Day 34 -Buy A Sword!

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 200

         

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 draws our attention to an interesting perspective: how could I replace Jesus if He were to leave me?  He gives the “biblical” answer that dates all the way back to Jesus’ day…

DAY 34

Buy a Sword!

And He said to them, “But now, let him who has a purse take it along, likewise also a bag, and let him who has no sword sell his robe and buy one.” --Luke 22:36.

What a thing for the Prince of Peace to say! Why buy a sword? Earlier He had said that when He was with the disciples, they had need of nothing. But now they are in need of everything! What would it take to replace Jesus? When He was with them, they needed nothing, but since He was leaving, they would need everything, even swords. Peter tried to use the sword and was rebuked because Jesus was still with them. They never did need the purse, the bag, or the sword, for Jesus returned from the dead and they were able to live freely in the fact that He was with them. In my own personal life, how could I replace Jesus if He were to leave me? I move in and out of countries freely with the plane tickets that I need and so much provision, every bit of which is given by Him. How would I replace Him? If Jesus leaves a Christian organization, what will it take to replace Him? How many meetings? How many fund drives? How many employees? One friend, upon being told that a church had experienced a visitation of the Lord, responded, “If He visited you, you might want to ask what made Him leave in the first place!”

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

The “biblical” answer to the above question is: “They never did need the purse, the bag, or the sword, for Jesus returned from the dead and they were able to live freely in the fact that He was with them.”  Amen.

And then God gives us a further word in Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation (life) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”  It’s very comforting to know that as Christians we can never be without the Lord.

A man I once knew, spoke of his Sunday School class with these words: “The Holy Spirit could walk out of the room, and most in the class wouldn’t know He had left, and would never miss Him.”  Guess it wouldn’t help to ask them “what made Him leave in the first place?”

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 33 - Buried Alive

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 199

         

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 takes us to another profound scripture and practical remedy and makes it so easy for those who will read today’s writing in MWfHS and receive the Word.  Well, amen.

DAY 33

Buried Alive

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. --Philippians 2:5-8

           

Man needed redemption not only from sin but also from himself. In order to accomplish that, God had to become a man, be victorious over all that vexes mankind, return to heaven, and from there dispense His victorious life to all who would ask. We have to wonder what it was like for Him who created the entire universe to wake up in the morning and discover Himself in the body of a baby. Imagine waking up and finding yourself in a coffin six feet under the ground. Would you panic, beat the sides of the coffin, yell, scream, and plead for deliverance? The body in which He found Himself was indeed a coffin, for in it He would die, but when God yielded Himself to living as a man, He humbled Himself.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Isn’t it interesting that when the Man with an immeasurable IQ tells us something so very simple and uncomplicated that will dramatically “improve” life for us here on earth, we read it as if it were the day’s severe weather prognostication and go about our business unmoved…umbrella left at home.

1. have this attitude…

2. empty ourself (humility)…I have nothing.

3. ask for His victorious life to be dispensed to us today

4. enjoy His life abundantly all day long

Doesn’t seem too difficult, does it?  Can we believe it will happen?

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 25 - Belonging to Jesus

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 198

         

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.

With every day that goes by I become more and more encompassed with the simplicity of what being a Christian truthfully encompasses.  A new birth (born again…John chs.1 & 3 among others), a new family…period.  And with that, God says I belong to Christ, He belongs to me, and we belong to God.  Simple.  Nothing more.

Day 25

Belonging to Jesus

Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. --I Corinthians 3:22, 23

Do you know that you belong to Jesus? Of course you do! You do not belong to man, to an organization, or to an institution. You belong to Jesus; you are His, and He belongs to you. There is so much comfort in that fact. Do you know, also, that there was enough dynamite in one thing that Jesus said to blow to pieces any institution? “Man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for man!” In short, we are not commanded to prop up the kingdom of man, period! Many will work on the good heart of a believer to get him to serve in the building of their kingdom. We do not work for man’s kingdom, for we are not made for man; we are made for God. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the end of the walking boulevard named Florida Street, there is a large, beautiful tree with branches so big that sticks are placed vertically under the limbs to support them so they do not break off. The immense weight of each limb is unbelievable, but one little stick keeps it supported. So many in the Kingdom of God are little sticks kept busy supporting the dead weight of the kingdoms of man. We must refuse this role and not be concerned with man’s extending his image. We are created for the ONE, for Jesus, and Him we do not support; He is the ONE who supports us. “For My yoke is easy, and My load is light” (Matthew 11:30). 

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

So, why has the simplicity escaped most Christians?  Because the message of HOW one belongs to the family of God simply by the new birth has moved to a focus of one of behavior and benefits.  I know of no one, Christian or not, who doesn’t know and acknowledge they belong to a certain earthly family simply because they were born into that family.  In fact, ALL will tell you that it matters not whether they “do” or “don’t do” certain things as to whether they belong to that family.  HOW THEN, with John all the scriptures that speak so clearly to the “new birth” and “God’s family” has Christianity let people speak of: “You can’t tell me (they, whoever is spoken of) are a Christian…anyone who is a Christian would not do that.”  Or, “You can’t tell me that anyone who (does some sort of action) is a Christian.”  “You can’t tell me that (name) is a Christian…they haven’t been to church IN (whatever length of time the speaker has in mind as a “disqualification” for being in God’s family).”  WHAT do any of these things have to do with being Born Again…Belonging To JESUS?!?

I love Michael’s writing this “day.”  It is a specific writing addressed to Christians.  Otherwise he wouldn’t have said what he said to start with in the 2^nd and 3^rd sentences.  But look again at these great statements:

• “You belong to Jesus; you are His, and He belongs to you.  There is so much comfort in that fact.”
•  (quoting Jesus) “Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man.”      Mark 2:23-27
•   “We are not commanded to prop up the kingdom of man, period!”
• ·“We do not work for man’s kingdom, for we are not made for man; we are made for God.”
• ·“We are created for the ONE, for Jesus, and Him we do not support; He is the ONE who supports us.”

There really is so much comfort in all this!

So, I ask myself: Do I belong to JESUS?  Have I been Born Again?  Simple.  Uncomplicated.  Nothing about behavior or benefits…just birth.  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 14 - Are You In or Out With the Legalists?

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 197

         

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. 

Anyone who knows Michael Wells is well versed in his freedom from legalism.  He gives us an interesting perspective in this writing that very few Christians ever enjoy.

Day 14

Are You In or Out With the Legalists?

Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. –

II Peter 1:3  

It is interesting to watch the legalists drawing a person in but never really letting him in. He is manipulated to join, manipulated while working to remain, and yet never quite led to believe he is acceptable. If he complains, he is accused of being in rebellion and bringing dishonor to the Lord. He is finally put out, for the task of a legalist is to continue to make laws until he finds one that a person cannot keep. The rejected person is left depleted, spiritually abused, confused, lost, and wondering if he even has a faith. Such is the case for many who suffer under very legalistic pastors. Exclusiveness is encouraged in legalistic churches where there is the need of something to work for other than the revelation of Jesus within the believer. Pastors in such circles need to be needed. I am reminded of the opposite of this as demonstrated in Sundar Singh, who refused to pray for people and made them stand and pray themselves. Why? He was adamant about the point that there is one mediator between God and man: Jesus Christ. Nearly every time I meet a person who has come into some kind of personal relationship with Jesus, he says that he has been persecuted in some way by a legalistic pastor. One couple wept telling about how they met Jesus but are not allowed to partake of communion so long as they do not agree that the only person who can administer communion is the pastor and that the pastor is God's voice. They questioned where that was in the Bible, and that put them in even worse standing with the pastor. As believers we can be happy that Jesus is alive and ultimately is our Pastor!

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Is it any wonder Christianity is divided on everything from salvation to security, the Christian life to Life as a Christian, politics to prosperity, grind to grace, manipulation to manifestation…and the list goes on and on.  Of course, it can never end when man ignores the Word of God and magnifies his own thoughts and desires.

Michael Wells always fights for the simple relationship in Christ.  Sundar Singh has also.  How has man moved away from that?

I cannot imagine how it is that many Christians can read the first line of today’s text verse and walk away thinking Church has what God just told us He has already given us.  I guess it is just simple unbelief.

Oh, did you ever check to see what the Greek word for shepherd is?  poimen.  Same word for pastor.  Get the connection?  The Lord is my shepherd.  The Lord is my pastor.  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 13 - Are You a Castaway?

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 196

         

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. 

There is a big difference in passages that speak to, or of, an unbeliever versus ones that speak to, or of, a believer.  Obtaining Christ’s righteousness (salvation) is different from operating in Christ’s righteousness (abiding).  That is why different verses can be misconstrued so quickly and easily by well-intending bible readers.  Michael points out one of these instances in this day’s writing…

Day 13

Are You a Castaway?

How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way? --Matthew 26:54

There are many passages concerning the exemplary lifestyle of the believer. “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments: You shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and mother; you shall love your neighbor as yourself . . . sell your possessions and give to the poor.” “But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property.” (Matthew 19:16-22)  The young man would have been even more disturbed had he hung around to hear a little more of Jesus’ teaching, for he would have discovered that his statement that he had kept the commandments was a bit premature. “For if you think it in your heart, you have done it!” (Matthew 5:28)   In the end, who is guiltless? Can anyone stand the examination? This leads us to wonder: Did Jesus come in order to exclude men? It would appear so. However, He clearly teaches that He does not want to exclude but to include, yet His teaching does exclude, and often Paul’s does, as well. What is going on? Something simple! When man sees that his own behavior and work have excluded him, he can cast himself on Christ and His forgiving love that includes. Yes, something must be cast away, and it must be man’s efforts, so that he can throw himself on Him.

Things have to happen a certain way. One Scripture must be read in light of all others and never taken alone. God is multifaceted; if He is putting a believer out on one count, it is only so He can bring him in on another. This is the love of God! We must lose our righteousness daily to be able to accept the Lord’s. We must admit what we are not and then, like Abraham, move out of works and into faith for our justification. 

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Beautiful!  Lose to gain…  That’s a challenge for man.  Be a “not” to become justified.  Hooooo-boy!  Listen to the legalists scream.  The “works” folks.

After one becomes Born Again and “understanding” has come…it is interesting that one of the first questions that surfaces is this: how come everyone else doesn’t see, hear, and understand this!?! 

How come the young man in Michael’s illustration doesn’t grasp the Truth of Jesus’ words?  How come there are so many “ways” that man tries to think of how he will “stand in the examination?”  How come so few ever really “see, hear, and understand?”  Well, for one reason the Lord told us it would be that way.  And another reason is that possessions can get in the way.  There are other reasons.

Suffice it to say, let us stick with Michael’s final words:

“What is going on? Something simple! When man sees that his own behavior and work have excluded him, he can cast himself on Christ and His forgiving love that includes. Yes, something must be cast away, and it must be man’s efforts, so that he can throw himself on Him.

Things have to happen a certain way. One Scripture must be read in light of all others and never taken alone. God is multifaceted; if He is putting a believer out on one count, it is only so He can bring him in on another. This is the love of God! We must lose our righteousness daily to be able to accept the Lord’s. We must admit what we are not and then, like Abraham, move out of works and into faith for our justification.”

Let us “cast, throw ourselves, lose, accept, admit, and move” on Christ.  He is our only hope.

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