Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 136
Michael’s book is
available through:
Abiding Life Ministries
International
Littleton, Colorado
Notice: this email is part of a
BLOG, called Living Life With a Capital “C”. Why a
blog? So that many can receive the
weekly thoughts I express on Michael’s writings in an easy manner.
Can
you give any experience in your life that testifies to the truth of today’s
lesson? All of us can! In fact, in many parts of life “focus” is a
vital part of any “success," or "failure.” Focus,
concentration, not losing either…we are all familiar with this. Then why do we not “see” what our focus on
sin does to us???
Great
lesson today. Thank God for the truth of
it.
DAY 232
Red-faced Monkey
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which
is good and acceptable and perfect.
--Romans 12:2
When
it comes to the topic of battling sin, one rule must never be broken,
and that is that we are never
to battle sin! It
is a misplaced focus. No,
we are never to fight sin if we desire to overcome it. Let me
illustrate. There is a story of a fellow in India who was traveling from
village to village selling a magic potion. The man would ask for a clean
bucket, into which he would pour clear water and some of the magic potion. As
he stirred the mixture, through sleight of hand he would drop in three or four
nuggets of gold. When the water was drained off, there was the gold. In one
community a moneychanger watching the demonstration asked if he could purchase
the formula for 50,000 rupees. The fellow was more than happy to sell, and
after receiving the payment, he turned to the moneychanger and said,
"There is one thing you must never do while making the gold, or else the
potion will not work. While stirring the water and adding the formula, you must
never, never think of the red-faced monkey!" As you can well imagine, the
moneychanger was never able to make gold! Wherever he went, from the Himalayas
to the south of India, no matter how hard he worked to block it, the red-faced
monkey would pop into his mind. So it is with sin; as long as it is made the focus, it will never be
overcome. I have
often commented that God has delivered me from many things, but not once was I
freed from anything on which I was centered.
Many
have focused on their sin ten, twenty, thirty, and even forty years; their sin
has become so much a part of their life that they are not even sure what they
would do were they to be miraculously delivered. If 25% of
thought life were concentrated on something consuming and immediate deliverance
occurred, exactly what would replace that portion of mental energy? What would
fill the vacuum? The solution
to warring against sin is to set our minds on something other than the sin.
This cannot not be done by consciously avoiding the sin, but rather by making
the Lord the focus of daily thought life. If our focus is not kept on the things above but is
allowed to traffic in the things of the world, we as believers will be led to
Christian fatalism, the belief that this life in these bodies will constantly
be given over to defeat and misery. Thus we will accept continual
suffering as the norm and wait for the day we will be caught up into heaven. The truth is that all suffering has
a purpose and, in the end, produces abundant living today.
Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point Green
– IT, Incredible Truth
Red – GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches Pink
– PV, Priceless Victory
It didn’t take me long to think of something from my life (albeit it was
from way in the past) that applied explicitly to the principal Michael teaches
us today… Years ago I played golf. IF I stepped up to a tee and there was “out
of bounds” to the right, and IF I let that become my “focus”…guess where I hit
the ball? In fact, I used to say that I
couldn’t figure out why the golf courses that were built with homes snug up
against the fairways didn’t make it “out of bounds” if someone hit their ball
into the backyard of someone’s home…just have them get the ball and place it
two club-lengths from the boundary and play on.
IF it wasn’t a hazard or penalty for hitting the ball there, a huge
percentage of shots that went into those backyards (or, into someone’s
windows!) would never happen. WHY? Because the golfer wouldn’t “focus” on the penalty
and the place…they would never enter their mind. They could focus on hitting the ball down the
fairway.
Duh! Am I going to set my mind
(focus) on warring against sin in my life (in hopes of getting rid of it), OR “if
ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set
your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God.” 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
P. O. Box 633244 Nacogdoches, Tx 75963 936-559-5696
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