Day 115 - Giving All

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 145

         

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 the weekly thoughts I express on Michael’s writings in an easy manner. 

Michael gives an outstanding analogy that provides much needed insight into one of the most widely quoted but perhaps least truly understood verses in all of Scripture.  Read carefully this day’s writing and see how you will begin to “love the Lord your God” (and “understand” many other truths) in stages as the days go by…

DAY 115

Giving All

Love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. --Mark 12:30           

Many make the mistake of wanting to understand exactly what is entailed in their commitment to give all to God before they take the step. They must realize that giving our all cannot be understood before it is revealed over the years we live with the Lord. We will not know what giving all means until we die; all that Jesus personally means to us is not revealed in one day, but rather over the course of a lifetime. A good analogy is marriage. In the wedding ceremony we pledge to give all, but we will not know exactly what all is involved in that until the day that we die. In giving all to God, the important thing is that we do it once with our mouth; though we may feel nothing or experience no change, He will reveal in stages what we have done with those words.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

When will we ever learn “just doing” without having to have “understanding before doing”???  When we learn just that, we move giant leaps forward in experiencing God.  Perhaps the “now” generation (I want it now! …instant gratification generation) has hindered many from ever abandoning themselves to trust and obey God.  I wonder how many Christians will live a more relaxed and comfortable and productive “life as  a Christian” with just the simple understanding that Michael gives us today about “just doing” before we “have understanding.”  Should help a lot of Unbelieving Believers or Doubters…

Barbara and I have been married a little over 48 years…and, I now know that I am still getting understanding as to all that is involved in the pledge (marriage vow) that I made a little over 48 years ago!  Get this…til death do we part.  And NOW, I can begin to see that I verbally gave all to God back in June of 1980 when I was Born Again…and I can look back and see that all the years since, God has been revealing (and it has been in stages!) what I had done with those words.  Well, amen!

And, isn’t it beautiful that it takes so much pressure, and so many questions, off my plate!  I can relax and trust God to reveal more and more as time goes by, and watch my understanding expand all the while!  Hallelujah!

p.s.  I can quit acting like I know it all right now…

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

(twitter) @bleemc67    (email) leemccm@gmail.com

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

Day 116 - "Go and Tell No One"

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 144

         

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 the weekly thoughts I express on Michael’s writings in an easy manner. 

Jesus said in John 6:63, “…the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”  Isn’t that what everyone wants…life?  …to have “life” in the living we are doing this day.

Michael gives us specific direction in how to have that “life.”

DAY 116

“Go and Tell No One”

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. –Hebrews 1:1, 2

Have you ever noticed that often after Jesus performed a miracle, He did not want the beneficiary to tell anyone? Why? He simply did not want to attract a following among those that are merely drawn by miracles. He was interested in those that would be attracted to God. Today there are many who want to appeal to the crowds by miracles, such as the miracle of the one-time fix. Jesus is still looking for those that will come to Him in faith and love Him, not for a miracle but because of who He is. It should be noted that when God gave dominion over the earth to man, in many ways He tied His own hands. He must now work through man. In the Old Testament, “God spoke long ago through the Fathers and the Prophets.” Today, He is speaking “in Son.” We must in these times hear the Son and not seek after the miracles.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

To me, one of the most profound statements Michael ever made was this: “God is not in the work of creating hearts for Him today, but rather in the work of revealing hearts that are for Him.”  Those that have hearts for God are ones with hearts that crave to hear what the Son has to say.

This all begs the question: why would any man or woman want to seek after miracles instead of seeking to hear the Son?  Yet this has been the heart of many even back in Jesus’ day.

I use the term “Life Verses” to designate certain ones that really bring “life” to my life.  I encourage collecting these “Life Verses” as a resource to constantly draw upon when different events or people come into our life that the verses speak “life” to.

The bottom line for the great peace Jesus spoke of, the wonderful provision Jesus spoke of, the life more abundantly Jesus spoke of…is Michael’s words: “We must in these times hear the Son…”

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

(twitter) @bleemc67    (email) leemccm@gmail.com

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

Day 117 - Go Slowly, Do Not Get Depressed, Take Your Time

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 143

         

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 the weekly thoughts I express on Michael’s writings in an easy manner. 

I have read studies where somewhere between 80-90% of all Believers come to know Christ by age 18.  And now Michael gives us a staggering statistic from another study on “the average age of coming to see that Christ was actually IN a person”…  Very interesting and comforting read for many today!

DAY 117

Go Slowly, Do Not Get Depressed, Take Your Time

You have shortened the days of his youth. --Psalm 89:45

I was talking to a fellow who was discouraged that at age 22 he had not seen that Jesus was his life. I laughed. “Brother, if you could know all that you need to know before entering heaven at age 22, God would not have set the length of man’s life at seventy years! Relax.” God has created this world for a purpose, and it functions under His permission. There are things that can only be learned here. We are in the process of losing all in order that we might gain everything in Him. In one study the average age of coming to see that Christ was actually in a person was said to be between 55 and 70. We simply cannot receive it all at once! We are not intended to get it all at once! We are in a process!

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Perspective affects so much of what we believe, and therefore how we act.  Do we truthfully perceive that all things in this world function under God’s permission?  If so, we can trust God as opposed to “hoping” He will be involved.

It is a great relief that God has us in a process, and that we will grow into what He has for us in due time.  If we don’t get in too much of a tizzy at age 7 that we aren’t as physically developed as we will be at age 17, why should we get in a tizzy early in our spiritual life…knowing we will “mature” with time?  And, maybe better still, can those who are teachers and disciplers show a little patience with their students who are first getting revelation of some truth like “Christ is IN us”?

I KNEW who I was IN Christ for 15 years before I KNEW who Christ was IN me.  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

(twitter) @bleemc67    (email) leemccm@gmail.com

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

Day 78 - Dressing Up The Deeds Of The Flesh

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 142

         

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 the weekly thoughts I express on Michael’s writings in an easy manner. 

This is one of my favorite LIFE verses…God has told me what brings LIFE to my life and what brings DEATH.  Can’t get any easier to understand than this.  So, if I love LIFE, I seek with all my heart to avoid “pride” and that dreadful “haughty spirit.”

DAY 78

Dressing Up The Deeds Of The Flesh

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. --Proverbs 16:18

In certain countries there has been an emphasis made by foreign preachers that God wants us wealthy. These "teachers" say that they can demonstrate their faith by how many material possessions they have. This has been a very vexing message for the local pastors to deal with, because many people are poor and have a tendency to see poverty as a curse. A cow zipped up in a horse suit is still a cow. Likewise, it is amazing how deeds of the flesh can be worked around until they are actually presented as spiritual virtue. Someone may say with pride and boldness, "I told him he offended me!" That person just admitted complete spiritual defeat. Another admits spiritual defeat when he says, "I believed God, claimed a jet airplane, and God gave it to me." We are to be seeking the things above. One fellow even said, "I cannot look at pornography too long because it is vexing to my spirit." He can look at it for a while, but he is too spiritual for a prolonged look? It is one thing to avoid thinking about our flesh, but quite another to actually make it out to be something spiritual; that reveals the heart of a true Pharisee.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Michael’s title for this day’s writing speaks volumes, doesn’t it?  How sad, man is so prone to doing just that.  We love our flesh.  We love “dressing it up.”  To the point that we can zip ourselves up in another suit and play like we are something we aren’t.  That’s a beauty, isn’t it?  Not.

What’s crazy is that we can even do as Michael says, work the deeds of the flesh around “until they are actually presented as spiritual virtue.”  How far fetched is that?!?  When the mind is not in tune with God, anything can be concocted. 

And so it is that pride can rear its ugly head…  Pride is the root of every sin and evil.

Truly, as Michael says, “We are to be seeking the things above.”  That is a remedy for pride.  That is the direction of humility.  Andrew Murray has said, “Humility, the place of entire dependence on God…is the root of every virtue.”  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

(twitter) @bleemc67    (email) leemccm@gmail.com

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