Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Day 155 - "I Want to see Jesus!" "Do you?"


Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 73    

Michael’s book is available through: 

Abiding Life Ministries International
Littleton, Colorado
(303) 972-0859       www.abidinglife.com

In Michael’s book, Heavenly Discipleship, he speaks of “worldly discipleship” vs “heavenly discipleship.”  He says, “Worldly discipleship, succinctly defined, is persuading a child of God to employ worldly formulas to become spiritual” (p. 2).  Many today have led one Christian after another to “seek more,” to seek the spectacular.  All this at the expense of faith.  Simple, child-like faith that is not seeking, but depending.  Michael gives us a great picture of the price paid for abandoning faith, a powerful summary statement, along with a simple statement from scripture that speaks volumes.

DAY 155

“I want to see Jesus!” “Do you?”

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. –Hebrews 11:1, 2

One day in my prayers I made a request: “Jesus, I would like to see You!” His response was, “Would you?” The normal way to enter into Jesus is through the unseen, that is, through faith. If we enter another way, we enter through the abnormal, the seen. Many could complain to God, “If you did for my relative what you did for Paul (strike him blind, speak to him, heal him, and teach him in the wilderness), he would believe, also.” However, is a knockout experience what we really want for our relatives? Is it what we want for ourselves? Once one has entered into Christ through the seen, he is no less in Christ, but he has not learned faith, which by very definition includes belief in what is not seen. He must then enter dark rooms of suffering and lack, just to add faith to his spiritual arsenal. This principle is seen over and over again in saints’ lives that have experienced the spectacular. They had to learn faith through dark nights of the soul. In the end, is it wise to want a vision or to be caught up to heaven? Such things bring great suffering in order to take us to a place of faith. If entrance into Christ came through trusting, though nothing was seen, be content to stay in a place of faith, in a place of the unseen, and in a place of believing. “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29).

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point      Green – IT, Incredible Truth        
Red – GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches           Pink – PV, Priceless Victory

The spectacular has an enormous attraction in the world.  Sadly, it isn’t much different in Christian circles either.  Books telling of some “miraculous” event that only the author has experienced, testimonies of seeing something or someone that none other has experienced, even the picturing of an image (or, imagining it to be an image of someone) on a bizarre something…all have captured the imaginations of thousands and thousands of people, many who claim to be Christians, who want to “see” what someone else has seen, or claims to have seen.  What ever happened to the simple, uncomplicated, “bland” life of “the just shall live by faith” (“which by very definition includes belief in what is not seen”)? 

Of course, one teaching that has been missing is the testimonies of the multitudes who have had to “enter dark rooms of suffering and lack, just to add faith to his spiritual arsenal.”  Amazingly, the thousands who have been intrigued by the one who experienced the spectacular have not followed up to see what their life turned out to be.  Confirmation of the end result was not sought.  So, off we go, watching thousands more caught up in someone’s “spectacle.”

“The just shall live by faith.”  Simple, uncomplicated, “bland.”  The flesh doesn’t like that, does it?  Oh, but the Spirit does!!!  His Spirit in us, the real us.  Check out the end result of someone living by faith.  You’ll like it…if you are not living in the flesh.

To access ALL past weekly blogs, go to Living Life With a Capital “C” by logging onto www.leemccm.blogspot.com   Look to the top right hand side of the page, enter your email address in the box under “Follow,” then click on SUBMIT.  You will receive a “confirmation email,” and when you click on the link and “confirm,” you will receive all new posts via email.

NOTICE: a new blog on Michael Wells’ book, Sidetracked In The Wilderness, called Getting Out of the Wilderness.  You can access by logging onto www.leemcchristianministries.blogspot.com


Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
P. O. Box 633244    Nacogdoches, Tx 75963                                       936-559-5696

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