Day 214: One Praise Before An Event Is Worth 1,000 Afterward

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 219

         

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.

Isn’t it amazing that man can come up with ideas about “life” when God has never mentioned any such thing, and in reality ONLY Jesus can bring Life!  Michael takes a very familiar scripture, often quoted (usually just a small portion), and people take off as if they have the secret to “life”…

DAY 214

One Praise Before An Event Is Worth 1,000 Afterward

“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find {Me} when you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you,” declares the LORD. --Jeremiah 29:11-14

I believe it! He has plans for me. Everything is working toward those plans; nothing is working against me, for He is for me. I believe that His plans include a future and a hope. I believe that He is listening to me. I believe that I have sought Him because He first sought me, and I believe that I have found Him. But today I cannot see it! It seems dark. It feels empty. It looks like a reversal. What am I to do? This is the testing of my faith, because I know He has never disappointed me. Therefore I will praise Him! It is in this darkness that my praise means the most to Him. In this time of darkness before the fulfillment, one praise offered to God is worth one thousand after the promise is received. Today if you have no job, praise God! If your marriage and family are not working out, praise God! If you have found yourself once again in defeat, praise God! If physical ailments have led to spiritual defeats, praise God! One praise before the trial ends is worth one thousand after it.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

In my introductory comment I left the idea incomplete…here is more: …and they really don’t BELIEVE what they have just said (quoted).  Take for instance, New Year’s resolutions…there is nothing in the Bible about these…a man-made “plan” for their life to get better.  How many follow through on these resolutions?

Most people, even Christians, do not truthfully BELIEVE God has a plan for their life…they do not live like He does.  We have a tendency to say some “spiritual” things, then go off as if we never even thought of them, much less believe them!

Michael exhibits his BELIEF in what God has said in Jeremiah 29:11-14 by admitting that even when “today” doesn’t “show” the truth of the text, he praises God anyway!  Every test of our “faith” is really a test about what we BELIEVE about God…what He has said, what He is capable of doing, etc., etc., etc.  It is not what we believe about us, or our capabilities, or our circumstances.

And Michael makes a declaration that we ought to meditate on, check our “faith,” and then be honest with ourselves as to what we really BELIEVE, and whether it has been turned into FAITH by God.  Look at it again: because I know He has never disappointed me.  How many of us have passed this test in ALL situations?  We can BELIEVE in one thing, and God has given us His FAITH to solidify it…then turn around and be an UNBELIEVING Believer in the next thing.

Now listen…Michael gives us a great LIFE foundational truth: One praise before the trial ends is worth one thousand after it.  It’s just like “faith” and “fact”…faith must come before, fact is afterward.  It is not faith if it is afterward.  Anybody can “praise” God AFTER the fact.  A Believer is the only one who can BELIEVE GOD (and PRAISE Him) BEFORE the trial ends.

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

(email) leemccm@gmail.com

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

Day 66 - Do The Strong Have Something That You Do Not?

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 218 

         

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.

Another calendar year is coming to an end, and the pundits in the news are recapping all the accomplishments that “great” people have done or made happen in 2016.  Haven’t heard any spiritual accomplishments or effects mentioned at all.  In this day’s writing, Michael addresses a great “spiritual accomplishment” that GOD has worked in every Believer’s life…the “effects” are beautiful!

DAY 66

Do The Strong Have Something That You Do Not?

. . . to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit. --I Corinthians 12:9

I said something to a pastor that gave me great joy. “Do you realize, Brother, that none of the great preachers have anything that we do not?” It delighted me to know that this man had everything that other “great” men had; he was just as good a preacher, just as gifted from the Spirit, and he had a great faith. What he did not have is something, sadly, possessed by many of the greats; he did not have appealing flesh. He was preaching from the cockpit of an old airplane that had been assembled onstage for effect, and he was performing miracles desirable to the flesh. He was not an overly attractive man; it was obvious that in the flesh he did not have everything the “great” men do, but he was not striving to be great in any sense.

I love the Spirit, and, in a sense, I love the flesh, for both are the great equalizers. In the Spirit we all have the same gifts and there are no “great” men. In the flesh, the “great” men are not any better than the “poor no-hopers” to whom they are ministering. It is great!

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

I never will forget the first time I heard from Romans 8:11 that the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is living inside me!  Wow!  That about blew my mind!  That has been one of the astounding truths that have given me great confidence and great power, and great freedom, in day-to-day life.

Another is the tremendous truth that of the “gifts” that God has given me to live out certain things He has for me to do.  Wow!  And some gifts that all Believers, including ME, have been given.  Woweee!

Now I like to pay particular attention to “words,” and two statements that I want to give attention to for you: (in the scripture text), “to another faith by the same Spirit,” and (in Michael’s writing), “he had a great faith.”  Do you see it?  Faith, biblical faith, is a gift of God to Believers.  And as Michael points out, this preacher had the gift…not something the man had worked up, paid for, done anything for.

Unbelievers do not, and cannot, have this gift of faith.  Now here is the irony for us as Christians…we can live “in the Spirit,” and all Believers are the same.  But when we live “in the flesh,” we are not the same as Believers who are living “in the Spirit”… but are the same as Unbelievers who live ONLY “in the flesh.”  In this sense, the “Strong” DO have something I DON’T WANT!  May God deliver me from choosing to live “in the flesh,” and may I choose to live “in the Spirit” all the rest of my days here on earth!!!

So, in 2017, it will be exciting to watch how God, “who has begun a good work” in me, “will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

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

(email) leemccm@gmail.com

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

Day 234 - Remember the Bell Ringer

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 217

         

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.

What would Christmas be without the bell-ringers?  Every year the folks from the Salvation Army are at the store’s front doors…ringing and ringing and ringing…and people walk by and drop something in their bucket.  Listen to Michael’s illustration of a great truth to see what kind of “giving” you and I are practicing…

DAY 234

Remember the Bell Ringer

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.

--Philippians 2:5, 6

Imagine going into a grocery store where the clerk rings up the sale, puts your hard-earned money into the register, and then places your groceries under the counter and asks you to leave without them. How would you respond? I imagine that most of us would throw a fit, screaming at the injustice of paying but receiving nothing. There might even be an ensuing fight. 

           

In contrast, imagine walking by the Salvation Army bell-ringer at Christmastime and putting $20 into the bucket. Would you be upset if the bell-ringer gave you nothing in return? Not at all, for you give to the bell-ringer a gift from the heart, expecting nothing in return. 

           

Sad to say, very little giving within many Christian homes has its origin in the goodness of a heart turned toward Christ. When a good deed is done for another and anger occurs because of lack of response, the reaction proves only that the action was not done from the heart without strings attached. It reveals that whatever was paid was done so with the expectation of receiving something in return. This kind of giving is bondage that yields no joy. Giving is a delight if we desire nothing in return. I pray that God would give us bell-ringer marriages.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Christmas is not only known for the bell-ringers, but for the giving of gifts to family and friends.  The question is: does our giving have its origin in the goodness of a heart turned toward Christ?  Or, do we give with strings attached?  Even the tiniest little piece of a string???

Michael states that “Sad to say, very little giving within Christian homes has its origin in the goodness of a heart turned toward Christ.”   So, perhaps the question I must ask myself: Does any of my giving to family and friends all during the year have its origin in the goodness of a heart turned toward Christ?  Does my giving bring me the delight Michael speaks of…the delight if I desire nothing in return?

I join Michael in praying God would give me a bell-ringing LIFE.  May that carry over into a bell-ringing marriage, family relationships, fellowship with neighbors, and interaction with strangers…etc…

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 62 - Discipline Versus Punishment

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 216

         

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.

One may wonder why I have selected this day’s writing to use for this week’s blog…just 4 days away from Christmas!  Well, this is the time that folks check the “naughty or nice” list, isn’t it?!?  I will let you in on a secret: I will be doing an EXTRA post on Saturday evening, right into your stocking hanging onto your computer!

Michael provides us with an interesting discourse that speaks to as great a truth as there is in all of Scripture…take a look…

DAY 62

Discipline Versus Punishment

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? --Hebrews 12:9

Church discipline has often baffled me, for it seems to be much more church punishment than discipline. A man was trapped in sin, but he repented; a year later when he told the church leadership of his experience, they disciplined him. He had moved past the sin, yet they punished him and stripped him of his position. I think that his experience may be common, because many seem to have no understanding of the purpose of church discipline, for which I will offer an explanation. We fall out with God before we fall out with one another or fall into sin. Sin is the cobweb, but the falling out is the spider. We need not go for the cobweb when we can go for the spider. If brothers or sisters have fallen out with God, they will begin to walk in the flesh and infect the whole body. We must discipline them. We need not punish them, since sin and punishment are one and the same; the moment they started sinning, they started punishing themselves. What they need is the discipline of falling back in with God, of spending time with Him, of listening to Him, and of being loved by Him. Pull them aside and discipline them by seeing that they spend time with Him and urging them away from all that would distract from Jesus. Steer them away from leadership, giving them time to listen to the good Shepherd; let them be disciplined while falling back to Jesus. Once this is done, all is complete. No longer bring up the failure; whatever it was is not as critical as the fact that they were deceived into falling away from the abiding presence of Jesus. There will be the odd time when we discover that the persons never really wanted Jesus and they do not want Him now. They do not need to be put out of the fellowship, for God has already done that. Just agree with what He has done and wait. If they fall back into Jesus, they will then be welcome.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Many sincere Christians have no idea that “discipline” and “punishment” are two different actions.  In fact, the more legalistic one is, the more the possibility diminishes of that one knowing the difference.

Don’t you just love the scripture text for this day’s writing.  Look at the three things that set the stage for Michael’s discourse:

1. our earthly fathers were given to instruct, correct, chastise us…i.e. “discipline” us.  Steering us down life’s path, instead of punishing us, is father’s role.

2. the writer of Hebrews speaks of a time when the children “respected” their fathers for doing what is mentioned in #1.

3. part of the earthly father’s role is to steer his children to be “subject” (submit ourselves) to our Heavenly Father’s control.

Michael shows us how this type of “parenting” should play out in a church, with the leadership steering the people through such difficult situations.  Wouldn’t it be great if the following were a part of the church culture of our day:

1. 100% of the members have heard of such teaching.

2. there was respect for leadership in most churches…especially as God teaches.

3. the threat of lawsuits wasn’t keeping most church leadership from going down this path.

Respect for fathers, respect for pastors & elders, respect for law officers, respect for others, respect for property, and the “fear of the Lord” is missing in most places today.  What a tragedy.

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 61 - Did God Create Satan? Sin?

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 215

         

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.

Something Michael brought to my attention years ago…ONLY God can create.  He is THE Creator.  Man can only attempt to counterfeit (deceive into thinking or making someone else think), compile two (or more) things together, or copy (not create) something God has created.  Pride allows man to think he can create…

DAY 61

Did God Create Satan? Sin?

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. –Job 1:1

It is helpful to understand that pride comes before sin. Pride misuses the natural, as mentioned above, and sin is the result. Pride would dominate with no regard for that which it controls. This is where Satan reveals himself to be pure, unadulterated, unrefined pride. God did not create Satan; He created a heavenly being that chose pride, and this resulted in something called Satan. He is like the locust that devours without ever looking back and then moves on to the next living thing. The enemy has no regard for human life or things created above in the heavens or below on the earth. He destroys and takes no responsibility for it. Satan sought to totally destroy Job, and for what? For nothing! For his pride alone does Satan destroy! If Satan is destroying your family, know this: it is for nothing!

Sin is not a created thing, but something that comes as a result. Created things are formed from nothing and exist as though they always were. Sin is the result of two created things being misused. For example, men and women have a natural sex desire; that is not sin. But then pride comes bringing chaos with no consideration, and the two natural desires interact in an unnatural act--sex without marriage--and sin occurs. Sin is therefore a result of pride.

The mule--the outcome of the mating of a horse and a donkey that cannot reproduce itself--can be an example of something that is not a created being but is a result. Because the mule is a result being, to be rid of it we would have to attack that from which it springs, its source; all mules would naturally disappear if every horse or donkey were killed. Sin is a result of two natural things doing the unnatural. Sin is the result of the inner and outer life of man saying no in pride to the Creator. Sin is a parasite on the back of creation, the unnatural living on the natural. This is why God did not attack the result (sin), but allowed the inner life (Adam life) to be killed on the cross with Christ, and thus sin’s source (Adam Life) was destroyed. The new inner life we receive, Christ's life, never agrees with the unnatural and brings the outer life under its subjection. Every person who becomes a believer brings a deathblow to sin and death. “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Galatians 5:17).

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

God’s Word has ample warning of two things man falls captive to over and over again: pride, then wrong choices.  Michael gives us 6 powerful statements to meditate on and ponder over and over…

1. pride comes before sin

2. even a heavenly being chose pride…who do we think we are?

3. sin is the result of the inner and outer life of man saying “no” in pride to the Creator.

4. but God did not attack the result (sin), but allowed the inner life (Adam life) to be killed on the cross with Christ…sin’s source in all Believers has been destroyed.

5. the new inner life (Christ’s life) all Believers have received never agrees with the unnatural and brings the outer life under its subjection.

6. every Believer has brought a deathblow to sin and death.

SO…may I add…why would any Believer ever say, “The devil made me do it.” ???

    ooooooops….pride raises its ugly head once more.

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 60 - Did God Create Pride?

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 214

         

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.

Pride is such a nasty thing…and God has specific things to say about it.  One verse in particular that I am constantly reminded of is James 4:6:

          But He giveth more grace.  Wherefore He saith, ‘God resisteth the proud,

            but giveth grace to the humble.’ 

Wow!  That is specific, direct, and uncomplicated.  And in today’s writing Michael shows us just what our problem is…

DAY 60

Did God Create Pride?

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. --Isaiah 40:28

God has several names, which allows us to form a better understanding of Him who made us. “Creator” is one of those names. Art reveals something about the artist, and creation reveals something about the Creator. To God, the creation is an extension of His character, not an “it,” an object to be used or something without life. It. No person can set boundaries for what the Creator creates, for anyone who attempts to do so has been created himself; any boundaries are self-imposed by the Creator, but they are absolute. Some of the boundaries of creation include these: He will show regard, respect, and love for the work of His hands rather than treat it with indifference; He will remove chaos; He will take responsibility for what is made. This is ultimate humility.

“And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil’” (Genesis 3:22). Everything else is created by God but is not like God. However, the Creator creates man in His own image. Being like God affords us the ultimate choice of either walking in humility or pride. Humility voluntarily chooses to esteem God and all things created. Pride chooses to treat God and His creation as enemies, with no regard, respect, or caring; pride would invite in confusion and take no responsibility.

Pride does not emanate from the Heavenly Father, so where did it come from? Since God in humility has chosen to treat creation as a living thing, and in His image we are given choice, pride originates in the choice. Humility relates to creation, but pride is indifferent to all things and treats them as though they are dead! Pride makes God out to be dead, man to be dead, truth to be dead, and hope to be dead. It even murdered the most alive Man that ever walked on the earth! Is it any wonder that we are commanded to pray, “Deliver us from evil”? God in humility creates, and pride, by its very nature, destroys. We see, then, why pride can so easily take created beauty, treat it indifferently, and cause the result: an unnatural thing called sin. Many refuse to hear it, but AIDS came about this very way. AIDS is not created by God; it is the result of pride! AIDS does not have its root in the Creator; the fingerprint of pride is all over it. AIDS and every other sin enters the world through pride, and all the created world then bears the weight of it, moaning as it looks for its redemption.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

This “day” represented the greatest challenge to differentiate between the highlighting!  Virtually every word was like a combination of all 5 colors, it seemed.

Needless to say, the message is so very simple: “pride originates in the choice.”  So, isn’t it incredible that God does not take away “our choice” in virtually everything!  Testing, testing, testing…God never relents.

But, as Michael has so often taught: do not be vexed, choose God.  Done deal.

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 59 - Death!

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 213

         

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 two very different “life” perspectives, by the contrasting reality of “death.”  He clearly points out that all human perspective is directly related to one’s spiritual life…

DAY 59

Death!

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of {the} archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. --I Thessalonians 4:16

I find it interesting that when humanism competes with any religion, it self-proclaims its superiority. It cannot compete with Jesus, who was, to say the least, unique and not of the world; He brought us the wisdom of heaven and teaching not heard in any religion. He is higher than all the man-inspired philosophies, systems, compassion, or love. The humanists are working hard to make Christianity out to be a hate religion. We know that true hate is to see a man being destroyed and to say nothing. If only for this reason, the humanists prove themselves to be full of hate, which does not exclude them from being wickedly wise. Since the believer has the hope of heaven, death on earth is not paramount in our thinking. It is here that the humanists believe they have found the chink in our armor. They are all about life on earth and want to appear to be very compassionate. They constantly cry, “See the suffering children, see how many have died from disease, see how easy it would be to alleviate suffering, and see how we have the answer?” The humanist has made death out to be the worst thing possible; it reveals his heart, for to him it will be the worst thing possible. However, we are not to be deceived into his way of thinking. Death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person, whose life on this earth was never meant to last forever. Christians are a unique group that does not fear death. Yet more and more believers are sacrificing integrity and effort to support the cause of doing anything and everything to see life on earth continue. Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

I love this verse!  Almost every opportunity I have of presiding at graveside services, I read this verse and then state: “I think the two best places to be when Christ comes again would be, (1) with someone who has just placed their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to be their very own personal Savior, or (2) at the graveside when the trumpet sounds, and the dead IN CHRIST rise first…”  Can you imagine what either would be like!?!

Michael unequivocally states the TRUTH…Humanism (or any religion) cannot compete with JESUS.  Period.  “He brought us the wisdom of heaven and teaching not heard in any religion. He is higher than all the man-inspired philosophies, systems, compassion, or love.”  Well, amen.

Michael also gives us a tremendous life lesson: “True hate is to see a man being destroyed and to say nothing.”  Michael’s surrounding statements show us what we DO  is relative to what is IN us: “The humanists are working hard to make Christianity out to be a hate religion…If only for this reason, the humanists prove themselves to be full of hate.” 

Finally, Michael states the inevitable with timeless encouragement, then closes with Jesus’ comforting words: Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” 

And as one who is now seeing His Savior face to face, Michael is experiencing the One which nothing can compete with!  And we can all hear Michael saying, “Well, amen!”

Try thinking of all this the next time you are at the graveside of a loved one, or close acquaintance…

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