Lee McDowell Christian Ministries LMCM
Nacogdoches, Texas Gal. 2:20 KJV
Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 5
Michael’s book is available through:
Abiding Life Ministries International
Littleton, Colorado
God has told us, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Wow! How simple could it be?!? What else could we possibly want to know than TRUTH? And yet…the “church” has somehow deviated from foundational truths and grasped at all sorts of substitutes (“sedatives”) in an effort to avoid choosing the “things” that only truth can give. Sit down and put on your seatbelt as you read Michael’s pointed message regarding “choices” in the whole scheme of things in Christianity. It will change a lot of people’s thoughts on how the “victory” is enjoyed…
p.s. since almost every sentence contains a “VIP,” I have decided to not highlight anything this week. Make your own choices as to your most important points for you!
DAY 39
Choose Today!
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants. --Deuteronomy 30:19
What must I do that God will not do for me? I must choose. It is amazing that we believers want discipleship, communication, understanding, counseling, church, youth groups, reason, manipulation, protection, and Jesus to do for a person what only choice can do. It took years for me to come to the place where I could believe it, but now time has rendered its verdict and the argument is settled: Not even wisdom can override choice; people must choose. The problem is that people return to the place they never really left, and too often they have never chosen. We can tell when the alcoholic has really chosen, for choice is not made in the bar but before he gets there, and he stops going. Similarly, we can tell when the struggling homosexual has chosen. His choice is not made at the meeting places but before, and he does not go to them. It is easy to spot one who has moved out of making judgments, for he does not back out in the middle of the conversation but refuses ever to enter in. Choice is something no one can make for someone else! As the Bible says, we are free. We have a new lineage, the Bible says. We are not slaves to sin, the Bible directs. However, one must choose to live in the light of these truths or they will never become real to him. I believe less and less in the “Christian struggle.” Sin does not reign over us to make us struggle. The struggle is not with sin but with choice. In our pride we still believe that sin is holding something for us, and we refuse to choose truth. This creates a vacuum, and a lie fills the void. There are many idols/coping mechanisms that we are carrying in our bags to cover up our responsibility to make choice. We use the ugly past, hurtful events, and rude statements to justify the hidden fact that we are refusing to choose. Not making a choice will keep us immature. At an early age we decide either to face life head on and mature or find a sedative to get us through. Obvious sedatives are drugs, alcohol, and sex, but there are many others that are even more insidious for their comparatively covert nature, such as withdrawal, blame giving, depression, sports, titles, competitiveness, and even computers; I have heard more than one wife complain that her husband appears to be addicted to video games. When the pressure is on, any of those things might be picked up to keep the mind off the problems, but by doing so the person remains in bondage. Therein lies the problem that when any such sedative is finally laid aside, the person engaged in it discovers he is at the same emotional age as when he picked it up. Many times a woman has discovered that once her alcoholic husband sobered up, he went around acting as though he were thirteen. She begins to wonder if it were not better to have him passed out in a chair. In short, we are given the directive to “put aside childish things,” and this will take choice.
How many Christians live by the great truth: “What must I do that God will not do for me? I must CHOOSE.” Far too many live in bondage to the “sedatives” picked up to keep their minds off their problems.
In one of the greatest moments in Israel’s history, Joshua cried out to the people to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” CHOOSE.
If it wasn’t so sad, it would be funny: “sedatives” are CHOSEN in place of LIFE. We either choose LIFE, or we choose DEATH. God makes that clear and plain. Why do we make the wrong choice so often?
Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point Red – GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches Pink – PV, Priceless Victory
Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
P. O. Box 633244 Nacogdoches, Tx 75963 936-559-5696
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