A Call to Alignment speaks directly to the body of Christ to take its rightful place through God-ordained structures and apostolic governance. As the kingdom of God is advancing to the other parts of the world so is the infiltration of man-made structures, philosophies, and empires that is replacing the original pattern of the church or the body of Christ. This book distinctly brings any teachings or doctrines that have deviated from the original God-ordained pattern for the church into alignment. The case and argument presented is excellent, and the thesis expounds the subject matter within context and gives the reader a valuable understanding of being spiritually aligned as per the pattern in the Old and New Testament. The illustrations and expounding of scriptures gives one a simple yet profound understanding of the concept of spiritual governance, and it gives clear apostolic directions and guidance to the body of Christ. This book is a must-read for all that are in ministry as a leader and also to all those that are called to be part of the body of Christ. This book addresses the most important aspect of kingdom reality and living-the realization of God's divine order in our lives. It is a handbook to bring into focus God's command and directive for His church to reflect Him accurately and succinctly in a rapidly changing world.
It’s happened to you. You received a phone call out of the blue; or you bumped into someone who led you to a new job, a new relationship, or opportunity that totally changed your life. You probably even said, “Wow, what a coincidence I met so and so.” But did you ever stop to ask what caused that person to be right there, at that exact moment, in your path? It was Divine Alignment: the arrangement of coincidences into a pattern of alignment so astonishing they could have come only from a higher source. In this inspiring new work, SQuire Rushnell shows readers how they can navigate life’s thorniest hurdles, rediscover the deep meaning and impact of personal prayer, and develop the individual conviction and wherewithal it takes to reach their full potential and fulfill their most ambitious dreams by honoring the book’s seven easy-to-follow steps. In his charmingly avuncular and wonderfully optimistic voice, SQuire shares moving stories from his own and others’ lives to show the awesome strength inherent in what he calls God’s Positioning System, or GPS. All of us, he assures readers, can use our own personal GPS to grow more closely aligned with God to become vastly more effective, successful, and fulfilled in our relationships, careers, and everything we do. *** DIVINE ALIGNMENT offers a comprehensive approach for living our lives in harmony with God—every minute of every day—offering a whole new paradigm for understanding the mysterious connections between people and events, challenges and solutions. GPS STEP 1: Speak with the Navigator GPS STEP 2: Listen to Your Own Inner Compass GPS STEP 3: Mapping Your Destination GPS STEP 4: Unshackle Your Baggage GPS STEP 5: Step Out in Faith and Believe You’ll Arrive GPS STEP 6: Read the Signs, Recalculate, and Accelerate GPS STEP 7: Gratefully Arrive with a Full Well Within
A jaw-dropping exploration of everything that goes wrong when we build AI systems and the movement to fix them. Today’s “machine-learning” systems, trained by data, are so effective that we’ve invited them to see and hear for us—and to make decisions on our behalf. But alarm bells are ringing. Recent years have seen an eruption of concern as the field of machine learning advances. When the systems we attempt to teach will not, in the end, do what we want or what we expect, ethical and potentially existential risks emerge. Researchers call this the alignment problem. Systems cull résumés until, years later, we discover that they have inherent gender biases. Algorithms decide bail and parole—and appear to assess Black and White defendants differently. We can no longer assume that our mortgage application, or even our medical tests, will be seen by human eyes. And as autonomous vehicles share our streets, we are increasingly putting our lives in their hands. The mathematical and computational models driving these changes range in complexity from something that can fit on a spreadsheet to a complex system that might credibly be called “artificial intelligence.” They are steadily replacing both human judgment and explicitly programmed software. In best-selling author Brian Christian’s riveting account, we meet the alignment problem’s “first-responders,” and learn their ambitious plan to solve it before our hands are completely off the wheel. In a masterful blend of history and on-the ground reporting, Christian traces the explosive growth in the field of machine learning and surveys its current, sprawling frontier. Readers encounter a discipline finding its legs amid exhilarating and sometimes terrifying progress. Whether they—and we—succeed or fail in solving the alignment problem will be a defining human story. The Alignment Problem offers an unflinching reckoning with humanity’s biases and blind spots, our own unstated assumptions and often contradictory goals. A dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, it takes a hard look not only at our technology but at our culture—and finds a story by turns harrowing and hopeful.
'Raising your consciousness to the 'God Winks' that often go by unnoticed, and recognising them as tremendously personal, will affirm that your existence is not random and that you have a role to play in life's grand plan' Squire Rushnell Have you ever thought about someone who hasn't crossed your path or mind in years and then bumped into them? Are there such things as coincidences? Do they mean anything? According to Rushnell, 'coincidences, like winks from God, are encouraging signposts along your universal path.' In WHEN GOD WINKS he explains that a 'God Wink' is a message of reassurance that comes our way whenever we need it and that coincidences are the best way for God to establish a presence in our lives. Rushnell shows how to retrace crossroads (a new job, a death, change in relationships) that took us in an entirely different direction, showing how to map the turning points made by coincidences that have guided us throughout our lives. Best of all, WHEN GOD WINKS shows us how to create our own coincidences and turn wishes into winks. He explains his compelling theory of coincidences through a series of incredible stories and motivational writing on how coincidences play a role in all facets of our life, including career, love, history, medicine, entertainment, sports and politics with telling comments from Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Streisand, Mark Twain, Kevin Costner and other celebrities. WHEN GOD WINKS is a fascinating bridge to self-discovery.
In a master work inspired by seven of Christ's priorities found in Matthew's gospel, Frank Damazio challenges readers who would aspire to be like Jesus and not deviate from His purpose for their lives. Discover what Jesus said we must do if we want to align our experiences with His priorities.
From a Biblical perspective of our human nature, we are "spirit and soul and body" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Understanding each dimension of our being and how each is to relate to the others, according to God's created order, is a strategic key of the Kingdom of God. Come take hold of this key that will revolutionize and revitalize your spiritual journey! Our human spirit should abide in deep communion with God's Holy Spirit. Then our human spirit-infused and led by the Holy Spirit-should direct the mind, will, and emotions of our human soul, which should manifest in the health and well-being of our human bodies.All is well with my soul when all is well with my spirit. All is well with my body when all is well with my soul. But for all to be well, we must learn to allow the Holy Spirit to correctly align our spirit and soul and body: First the spirit. Then the soul. Then the body. As we'll discover, looking more deeply into these three dimensions of our being, when we're correctly aligned with the human spirit first, we will live out our daily journey with more spiritual health and growing maturity, fulfilled with more peace and joy, walking in the wisdom of God instead of the ways of the world.In right alignment, my human spirit which is receiving my sense of guidance and discernment by abiding in communion with God's Holy Spirit, directs my soul. My soul is my mind, will, and emotions. So my spirit should direct my mind and how I think, my will and the choices I make, my emotions and how I sense and feel and experience the world around me. Then then my soul should direct my body.In right alignment, my body manifests what's going on in my soul and my soul manifests what's going on in my spirit, and my spirit manifests my abiding relationship with God's Holy Spirit. First the spirit. Then then the soul. Then the body. This is what I call "Spiritual Alignment" or walking out my spiritual journey as a "Spiritual Christian." But the trouble is that much of the time we tend to live out our daily lives in a different order than God's created order. Instead of living in right alignment, we're living out of alignment. First the soul, instead of first the spirit. First the soul. Then the spirit. Then the body. This is what I call "Soulish Alignment" or walking out my spiritual journey as a "Soulish Christian." In that wrong order, when I'm out of proper alignment, I am more "soulish" than "spiritual" and all will not be well with my soul. In the "soulish" alignment, I'll be driven more by my own desires in the mind, will, and emotions of my soul rather than humbling myself to be led by God's Holy Spirit directing my human spirit. When I'm in a "soulish" alignment, my mind will insist on my own thoughts instead of yielding to God's thoughts. My human freewill will insist on my own will instead of yielding to God's will. And my emotions will insist on driving my actions by reacting from my soul instead of responding by the leading of my spirit being led by God's Holy Spirit." Whether my spirit is "on top" and in charge, directing my soul, or whether my soul is "on top" and in charge, suppressing my spirit, makes all the difference. And as we'll see, alignment is everything.The good news is that by the grace of God we can recognize it when we're being more "soulish" than "spiritual" and make a choice to humble our souls to come back into right alignment of spirit, soul, and body. By far, this has become one of the most revolutionary insights of my spiritual journey.And as I've shared these principles of this book through the years, I've heard so many testimonies of these simple insights becoming life-changing for men and women at all stages of their spiritual journey to Christ-like maturity. That's why I'm thrilled to share them with you!
How do we hear from God and discern His will when it’s time to make big decisions? Terry Looper shares a four-step process for doing just that - a process he has learned and refined over thirty years as a Christian entrepreneur and founder of a multi-billion dollar company. At just thirty-six years old, Terry Looper was a successful Christian businessman who thought he had it all—until managing all he had led to a devastating burnout. Wealthy beyond his wildest dreams but miserable beyond belief, Terry experienced a radical transformation when he discovered how to align himself with God’s will in the years following his crash and burn. Sacred Pace is a four-step process that helps Christians in all walks of life learn how to slow down their decision-making under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sift through their surface desires and sinful patterns in order to receive clear, peace-filled answers from the Lord, gain the confident assurance that God’s answers are His way of fulfilling the true desires he has placed in their hearts, and grow closer to the One who loves them most and knows them best. Sacred Pace is not another example of name-it-and-claim-it materialism in disguise. Instead, it walks Christians through the sometimes-painful process of “dying to self” in their decisions, both big and small, so that they desire God’s will more than their own.
`Identity′ attracts some of social science′s liveliest and most passionate debates. Theory abounds on matters as disparate as nationhood, ethnicity, gender politics and culture. However, there is considerably less investigation into how such identity issues appear in the fine grain of everyday life. This book gathers together, in a collection of chapters drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, arguments which show that identities are constructed `live′ in the actual exchange of talk. By closely examining tapes and transcripts of real social interactions from a wide range of situations, the volume explores just how it is that a person can be ascribed to a category and what features about that category are consequential for the interaction.
