Day 316 - We Need Righteousness, His Righteousness

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 316

         

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.

Don’t you just love the time and again, uncomplicated, and clear illustrations Michael Wells gives us in My Weakness for His Strength…   Enjoy this clarification of righteousness through Christ, as opposed to keeping the Law.

DAY 316

We Need Righteousness, His Righteousness

And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. –Philippians 3:9

First man was given the Ten Commandments. Some kept them. Next came the Law; some, in their own estimation, kept it and became self-righteous. They did not understand that we need a life, not a list. Jesus, on purpose, set a standard that we could never achieve. His challenge to us was not that we try hard but a challenge to give up; He wanted us to see that a righteousness that would please God is unattainable for man. With His life on earth He raised the bar so high that all men would give up trying to jump over it. Therefore, Jesus said, “Whoever is angry shall be guilty” and “Whoever looks with lust has committed adultery” (Matthew 5:22 & 28). At that, many began to drop out of the righteousness contest. Some stayed. Then came the final blow, “If your hand offends you cut it off, if your eye, pluck it out.” At that, no one was left to play the self-righteousness game. Jesus did not want us cutting off our hand or going about blind; He wanted us to see that we could not be righteous. We, however, want to find righteousness in ourselves and are surprised when we find none. We even expectantly look for it in others. Telling the people about all of the evil they are doing and how badly they are missing the mark is what many modern-day “prophets” enjoy doing, but that information should surprise no one. It is all summed up in one verse: “There are none righteous, no not one!” The righteousness that we need can only come through Jesus, the only One that is pure righteousness. Once we admit that we cannot be righteous, we will accept His. Righteousness is a gift no less than are faith and salvation. In Him we find everything that we have looked for elsewhere in vain. 

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

I am not sure that many in church circles really have a grasp on what God tells us in His Word about the need for righteousness, and that we Believers have, and are, righteous.  And, instead of critiquing and criticizing sinners, we need to just share the Gospel, and the gift of His righteousness.

Michael’s picture of life in the days of Jesus is the same one seen in this day.  The challenge of Jesus is the same today as it was when He walked the earth. 

I pray that if there is someone reading this who has never received Christ’s GIFT of salvation, faith, and righteousness that you will talk to a Believer near you, contact ALMI, or LMCM, and find the way out of your vain search and into a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Gospel of Christ IS THE power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth (Romans 1:16).

There is time to order My Weakness for His Strength to give to a loved one, a friend, a fellow church member, a co-worker, a neighbor…FOR CHRISTMAS.  This book takes you to the Source of every need of every person.  Help someone in the wilderness of life to get a Life, Christ’s Life, and to give up all their lists…

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

(blog) www.leemccmviews.blogspot.com  

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

Day 314 - We Are All Doing Better Than Jesus!

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 315

         

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.

In an interesting comparison of how Jesus had things in His walk on earth, and how our life is today, Michael gives us some astute observations that many don’t seem to acknowledge.  Take a moment to really think about how you see the issues Michael brings up…

DAY 314

We Are All Doing Better Than Jesus!

Isaiah 53:3-5,

He was despised and forsaken of men,

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

And like one from whom men hide their face

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our wellbeing fell upon Him,

And by His scourging we are healed.

I suppose that after all the years of traveling in what was once referred to as the Third World and having observed and participated in the affliction--and, let me add, attempted to relieve some of that destitution--I have come to two conclusions. First, none of us in and of ourselves have the resources needed to cure all of the world’s ills or to bring equality of ownership. Second, God is using poverty and suffering in the world to drive men to Himself. Third, we all, even the poorest, are doing better in this life than Jesus ever did. Hundreds of stories about what people need have been told to me, often from those who have used pretense to gain access to me only to ask for money. However, I can see they still have more earthly possessions than did Jesus. He has not let them starve to this point, and, more importantly, they have not yet learned to live out of their own faith; they trust in man’s provision more than God’s. A person can get by on very little and be happy with that. Sometimes I think that we cheat people by giving too much. “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God.” They are doing better than Jesus did on earth.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

It is amazing how so many people think “we” should provide to cure all the world’s ills or shortages.  Of course, their thinking has nothing to do with their providing such.  And very few want to consider that God is using any poverty or suffering to bring people to Himself.

But I really like Michael’s point about the provision even the poorest have in today’s world, and that most have not learned to trust in God’s provision as opposed to man providing. 

It really is amazing how blessed we can be when we “give thanks in everything.”  After all, that is “the will of God.”

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

(blog) www.leemccmviews.blogspot.com  

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

Day 313 - Was It Me or Was It God?

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 314

         

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.

I love the text verse for this writing.  What an incredible statement of what it is like for a Christian to have Almighty God “doing” so much in each Believer’s life…and all for “His good pleasure.”  WOW!

Check out what Michael shows us about God’s working, and what the ultimate source and sustenance of “our faith” is…

DAY 313

Was It Me or Was It God?

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for {His} good pleasure. --Philippians 2:13

How does a person become godly? How does a believer pass the test? How does a Christian reach the place where he says with confidence, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7)? I regularly meet young men and women with attitudes of faith and trust beyond their years. Did they make themselves that way? Was it their choice? One fellow from Costa Rica at age five told his mother to stop going to the government’s housing application office, saying, “If the Lord wants you to have a house, you will.” A few months later, her employer bought her a home! From where did this five-year-old's faith and confidence come? How had he developed it? What discipleship courses had he taken? Which seminar was it that instilled such faith? Did he come to this place of faith through choice? If so, then he would have something in which to boast, but I do not believe it was choice. “For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). I believe that there are no great men of faith; if the lives of those so named were examined with a magnifying glass, they would be found to be average persons possessed by great faith. “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised. God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God” (I Corinthians 1:26-29). Ultimately, it is important to understand that it is God who is at work in any one of us. 

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

The unspiritual part of every human being is pride.  And pride wants to take credit for anything considered “good” or “best.”  However, Scripture shows clearly that in this great issue of “faith,” it is God Who is the Source, and God Who GIFTS His kids with His Faith. 

Without a shadow of any doubt, we can agree with Michael that “there are no great men of faith…they would be found to be average persons possessed by great faith” (God’s Faith).  And, “ultimately, it is important to understand that it is God who is at work in any of us.”  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

(email) leemccm@gmail.com

(blog) www.leemccmviews.blogspot.com  

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

Day 311 - Voice of God

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 313

         

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.

I love the stories in the Bible of our Good Shepherd.  I think our lack of knowledge and insights into shepherds and sheep greatly hinders our fellowship with Christ.  Our Good Shepherd is speaking to us, His sheep, all the time.  What is our response?

Day 311 

Voice of God

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. --John 10:27

I have found that there are two primary reasons that believers are not hearing God. First, imagine a mother looking out the front window of a house watching her children play in the yard, where she has told them to stay. As long as the children are in the yard, do they hear from the mother? No! They do hear her voice if they move to the sidewalk, and they feel the mother’s force as they move into the street. When the children hear nothing, it is proof that they are in the will of the mother. Often the silence believers experience is due merely to being in the will of the Father.

Second, if we are not hearing from God it is important to ask whether we did the last thing that He told us. God often speaks concerning our hearts, the direction of our lives, matters of forgiveness, or anything relating to Matthew 5-7. If we neglected the last thing that we heard from Him, that may be the reason we are not hearing anything new. We simply need to ask the Good Shepherd if we acted on the last bit of instruction; He is more than happy to point it out once again. Be aware, though, to discern whether later the enemy picks up the banner and begins badgering us over our disregard of God’s communication. The enemy’s voice is harsh, critical, condemning, judgmental, and he will often try to bring up past failures of which we have already repented.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

How about those two points from Michael!  Hear nothing…it can be we are IN the will of the Father, OR we may not have done the last thing He told us. 

Let me ask you something really important: have you ever done any extensive studying of the interaction day by day of shepherds and their flocks of sheep?  The connection between the shepherd and his sheep is incredible.  To know this real life activity turns Psalm 23 and John 10 into two of the most fascinating and encouraging passages in many new ways for those who have become very familiar with the actual fellowship of real-life shepherds and sheep.  No wonder our Good Shepherd spoke so much of this intimate fellowship, and so specifically.

We can live life in a more vigorous manner when we become more knowledgeable of life in the pasture, and to-and-from-and-in the sheepfold.  The care our Good Shepherd gives us is more meaningful to us when we can “see” how He compared His “spiritual” sheep and His Shepherding to that of the many examples in the fields all around where He walked.

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

(blog) www.leemccmviews.blogspot.com  

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

Day 307 - Uncovering Your Brother's Sins

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 312

         

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.

Personal discipline and church discipline are two things very rarely discussed in the arena of Christian fellowships these days.  Yet God has given specific instruction on how to handle such.  Michael gives us a good look at this issue and points us toward God’s Truth.

DAY 307

Uncovering Your Brother’s Sins

Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was populated. Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.” --Genesis 9:18-25

There is a lesson for us. Are we to uncover the nakedness of our brother? Many believe it is their job to find the sins of others and then expose them to everyone. Not only is this contrary to Matthew 18, but it will bring a curse upon the fault-finder insofar as he is complicit with the enemy, who accuses the brethren before our God day and night (Revelation 12:10). Let God deal with a man's nakedness. I know a pastor who discovered a hidden sin that another pastor committed some thirty years ago, and out of spiritual jealousy he made sure that everyone found out about it. Is this how we treat the people of God? Yes, if we want to be like Ham. Should we not rather prefer to be like the other two brothers, backing up with the Blood that covers and not publicizing the failures?

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

It is remarkable that many Christian fellowships will not follow God’s uncomplicated directives for handling discipline among its membership.  Very clearly, all discipline begins with the individual accused of some infraction (self-discipline).  If self-discipline were followed by each, no other discipline would be necessary.

If there is cause, one person (the “accuser”) is to go to that brother (the “accused), and the accused has a choice to “hear” the accuser, and change his ways, OR to not change.  A change ENDS all discussion.  Goes no further.  Goes to no one else.

Only if the accused brother does not “hear” and “change,” is the one accuser to go to a couple more who go with the accuser to the “offending” brother.  Once more, the accused can “hear” and change, OR not.  A change ENDS all discussion.  Goes no further.  Goes to no one else.  Finally, IF necessary, the accused is to be taken to the Fellowship with the same process.

It is incumbent on brethren to do as God directs, and take no action to the contrary.  Otherwise, as Michael points out, the fault-finder(s) become complicit with the enemy, and ultimately God will deal with them.

May we all be found to act as Shem and Japheth did, and never like Ham.  The end result is not good.

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

(blog) www.leemccmviews.blogspot.com  

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