Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 73
Michael’s book is
available through:
Abiding Life
Ministries International
Littleton, Colorado
“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.
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Michael Wells’ book, Sidetracked In The Wilderness, called Getting Out of the
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Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
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