Day 164 - Independent?

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 249

         

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       www.abidinglife.com

Notice:  this email is part of a BLOG, called Living Life With a Capital “C”.  Why a blog?  So that many can receive these thoughts in an easy manner.  If you are not getting these weekly postings via an email, go to the website: www.leemccm.blogspot.com …in the top right corner there is a place to register to receive each post.

Michael gives us one of life’s most profound truths in today’s writing…one that man has basically not understood in the Natural Mind.  But then, God in His mercy gave every Born Again Believer His Mind (the spiritual mind).  As a Believer, stop and think about how  you can make heads or tails out of this puzzle…whereas an Unbeliever cannot.

DAY 164

Independent?

And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. --Genesis 1:27

Mankind clamors for independence and yet at every conceivable turn proves he is the most dependent of all creatures. Every person, with the exception of the insane, is bound to someone in some way. Man must carve out of his human surroundings an identity. The craving for dependence is so great that once the identity is solidified, only reactions within the comfort zone are sought. There becomes a set action, a desired reaction, and all else is avoided. The activist is bound to the one against whom he protests; having accepted the identity of activist, he will find it very difficult to live in a problem-free environment. Therefore, when one cause is won, the activist’s organization is not disbanded, but a search begins for someone else to oppose to provide the greatly needed reaction. The bitter person needs a person to hate, the robber needs someone from whom to steal, the teenager with green spiked hair wants an adult to shock, the bully seeks a fearful soul, the athlete desires a crowd, bigots search out different kinds of bigots to judge, the philosopher pinpoints someone to belittle, the guerrilla militia is obliged to locate a conspiracy in the government, political parties require opposing factions, and the movie star craves an audience. This assessment is confirmed with the disheartening sentiment, “If the opposition did not exist, neither would we.” How true that their very existence is tied to the thing they despise. Their life is dependent upon that for which they have contempt. Not very deep! 

We were created by God for His glory and purposes. It is to be in Him that we find who we are, and it is in the context of His body that we find our proper place of dependency on others. By nature we are dependent; we will serve something. I choose to be a child of God; therefore I need God. I will act, and He will react. But unlike dealing with the world, this cycle will not leave me depleted or being a slave to others. Rather, I will be built up and be free. I am happy to be a Christian!

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point      Green – IT, Incredible Truth        

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches           Pink – PV, Priceless Victory

One of the most foundational truths of Christianity is that every Believer has the capacity to discern spiritual things because of the gift of Holy Spirit and Christ’s Mind (1 Corin. 2:7-12, 16).  And yet, Unbelievers have only the old spirit and natural mind, and cannot receive and understand the things of God.

Michael points us to focus on who we are in Christ, then Who He is in us.  In this context, dependency is the “natural” life.  Amen!

To access ALL past weekly blogs, go to Living Life With a Capital “C” by logging onto www .leemccm.blogspot.com 

NOTICE: another 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

(email) leemccm@gmail.com

P.O. Box 633244   Nacogdoches, TX 75963              936-559-5696

Day 163 - In My Flesh Dwells No Good Thing! How About In Yours?

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 248

         

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       www.abidinglife.com

Notice:  this email is part of a BLOG, called Living Life With a Capital “C”.  Why a blog?  So that many can receive these thoughts in an easy manner.  If you are not getting these weekly postings via an email, go to the website: www.leemccm.blogspot.com …in the top right corner there is a place to register to receive each post.

The teaching of “the flesh” is missing in much of Christianity today.  Michael gives us a great look at what “the flesh” is, and how victory over “the flesh” is given to us by Christ.

DAY 163

In My Flesh Dwells No Good Thing! How About In Yours?

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good {is} not. --Romans 7:18

I sat listening to a couple discussing a topic that is much more prevalent today than it was just a few years ago: pornography on the Internet. The husband had been caught looking at it. "I cannot believe you would do that," said the wife.

I looked at her and said, "I would!"

She immediately responded, "How?"

"It is simple. In my flesh dwells no good thing! Are you telling me that in your flesh dwells a good thing?" It took me years to realize that I--that is, my flesh--am never going to get better. When I am not abiding, the flesh is the same it has always been: hostile to God. That is why we teach a moment-by-moment victory and ultimate improvement only through Christ in us. I could look at the Internet sites but I do not, and not because I am strong, but because I know men much stronger than I am who get in bondage to it. Since that is the case, what chance would my flesh have? I do not look because I am weak, not because I am strong.

 

Do you believe that in your flesh (body, mind, will, and emotions under the influence of anything other than Christ) there is something good? Every time we look at a person and say, "I would not do that," we are saying that we are stronger than Christ. We know that all Christ ever did, He never did, for it was the Father working through Him. He not only taught abiding but lived it. When we succeed, it is not because of great strength, but because we have recognized abiding in Christ, and His grace and strength are on and in us. When we judge, look out! All God has to do is lift His grace and abiding presence, and we will discover we are just as weak as anyone else.

Have you admitted you are weak and in your flesh dwells no good thing? You must admit where you are before you can leave where you are. You must own a weakness before you can lose it. If I want to give you a cup, I can only give it if I pick it up and own it first. It is not until you own your weakness that Christ will be able to be your strength. For instance, if you will own that in your flesh you hate another race, you can give that shortcoming to God, and He can become your strength. Once you do this, you will not be a compassionate person loving someone from another race; you will be a person able to dispense the pure love of God. Admit you cannot be a husband, own it, and let Christ's love flow through you for your wife. But if you will not own it, you can never disown it.

"Power is perfected in weakness!" Think of a teacher, pastor, or elder. Do you know five of his weaknesses? Three? Just one? If you do not know any of his weaknesses, this person is attempting to minister in the strength of the flesh. If power is perfected in weakness, why hide it? It is because we want to appear strong and build our own glory. However, He is the glory, and He will never give His glory to another. We are wrong to teach Christians to be strong and hide weakness. All of us are strong in Christ and weak in the flesh. In my flesh dwells no good thing.

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point      Green – IT, Incredible Truth        

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches           Pink – PV, Priceless Victory

It is a tragedy that so much teaching lands at the Christian’s feet and tells him all he needs to do and be, when God tells us Christianity is all about explaining what Christ will do for us.  Well, amen.

And what a tragedy that with little recognizing and teaching of “the flesh” there is so little teaching of Christ’s power being perfected in our weakness.  Then, too, there is the abundant teaching of our needing to be strong.  Oh, wow!

A wrong focus will take our eyes off Jesus every time.

To access ALL past weekly blogs, go to Living Life With a Capital “C” by logging onto www .leemccm.blogspot.com 

NOTICE: another 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

(email) leemccm@gmail.com

P.O. Box 633244   Nacogdoches, TX 75963              936-559-5696

Day 160 - Immediate Results

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 247

         

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       www.abidinglife.com

Notice:  this email is part of a BLOG, called Living Life With a Capital “C”.  Why a blog?  So that many can receive these thoughts in an easy manner.  If you are not getting these weekly postings via an email, go to the website: www.leemccm.blogspot.com …in the top right corner there is a place to register to receive each post.

Everybody likes immediate results.  The “I want it now” generation is crying out big time.  Trouble is, Michael gives us the dastard deed this syndrome brings to our lives.  See if you recognize the end result of the two different ways.  Oooooops!  Michael has told us over and over: Jesus is The Way, and all other ways are NOT The Way.

DAY 160

Immediate Results

For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God [directed] toward you. Test yourselves [to see] if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? –II Corinthians 13:4, 5

           

Often we allow our eyes to drift from Christ to our problems and circumstances through the immediate-results syndrome, which dictates our success wholly by what we are currently experiencing, either positively or negatively! This syndrome is actually a major obstacle to faith. Let me illustrate. Most will agree that the United States is losing its economic edge because Americans, unlike those with an Oriental or Asian mindset, are not so willing to invest in something that will not reap immediate benefits. We want wealth right away, while they are willing to invest year after year, receiving much less current tangible rewards but knowing in the future they will be repaid tenfold their original investment, and the wait will have been very worthwhile. Having seen the wisdom in investing and waiting, they are not discouraged by any occasional hiccup in the current financial situation. The wisdom of their policy is now creating repercussions in our own economy. As we apply the principle to our spiritual lives, wanting immediate results is a hindrance to faith; in fact, this mindset will actually nullify faith! The greatness of our faith is not to be judged by how much we have received, but rather by how long we can wait and receive nothing! Faith makes my Christian walk a joy; therefore, if I have voided faith through wanting immediate results, I have also to the same extent annihilated joy.

When believers do not have a long-term plan, they become susceptible to the ups and downs of daily life. Their energies get focused on resolving right away whatever is placed in front of them in order that they might feel comfortable and secure in the moment. Next they become controllers, pushing God out of the way and beginning to try to fix in their own strength and with a variety of plans and manipulations what they perceive to be the real problem. In other words, they simply begin to play God. To say the least, in this way the Christian life becomes a struggle, filled with discouragement, depression, anger, and doom, with minds and emotions flooded with questions, accusations, and feelings of hopelessness from the enemy. It is tough to play God! All of this because things are not going as they feel they ought to today.

Imagine sitting in a bathtub full of water when somebody dumps into the tub a bucket of ping-pong balls on which are written all of the problems, circumstances, failures, and people that are causing you trouble. Your job is to somehow keep every ball under water. The whole exercise would at first be frustrating and in the end quite exhausting. This pictures, of course, the believer who is trying in his own strength to control every area of his life.

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point      Green – IT, Incredible Truth        

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches           Pink – PV, Priceless Victory

“DO YOU NOT RECOGNIZE THIS ABOUT YOURSELVES, THAT JESUS CHRIST IS IN YOU…”  Incredible Truth.  Monumental Truth.  His Life Himself in us.

What does God tell us that our life IS…equals…?  Christ.  Colossians 3:4, “When Christ, who is (equals) our life…” (It helps to have the old-timey definition of what “is” is).  So, I have started thinking of His Life as my life.  I find great victory, peace, comfort, joy…name all the lovely attributes you can think of…in Life As A Christian (not TRYING to live “the Christian life”).  Are all those great attributes what we get when we “play God,” OR when we allow God to BE Himself in us (us not TRYING to live “the Christian life”).

So, who am I to allow my eyes to drift from Christ to “my” problems or circumstances? (there’s a LONG sermon there!).  Who am I to drift into an “immediate results” syndrome?  Who am I to “play God”?  Who am I to drift into “discouragement, depression, anger, and doom, with a mind and emotions flooded with questions, accusations, and feelings of hopelessness from the enemy”?  Who am I to think that I can live this life in my own strength?  Who am I to ignore the “faith of Christ” He has gifted me with through His presence…and as God told us through the Apostle Paul: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20, bold writing my emphasis)

I choose not to be that person in the last paragraph.   

(“dastard deed” I mentioned at the beginning?   “wanting immediate results is a hindrance to faith; in fact, this mindset will actually nullify faith!”)

To access ALL past weekly blogs, go to Living Life With a Capital “C” by logging onto www .leemccm.blogspot.com 

NOTICE: another 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

(email) leemccm@gmail.com

P.O. Box 633244   Nacogdoches, TX 75963              936-559-5696

Day 157 - Flesh And The Ministry

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 246

         

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       www.abidinglife.com

Notice:  this email is part of a BLOG, called Living Life With a Capital “C”.  Why a blog?  So that many can receive these thoughts in an easy manner.  If you are not getting these weekly postings via an email, go to the website: www.leemccm.blogspot.com …in the top right corner there is a place to register to receive each post.

God has told us that His people “perish” for lack of knowledge.  How can we as a whole not disciple Believers to the point of knowing, and hopefully believing, God’s truth of “who we are in Christ”…no matter the old soul and old flesh still being a part of our activity.  Jesus IS our LIFE, not us.  Michael gives us liberating Truth today.

DAY 157

Flesh And The Ministry

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. –Romans 8:1

If God is revealing a person’s flesh, should he stop ministering? It is not as odd a question as one might think. I am often asked it by those who do ministry, for it is a question that the enemy loves to plant in the mind of a disciple of Christ. After Peter’s denial, should Peter have just quit? I believe that God is dealing with us continually and bringing us into conformity with what we have always had in Jesus. Ministry remains constant while our growth—the increasing revelation of what as Christians we have always had and been--is in flux. In short, much of our insight during times of ministry comes from having already been where the people are to whom we are talking. I often look across my office and see in a person the very things that have been in me. Our experiences equip us to minister. Peter denied the Lord and yet ministered on the very topic later. He had been there. If being there disqualifies a believer, Peter would have been disqualified. Past experiences (even failures) equip us to minister in the present, and though we have grown through them and can then minister from what we gained from them, that will not rule out the possibility of a life full of like experiences. This may sound odd, but personal growth in private areas of life can be unrelated to the ministry occurring today, even though it is preparation for further ministry in the future. Many make a mistake when they see flesh in their lives and proceed to listen to the enemy as he whispers that they are not fit, they will bring dishonor to Jesus, and they are hypocrites. The enemy’s goal is accomplished to the extent that the believer withdraws from ministry. What does such retreat really accomplish? Time is taken away because of a newly revealed area of the flesh, and an attempt is made to fix the issue. The believer’s eyes are taken off of Jesus, he is no longer giving of himself to others, and he becomes absorbed with the problem, all of which are counterproductive. Also, does he really believe that this will be the FINAL issue in his life? Does he believe that this revelation of his flesh is the last one? When a believer thinks that he has dealt with all the flesh that will ever be revealed, he is deceived and only seeing flesh from his own definition. He must come to see that the continuous process of revelation of flesh and resulting renewed reliance upon Jesus is what keeps his teaching fresh. “There is nothing the nearness of Jesus will not cure.” Even today His nearness may be fixing a problem in any or all of us!  

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point      Green – IT, Incredible Truth        

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches           Pink – PV, Priceless Victory

Truth is always what is most important.  And, truth is, not one person leaves this world without at least “some” flesh still involved in their life.  For Christians, it comes with having been left with the same soul we were physically born with.  For those who are Unbelievers, it is just life.  Therefore, for Christians to think that their flesh is not going to be a problem is to ignore the truth.

And what Michael gives us here in this writing is a huge help for Believers to come to grips with “who we are” vs the flesh that shows itself.  What a statement: “I believe that God is dealing with us continually and bringing us into conformity with what we have always had in Jesus.”  Beautiful!  Growing in Christ’s grace is what it is.

Michael summarizes our problem: “When a believer thinks that he has dealt with all the flesh that will ever be revealed, he is deceived and only seeing flesh from his own definition.”  You betcha!

But, then comes the victory…those last 3 sentences!  Well, amen!

To access ALL past weekly blogs, go to Living Life With a Capital “C” by logging onto www .leemccm.blogspot.com 

NOTICE: another 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

(email) leemccm@gmail.com

P.O. Box 633244   Nacogdoches, TX 75963              936-559-5696