Lord

Behold the Beauty of the Lord PDF

Author: Henri J. M. Nouwen

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781594711367

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This twentieth anniversary edition (over 111,000 copies sold) brings Henri J. M. Nouwen's writings on Eastern Orthodox icons to a new generation and adds to the Nouwen collection published by Ave Maria Press. With a foreword by Br. Robert Lentz, a well-known painter of contemporary icons, this classic Nouwen book invites readers to pray with four Russian icons with their eyes open by emphasizing seeing or gazing, which are at the heart of Eastern spirituality. Nouwen's meditations reveal his viewing of the icons not as decorations, but holy places. "Henri J. M. Nouwen, who wrote more than 40 books, remains one of the most popular spiritual writers of our time. This paperback is a revised version of a volume released in 1987. We are assaulted by images in a society where consumerism comes at us through posters, billboards, television, movies and store windows. But icons are a different thing completely. Nouwen presents meditations on four icons: the icon of the Holy Trinity, the icon of the Virgin of Vladimir, the icon of the Savior of Zvenigorod, and the icon of the Descent of the Spirit: ''By giving the icons long and prayerful attention talking about them, reading about them, but mostly just gazing at them in silence I have gradually come to know them by heart. I see them now whether they are physically present or not. I have memorized them as I have memorized the Our Father and the Hail Mary, and I pray with them wherever I go.'' Icons are a part of the sacred liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church and are used in worship services. Nouwen points out that they do not excite our outer senses but speak to our heart. Those who gaze at icons as a spiritual practice believe they draw closer to God in the process. Nouwen presents substantive spiritual analysis of the icon of the Holy Trinity, which he sees as a pathway into the Mystery of God's self-revelation. The icon of the Virgin of Vladimir is an invitation to enter the divine milieu with gratitude and joy. Nouwen sees in the eyes of the icon of the Savior of Zvenigorod a revelation about the mystery of the Incarnation. And, finally, in the icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, he feels a celebration of the power and meaning of community. Nouwen concludes: ''Working on these meditations has been a great delight. Praying became writing and writing became praying. More energy was granted than consumed in the process. I fervently hope that you who read these meditations will experience some of this same delight, and thus deepen your desire to behold the beauty of the Lord expressed in these holy images.'' --Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, www.spiritualityandpractice.com

The Pleasures of God

The Pleasures of God PDF

Author: John Piper

Publisher: Multnomah

Published: 2000-06-26

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1576736652

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The author of Desiring God reveals the biblical evidence to help us see and savor what the pleasures of God show us about Him. Includes a study guide for individual and small-group use. Isn’t it true—we really don’t know someone until we understand what makes that person happy? And so it is with God! What does bring delight to the happiest Being in the universe? John Piper writes, that it’s only when we know what makes God glad that we’ll know the greatness of His glory. Therefore, we must comprehend “the pleasures of God.” Unlike so much of what is written today, this is not a book about us. It is about the One we were made for—God Himself. In this theological masterpiece—chosen by World Magazine as one of the 20th Century’s top 100 books, John Piper reveals the biblical evidence to help us see and savor what the pleasures of God show us about Him. Then we will be able to drink deeply—and satisfyingly—from the only well that offers living water. What followers of Jesus need now, more than anything else, is to know and love—behold and embrace—the great, glorious, sovereign, happy God of the Bible. “This is a unique and precious book that everybody should read more than once.” —J.I. PACKER, Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia

Worship

Worship PDF

Author: Joseph F. Ryan

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781581343540

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What is worship? Long-time pastor Skip Ryan answers this question and more as he examines what the Bible has to say about the act of worship.

Seeing and savouring Jesus Christ

Seeing and savouring Jesus Christ PDF

Author: JOHN PIPER

Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press

Published: 2020-05-21

Total Pages: 105

ISBN-13: 1789740363

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Who is Jesus Christ? You've never met Him in person, and you don't know anyone who has. But there is a way to know who he is. How? Jesus Christ - the divine Person revealed in the Bible - has a unique excellence and a spiritual beauty that speaks directly to our souls and says, "Yes, this is truth." It's like seeing the sun and knowing that it is light, or tasting honey and knowing that it is sweet. The depth and complexity of Jesus shatter our simple mental frameworks. He baffled proud scribes with his wisdom but was understood and loved by children. He calmed a raging storm with a word but would not get himself down from the cross. Look at the Jesus of the Bible. Keep your eyes open, and fill them with the portrait of Jesus in God's Word. Jesus said, "If anyone's will is to do God's will, He will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority." Ask God for the grace to do His will, and you will see the truth of His Son. John Piper has written this book in the hope that all will see Jesus for who he really is and will come to enjoy him above all else.

Beholding and Becoming

Beholding and Becoming PDF

Author: Ruth Chou Simons

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

Published: 2019-09-10

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0736974938

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Ruth is such a gift to us—her voice is strong and honest, yet believably grace-filled and kind. We learn and grow into who we want to be when Ruth's words and art lead us. —Annie F. Downs, bestselling author of 100 Days to Brave and host of That Sounds Fun podcast Become What You Behold You are in the process of becoming. Every day is an opportunity to be shaped and formed by what moves your heart…drives your thoughts…captures your gaze. Is it any wonder that where you direct your eyes and your heart matter in your day-to-day? We become what we behold when we set our hearts and minds on Christ and His redemption story here in the details of our daily lives. Not just on Sunday, not just on holidays, not just when extraordinarily hard or wonderful things happen…but today. Bestselling author and artist Ruth Chou Simons invites you on a new journey to Beholding and Becoming. With more than 850 pieces of intricate, original artwork, Ruth encourages you to elevate your gaze to the One who created all things. Today is an opportunity for God to demonstrate His love and His faithfulness in the midst of your mundane. No circumstance is too ordinary or too forgotten for Him to meet you there in worship. His transforming grace turns your “everyday ordinary” into a holy place of becoming.

Beholding the Glory

Beholding the Glory PDF

Author: Jeremy Begbie

Publisher: Baker Academic

Published: 2000-10

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13:

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"A fine collection of probing and imaginative discussions on the relation between the Incarnation and the arts." --Nicholas Wolterstorff, Yale Divinity School

Insurgence

Insurgence PDF

Author: Frank Viola

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2018-06-05

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 1493414135

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Why does the allegiance that radical terrorists give to their false cause exceed the allegiance that most Christians today give to Jesus Christ? In Insurgence, bestselling author Frank Viola presents a radical proposal for Christians. Namely, that we have lost the explosive, earthshaking gospel of the kingdom that Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles preached. Viola argues that we've lost this dynamic, titanic, living gospel and exchanged it for a gospel of religious duty or permissiveness and "easy believism." In today's politically charged era, Christians on the progressive left as well as the conservative right both equate their particular viewpoints with the kingdom of God. Viola challenges and dismantles these perspectives, offering a fresh and revolutionary look at the gospel of the kingdom. Viola writes with gripping power, challenging Christians to embrace an unparalleled allegiance to Jesus Christ and his kingdom. This high-octane message is being reclaimed today, launching a spiritual insurgence.