Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 170
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 these thoughts
in an easy manner.
It
is interesting how God designed man, but allowed the fall of man. It is interesting how fallen man has only one
focus. It is really interesting how God
structured life to where fallen man has only One Who can meet his deepest
needs, and at some point fallen man can turn to God and have all those deepest
needs met. Read how Michael so simply
and succinctly puts all this into perspective!
DAY 197
Man’s
Deepest Needs
He
who believes in Me,
as the Scripture said, 'From
his innermost being shall
flow rivers of living water.’ --John 7:38
Jesus
knew who He was, where He came from, where He was going, who His Father was,
and that all of His friends were going to deny Him. What was His response? He
picked up a towel and washed the disciples’ feet! The behavior of others did not determine His actions.
This is true freedom, the
freedom from the actions of others. How many of us have our actions predetermined by others
and, in effect, are not living life but merely responding to it?
Being physically born from below, our
life initially centers on the things of the earth.
We look to another to meet our spiritual desires, desires that only God can meet, such as the
affirmation of worth, acceptance, security, love, and commitment. We then find
that this other first wants us to meet his or her needs. We are--as one lady
said at a conference--two
ticks with no dog! We then become angry and bitter toward the mate, the friend, the pastor,
or the child. However, the anger does not stop there. We begin to hate ourselves for
needing others’ love and acceptance before getting on with life. We hate having our mood
controlled by the glance of another, the casual unkind word, the lack of
interest in what we do, and the subtle hints at our inferiority. In short, we hate ourselves for not
being free. We find
ourselves under the control of others, slaves with hats in hand begging
for our daily allotment of acceptance, security, and assurance. We hate what we have become:
emotional leeches. We want to
believe that others have created our feelings of inner ill will and misery;
however, we know they have not; they have only revealed them.
Are you attempting to
drink at a well that holds no water for your inner man? Do you look to your boss, your mate, or
your parents, begging them to give what they do not possess? If so, then you have received the
misery that you deserve. The end result is not only hatred toward those
who fail at being God for you but also hatred toward yourself for being in such
a pathetic situation. Anything
that you make out to meet your deepest needs is a god, albeit a false god, that
in the end must fail you.
We
see today many who have made government god, demanding from it the things that
God would give. As is normal for the carnality of man, they selfishly demand
that god (government) intervene in everyone’s life but their own, in order that
others might be forced to meet their needs by not intruding on their comfort
zone. However, nothing
will meet the deepest longings of the heart except Jesus, who meets those needs
and has structured life in such a way that no other can. Once disillusionment with all other
sources of true love and acceptance has occurred, people can look only to God
to meet the deep needs. He made each one of us for Himself, and in Him we all must find life. The answer, as always in the deep
Christian life, is for the simple and the weak. Those who have lost the strength to pull the world
toward them or drag themselves toward it may humbly say, “I have a God. His name is Jesus, and He meets all my
needs.”
We
are not to desire to be lottery Christians, those who would buy spiritual
lottery tickets to obtain in an instant what others have gained through a
process. A lottery Christian wants to gain the fruit and maturity of spiritual
men and women without going through the process of having doctrine, people,
mates, teachers, vocations, or places fail them. God is not making mushroom believers but oaks. One is
immediate; the other is a lifetime in the making. To discover that the
world does not meet our needs is not a pleasant experience and normally takes
some time.
One
last point is that upon
discovering, believing, and experiencing that Christ meets every need of man,
we do not then withdraw from man. On the contrary, we are driven to man, but with a
much different attitude. We do not run to others begging for life, but our desire is to impart to them some
essence of the Life we receive.
Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point Green
– IT, Incredible Truth
Red – GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches Pink
– PV, Priceless Victory
Many years ago I heard a preacher say this: “Roses are red, violets are
blue. And my disposition depends on
you. AND WHEN IT DOES, I am in trouble!” Crazy, isn’t it?!? And way too many people, both Christians and
not, live day by day with this idea hanging over their heads.
“Two ticks with no dog!” Two
people struggling to get “the other” to meet their needs. Hopeless.
Helpless. And yet, the “ticks”
seem to never find their “dog” they are longing for!
This day’s writing is worth spending a lot of time wrestling with each
sentence, asking God to open the truths within each. And asking God to get “me” to the point of “true
freedom, the freedom from the actions of others,” and to the point of “the
simple and the weak. Those who have lost
the strength to pull the world toward them or drag themselves toward it.” And then to “humbly say, ‘I have a God. His name is Jesus, and He meets all my needs.’
“ 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
1737 CR
2051 Nacogdoches, Tx 75965 936-559-5696
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