Michael Phillips - Make Me Like Jesus: The Courage to Pray Dangerously

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 MacDonalds 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 MacDonalds 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 tosuperficial 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 imaginationshe takes us on an end run around the usual polarizing clichs.

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 readPhillips, I walk away wanting to be more than I already am, more consistent and true, more authentic a human being.

CONTENTS

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

T his 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.