Blessings

Alan Carruth

Description

These devotions address the major challenges of life and how dependence on God and our faith community brings assurance in overcoming.

Alan Carruth’s understanding of God’s wisdom and truth was distilled into a simpler, more straightforward message as he was journaling on The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis.



In these devotions, he considers questions such as:



• Do we really know what it means to become apprentices to our Master and learn the ways of eternal life?

• How can we commit ourselves to learning and practicing our Savior’s ways?

• In what ways does humility bring divine truth to our thinking?

• Does any good come from arguing over opinions and speculations concerning the uncertainties of life at the expense of the kingdom of God?



The devotions cover a variety of important topics, including obedience and submission, blessedness, misery, death, the judgment of God, burdens, solitude, gratitude, hearing God through Scripture, suffering, self-love, and much more.



The author emphasizes that we must recognize that knowing God’s truth is not enough to make us holy—that is, set apart for godly service. We must commit to reflecting the image of Jesus by loving and forgiving others. Knowing the Bible is useless unless we show others the grace and love of God.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Biblical Meditations
• Philosophie et théologie
• Jesús de Nazaret
• God
• Jesus
• Humility
• Peace
• Truth
• Love
• Spirit
• Jésus de Nazareth
• Paix

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 07 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664277748
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

BLESSINGS
 
A Devotional Inspired by the Imitation of Christ
 
 
 
 
 
ALAN CARRUTH
 
 
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Alan Carruth.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version® Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7775-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7776-2 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7774-8 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916777
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 10/06/2022
CONTENTS
Introduction
 
1       Imitating Christ
2       Humility
3       Truth
4       Simple Faith
5       Our Passion
6       Wisdom
7       Reading God’s Word
8       Desiring God First
9       God or False Hope
10     Friend of the World or of God
11     Obedience and Submission
12     Idle Talk
13     Obtaining the Peace of God
14     The Value of Adversity
15     Temptation
16     Inappropriate Judgment
17     Motivated by Charity
18     The Burden of Faults
19     Blessedness
20     Those Who Have Gone Before
21     The Spirit of Discipline
22     The Place of Solitude
23     A Troubled Heart
24     Misery
25     Death
26     The Judgment of God
27     Devoted to Transformation
28     Meditation
29     Humility Revisited
30     Peace of Mind
31     Burdens
32     Truth about Ourselves
33     Having a Clear Conscience
34     Blessedness of Loving Jesus
35     Why Choose Jesus?
36     When God Seems Far Away
37     Gratitude for God’s Grace
38     Discipline for Transformation
39     The Royal Way of the Cross
40     Hearing God through Scripture
41     Listening for Understanding
42     Listening with Humility
43     Walking in God’s Truth
44     Divine Love
45     Loving Truly
46     Seeing Grace through Humility
47     Understanding Our Position before God
48     Finalizing Our Decisions with God’s Help
49     Sweetness in Serving God
50     Still Lacking Wisdom
51     Patience to Overcome
52     Counting the Cost
53     Insidious Pride
54     That Which Is Desirable
55     Where Do I Find Comfort?
56     Do We Allow God to Care for Us?
57     Suffering
58     Patience in Suffering
59     Confessing Our Weakness
60     Do We Appreciate God’s Gifts?
61     Understanding the Gift of God
62     Humility, Liberty, and Peace
63     Our Throne or God’s
64     Progress toward Peace
65     Freedom through Prayer
66     Self-Love
67     Slander
68     Blessing Our Troubles
69     Finding Divine Help
70     Worldly Affection
71     My Time or God’s
72     Distractions
73     God’s Sweetness
74     Security
75     The Vain Judgments of Humankind
76     Accepting God’s Freedom
77     Priorities and Treasures
78     Patience in Prayer
79     The Mysterious Love of God
80     Honor
81     Peace Is Not Found apart from God
82     Vain Worldly Knowledge
83     Concerns and Worries
84     Persuasive Words
85     Words That Challenge Us
86     Bearing Our Trials
87     When Life Turns Dark
88     Where Is God When We Struggle?
89     My All Comes from God
90     God’s Instruction through Community
91     Are We Worthy?
92     The Grace of God
93     God’s Rescue
94     Coruling with God
95     Bearing Our Cross Revisited
96     Do Not Despair in Your Failures
97     Folly in Scrutinizing the Ways of God
98     Trusting in God Alone
99     Holy Communion
INTRODUCTION
As I was rereading The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, I decided—or rather was moved—to start journaling on the various subject matters presented in the devotions. This was a prayerful journey as I asked the Holy Spirit to help me encounter the spiritual truths being presented in a deeper and more meaningful way. As I began journaling, I found the desire to convert the text into more modern and perhaps a little more Protestant language. I began to notice that the process of journaling on these insightful writings began to transform and reorganize my thinking into a simpler and more straightforward understanding of God’s wisdom and truth. After finishing my first draft, I started wondering if this wisdom might be helpful to others seeking to become more like Jesus. This decision started a three-year process of revisions as I read and reread The Imitation of Christ while allowing the Holy Spirit to inspire and correct my first efforts. I then began searching scripture for appropriate passages that addressed the devotional message being presented. The current book is the result of six revisions in the hopes that God is truly glorified and the reader is enlightened as to what it means to be a disciple of our Lord Jesus. My journey is far from over as I continue to read these words as part of my daily spiritual discipline. I pray that you find challenge, comfort, and peace as you receive assurance in your journey with God.
Blessings,
Alan Carruth
1
IMITATING CHRIST
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
—JOHN 8:12 (NIV)
A s disciples of our Lord Jesus, we, who have formerly indulged in many choices, have chosen to become apprentices to our Master in order to learn the ways of eternal life, but do we really understand what this means? Jesus has called us to come out of the darkness and be bathed in the light of His teaching. For us to understand, we must be freed from the blindness common to us all, allow our minds to be enlightened by the truths of God, and commit to becoming obedient to Jesus’s commands. We must seriously choose the way of prayer, scripture study, and fellowship with a faith community if we are to receive understanding concerning the necessity of the Holy Spirit, which brings clarity to God’s will. This is the path of divine enlightenment for the disciple who wants to receive understanding concerning the ways of God. Knowing Jesus as the way, truth, and life we so desperately need is critical for recognizing the vain pursuits of humankind. This requires us to pursue the truth of God above all human opinion and advice.
We must also recognize that knowing God’s truth is not enough to make us holy—that is, set apart for godly service. We must commit to reflecting the image of Jesus by living devoted to loving and forgiving others. Knowing the whole Bible and all principles of theology is useless unless we show others the grace and love of God. Our lives are doomed to consuming the vanity of humankind unless we become devoted to the ways of Jesus and to the production of good spiritual fruit.
Scripture is full of godly wisdom that reveals our purpose in life, which is to seek the kingdom of God above all other pursuits. We are to live pleasing our Creator, which requires us to take the blinders from our eyes and know well the ways of sin. We must come to recognize the many unprofitable things we chase without God’s guidance. For example, it is vanity for us to put our trust in riches that perish or to pursue honor to satisfy our sinful pride. It is vanity to give in to our lusts and allow them to guide us to temporal pleasures that bring severe consequences and regret. It is vanity to live a greedy life hoarding all for self while showing no concern for the needs of others. It is vanity to manipulate others for self-satisfaction and never learn the true meaning of love found only by abiding in God, our source of life and eternal joy. If we claim to be followers of Jesus, shouldn’t we allow His counsel to guide us from our vain and sinful ways to heavenly treasures?
Dear disciple, isn’t it time for us to become resolute in our loyalty to God, turn our hearts from the vanities of the world,