The Church Leaders blog just posted a 2 minute video about the believer’s new identity in Christ.

We congratulate our associate, Joe Freeman, on completing his certification in Exchanged Life Counseling.

He writes,

“I was challenged early on by my physical condition and the workload I had as a result of being a student in the Masters program at Luther Rice University. These two factors delayed my journey to becoming a certified Exchanged Life Counselor through GFI. However, it was a blessing in that I genuinely appreciate the process as well as the content, and I have been able to apply what I learned especially at the [America’s Keswick] Colony of Mercy.

The process was comprehensive and challenging. …The audio seminars were informative and provided a different perspective on how to counsel, particularly the Counseling God’s Way sessions. The required readings were a joy and I learned much from a variety of writers’ personal views of the Exchanged Life. I especially enjoyed, The New Life and Bone of His Bone.

Overall, I am grateful to be done this portion of the certification process and look forward to what Father will bring my way so I may apply and teach the various things I learned and was exposed to. Thank you, John, for your patience in answering my questions and being my guide, teacher and mentor.”

Check out XLproject.org for more about Joe’s testimony and ministry

We recently came across an audio recording from about 1986. Dr. James Hicks gave a brief analysis of the deficiency of secular psychology. He then drew comparisons to the shortcomings of Job’s three “counselors”. The wise observation of younger Elihu was used to signal the wisdom of Exchanged Life Counseling…relating the message of the Cross and the Abiding Life to the counseling process. The recording is now on the GFI audio channel here with PDF notes.
http://gfiworld.sermon.net/main/main/20682747
(Thanks, Dr. Hicks!)

We had the opportunity last month to speak in chapel and give a brief seminar at Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge in Minneapolis. Here is an outline document of the April 27th chapel message: New Covenant Recovery Ministry

An audio recording of the introductory seminar is at gfiworld.sermon.net here.

A four part Grace Notes series Freedom from Addiction is here.

Years ago we were asked to advise a church on recovery ministry. This site was created to assist them: GFIrecovery.com

Let’s pray for and endorse Exchanged Life recovery ministries, such as:

• Mike and Julia Quarles Freedfromaddiction.org
• Joe & Cherri Freeman XLproject.org  Lovethemtolife.com
• America’s Keswick  AmericasKeswick.org

 “Self” may refer to the believer’s regenerated spirit–the new self.

When a person is redeemed through faith in Christ he/she is regenerated. This essentially relates to one’s human spirit being born again and made alive to God (John 3:3; Titus 3:6).
Colossians 3:10 declares that God’s children “have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him” (NASB). Similarly, in Ephesians 4:24 we are exhorted speak and behave in a way that corresponds to our new spiritual nature: “and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (NASB). Notice the past tense of the verb. At conversion, the believer has put off the old self (the “old man” – Rom. 6:6) and has put on the new self (literally “new man”). Through the miracle of salvation, we are united to Christ spiritually (1 Cor. 6:17) and are recreated at the core of our personhood. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new [spiritually]” (2 Cor. 5:17).

When we appreciate how our essential self is united with Christ, made holy and blameless, we can lift our hearts in worship due to God’s marvelous grace. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  For you died [the old man/old self], and your life [your new spiritual self] is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:1-4).

Therefore, have a “white funeral” for your old self and appropriate by faith your identification with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension (Rom. 6:3-14). Take up your cross daily, saying “no” to the old programming (the flesh) and “yes” to the indwelling Christ and the new divine nature of which you are a partaker (Luke 9:23; Titus 2:11-14). Accept your worth and dignity as a redeemed, made-in-God’s-image person. Give thanks for your new, positive, unshakeable spiritual identity. Abide in Christ as your ultimate resource for living.

To compare this with the other three uses of “self” in the New Testament, see the article: “Sorting_Your Self_Out”

Q. Do you have suggestions for those of us leading a church-based women’s ministry?

A. Check out  http://www.kardo.org/ : Wisdom for Mothers / Wisdom for Fathers …  David Glen’s testimony is in Handbook to Happiness. They apply the Exchanged Life message to marriage / parenting issues.

And thumbs up for Altha Burts’ Treasures of Truth and Stay up Higher.  http://well-of-life.org/  http://suhministry.org/

Remember the Gillhams. The Life Seminar would be good for couples, and Anabel’s book and audio: The Confident Woman Lifetime.org

Other gals in Galatians 2:20 ministry include:

*Lynn Alford http://hisgospelgrace.com/
*www.weightofgrace.org
*and some of Dr Leaf’s material is quite interesting. She is an evangelical, and believes in body / soul / spirit  http://www.drleaf.com/
*GFI affiliate in Minnesota uses a 12 week discipleship counseling process: Crosstolife.org

It would be strategic to identify and cultivate the contexts of:

1. The individual’s devotional life

2. One-to-one discipleship  / counseling

3. Small groups (circle / discussion)

4. Women Together meetings (sub-congregational / teaching & worship)

5. Rallies (inter-church events)

God bless Proverbs 31 + Gal 2:20!

Lifetime Guarantee is making available as a free download in April– an audio series by Dr. Bill and Anabel Gillham (on staff with GFI in the 1970’s).  “Trials and tribulations are unavoidable in life. You can expect them! So, how do you view your circumstances? Are you reacting or rising above them? Are they the last straw, or will you allow God to use them as His finishing touch in your life? Download here.”

The conference was a great experience and I look forward to the next workshop. I was one who came to the end of self many years ago (1990) and experienced a dramatic inner healing. I met with Paul Kaschel in Grand Rapids MI at the Life Center for Spiritual Growth. (Dr. Solomon would remember Paul well.) It was after about the 5th time that we met that I experienced the exchanged life while laying in bed that evening. It was like walking out of a dark, depressing dungeon (that I was in for months), into a most peaceful and restful place. My life has never been the same since.

I plan to take additional courses, etc. to be certified in the exchanged life ministry. I have sensed His leading in this area of study, and I don’t know how or where I will be used in this, but I am moving forward and will leave the unknowns in His hands. I will never forget what it was like to feel totally defeated, anxious, weak, and seemingly without hope… believing a lie that God had simply gave up on me for some reason. (I remember it well, but the memories have no power over me.) There are many who are suffering silently, coping instead of truly living, who don’t realize the birthright that belongs to them in Christ. May God continue to bless your ministry and all who are involved.

T. T.

GFI alumnus, Faith Heitzer, did the artwork for a recently published children’s book entitled, Why is Great Grandma So Sad? Discovering the Holocaust Through the Eyes of a Child. It was written by Susan Heagy who ministers to elderly Holocaust survivors in Israel.

“Though this book is written for children ages 7 to 14, it is also intended for any age of people who have difficulty reading anything having to do with the Holocaust of WWII. This story is presented from the personal perspective of a family in the midst of the Holocaust, without trauma but historically correct. Sarah, at the age of seven, does not understand the extreme sadness her great grandmother portrays, prompting her to ask her mother the question, Why is Great Grandma so sad? Her mother decides it is time to relate the Holocaust experience of Great Grandma Hannah beginning at the same age as Sarah. This story gives an account of a family experiencing the onset of WWII, ghetto life, being sent to a concentration camp and the unusual circumstances surrounding their struggle to survive. Through the dialog Sarah comes to have a new view of her great grandmother, Hannah, as a child. Hannah, through necessity, grows up all too quickly. But while she endures these changes and experiences and during times of hiding, her doll Rachael is always there as a confidant and constant companion in her loneliness. She hears also of an unbelievable time when the Jewish people were treated horribly and unfairly. Sarah comes to realize how the Jews, her own people, demonstrated strength and resilience when under pressure, determined to survive. This story brings to life the sadness, and the hope, tightly interwoven in the lives of those who survived the Holocaust culminating with a surprise ending. Throughout this dialog Sarah learns along with the child Hannah about a time in history no one should ever forget. It is the hope of the author that those reading this book will also learn the truth of that time and not allow the voices of those who experienced it to be silenced. This story of Great Grandma is historical fiction. The family is not real but the experiences are. Based on several Survivors of the Shoah, their true life war accounts are included in the book.” Available trough Amazon here.

Our associate, Dr. Lewis Gregory writes:

Please pray for my foreign mission trip to Brazil, South America, January 24—February 5, 2016. I will be with Edmund Spieker of Churches in Missions conducting 2 Spiritual Life Conferences for ministers. The Conferences will be held in Juazeiro, Ceará and Triunfo, Pernambuco. My messages will be about “Identity in Christ,” “Victorious Living” and “Marital Harmony.” A copy of The Ultimate Makeover in Portuguese (A Transformacao Total) will be given to each minister. Pray that this would be a time of great encouragement and enlightenment for the ministers. Also pray that many lives would be transformed to the glory of God! (Ephesians 1:17-19)
http://sourceministries.net/