G. Duane Lawrence - Stop Living for the Lord: and let the Lord live through you

Acknowledgements

No book could have been written without the help, influence or inspiration of others and this book is no different. So, I would like to sincerely thank the following for their role in this project.

First, and foremost I would like to thank God, without him no book need be written for there would be nothing to write about. And had it not been for his love, grace and mercy in our lives we would have nothing to understand and work through in order to have a better experience in our relationship with him so there would be no need for this book in particular.

Next, I would like to thank my wife Linda for standing beside me and not letting me quit when I was frustrated and ready to scrap this project so many times. Linda has inspired and encouraged me to stick with it over the 15 plus years it took to shape and mold this book from a very dry technical manual style post graduate thesis into a readable easier to understand book for the average believer. Next to God, she is my constant in life when everything else is changing around me which keeps me focused.

Next, I would like to thank my father and mother for different reasons. My father, for choosing to go down a different path than his father did. Had my father not made the choices he made to seek something better for his family than his father did, he would not have influenced me the way he has and motivated me to love the Lord and become a seeker of truth. Not only did he teach me that I was free spiritually in Christ but he taught me how to obtain and maintain my mental and emotional freedom as well. My father truly has been, and continues to be, the greatest influence in my life. And my mother for being the ultimate encourager from a young age teaching me that God had given me unique gifts and strengths many through my personality. My father helped me understand who I am in Christ and my mother taught me how God made me. Understanding these two primary basic things has positioned me to be successful in life and served me well in my search for truth.

My brother Kevin for being a sounding board throughout the years. Whenever I had some crazy notion that God made it so we could be perfect and without sin he had no problem challenging me to make it difficult to believe in an effort to get me to prove my hypothesis or he would bring more evidence to the table to support my hypothesis. Regardless of the direction he chose, to pushback or support, he has always brought an element of humor to make it fun and a sarcastic wit to help keep me humble. As iron sharpens iron certainly applies here. I also want to express my gratitude to Kevins wife Laurie, my sister-in-law, who graciously made a small but powerful and anonymous contribution to this book. I am confident God will use your contribution to reach numerous readers to dramatically change their relationship with him for the better. These people will never know the positive impact you had in their life through this book. On behalf of those people Laurie, I thank you.

I am grateful to my children Ashley, Kayla, Taylor and Josh for being used by God to help me grow as a person, a father and as a teacher. They have been my practice audience helping me hone my craft figuring out the best way to present material in a concise and easy to understand way. They have pushed back and challenged me and God has used them to mature me in life in ways they will never know or understand. They have taught me how God sees us as his children and have given me the opportunity to practice loving them as God loves us. They can do nothing to make me love them more and they can do nothing to make me love them less. I love them for who they are, my children.

I would also like to thank those who were directly involved in making this project happen.

Joan Feddern saw a need and took the initiative to assist in finding the publisher of this book. In doing so she opened up a door that seemed to be impossible to breech. Once we stepped through that door it was one more obstacle out of the way to make this project a reality. Thanks, so much Joan for getting involved.

Richard Harshaw, author, astronomer, amateur philosopher, teacher and someone who has deep insight into scripture and years of experience teaching it. His knowledge of mathematics, history, theology, and numerous other subjects reaching into many of the sciences but most of all his love for God and his desire to spread the gospel made him a more than formidable challenger during this process. Richard relentlessly fact checked this book against scripture for me and asked extremely difficult theological and philosophical questions to make sure I had vetted out any inconsistencys in my presentation. He was responsible for the first editing of this book and paid close attention not just to grammar and sentence structure but to content as well. But I think I am most grateful to him for his friendship. He has been a great friend and colleague in this endeavor.

Tracy Mimoun, who has been so supportive and excited to see this book be published, volunteered time and materials to spearhead, organize and execute a focus group to get feedback on the manuscript. That information has been invaluable and the perfect most unbiased information an author can have. Because of that one group many necessary changes were made which contributed greatly to the overall improvement of the book.

And thanks for the outside support:

Georjann Rovenstien has been one of the faithful supporters not just of this manuscript but also of the necessity to get the word out that there is a better way to have relationship with God. Her desire to see people live in the freedom Christ gave them is stronger than anyone I have known outside of my family. She has been a close friend to my wife and I and has been a pit bull constantly after me to complete this project and see it through.

Roy (Koke) & Marliese Morris have been the biggest cheerleaders of this project and have been willing to make personal contributions to see it to fruition. I appreciate everything you both have been willing to do and to Marliese I appreciate your concern and forthrightness and Koke, your sober advice.Thank you both for your contribution.

Kirk Newberry is a friend and supporter of this project and has spent countless hours working behind the scenes creating a ministry webpage and process for people to know about this book and have access to it. During the course of the publishing process Kirk had a serious family tragedy that almost took him out of the game of life but he hung in and despite his personal tragedy he continued to stay involved with this project. Although we had to put some things on hold and his time was limited, he has shown a commitment level that is unprecedented. What a great friend.

Finally, thanks to all of those whose prayers and petitions have been heard and answered. Thanks to the countless numbers of people who have been anticipating the release of this book. Thanks to those who have placed their name on the waiting list for first release copies so we could raise the money to see this project through. Thanks to those who encouraged the writing of this book so that people like you will have this important teaching in their life.

Thanks again to everyone. God has used each one of you to help change the lives of others for his purpose and glory. I love you all.

Introduction

The purpose of this book is simple: to motivate growth and maturity among the body of Christ in their knowledge of God and their relationship with Him through their identity in Christ.

For us to truly grow and mature in Gods grace and in our relationship with him, the way that he intended, we must be willing to understand the relationship from Gods perspective. This is a strange perspective to us and it flies directly in the face of much of mainstream evangelical fundamental Christianity. Nevertheless, Gods perspective must be known and learned because it is part of the gospel, which means good news, and the good news does not stop at the salvation experience through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The good news only begins at salvation; the understanding of it continues to develop in us in the form of Almighty God himself. It only gets better as a believer; it never gets worse.