Christlike

The high calling of a Christian is to imitate Christ. Can there be anything more important? If we call Jesus master it is incumbent upon us to follow his lead; to become Christlike. Of course, the rub comes in acting upon our desire to imitate our Lord. The life that a Christian is to lead is pretty straight forward. It’s the implementation of that life that takes our lifetime to work through. Much has been written about Christlikeness. In fact, there is an excellent course of study available on-line that I highly recommend. Francis Frangipane pastors a church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. However, his ministry really extends worldwide. A branch of that ministry is In Christ’s Image Training. Just before Christmas Pastor Francis sent out this message:

Dear Christ-follower,

Greetings!

As you probably know, the undimming vision of this ministry is to possess the nature of Christ. Yet, even as we’ve sought to provide resources as inexpensively as possible, we still felt that there were some who would not pursue the course due to being temporarily low on finances. Yet, the Holy Spirit has burdened my heart that Christ has many whom He desires to train and empower, people who currently are going through a wilderness of sorts.

Then today I had an idea. What if we offered the text version of our training for free to those who couldn’t afford the added material? In fact, we have added two more plans to our variety of choices. The first of these plans will provide the entire text of In Christ’s Image Training for free. While it will not include testing or certification, it will put the powerful core training of ICIT right there into your hands.

If you have had a desire to take your Christian walk to the next level, here is your opportunity. You will receive 44 unique chapters sent over a 24-week period. These are some of the most powerful teachings from my heart — truths that I believe are at the foundation of a transformed life.

Additionally, we have lowered the prices on our other plans. Our prayer is that hundreds of thousands of Christians would be envisioned and empowered to become more like Christ. For more information on all our training programs,

click here.

We pray you have a most blessed Christmas,

Francis Frangipane and staff

I was a member of the first ICI graduating class in 2003 and can attest to the positive impact these courses had on my life.

It is always important to go back (return) to the source of our blessings – Jesus and the cross. Otherwise, we could turn out like this:

Imitating Each Other Or Christ

In the British Museum a Greek writing tablet, earlier than the Christian era, is shown. It is the classical equivalent of a child’s copybook. The headline has been written by the master. The scholar has traced the second with his eye upon the first; but afterwards each line is a reproduction, not of the first writing, but of the last. Consequently, each line shows a wider divergence from the pattern than the one before.

Is not this one cause of the broken character of our holiness—that we imitate one another, or reproduce our familiar imperfections, instead of portraying the fair likeness of Jesus Christ? “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked” ( I John 2:6 ).

—Christian Victory

It’s challenging to pursue Christlikeness. First we must renounce all selfishness, pride, and acceptance of evil. This is harder than you might think but Jesus has provided us with his Spirit who will lead and reveal to us all righteousness. Obedience, submission, and sacrifice require vigilance to manifest in our lives. Our attitude needs to enable us to lay aside our “rights” in order to serve others. If we say we follow Christ, we must also say that we want to live as he lived; with an attitude of humility like his as we serve. Expect society to have little respect for Christlike qualities… but Father God will be thrilled!