Day 219 - People Are Dipsticks!

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM

Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 31

        

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       almi@abidinglife.com

How many of us have ever thought of someone as a “dipstick”?  Come on…admit it, we may have used just the first half of that word:  “They are such a ‘dip’.”  We all have characterized someone as such in times past.   But have we used the term as Michael uses it in Day 219?  Good use of the word.

DAY 219

People are Dipsticks!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. --Galatians 5:22

A dipstick is used to check the level of oil in an engine. People are dipsticks! It is true, but not in the way we might think. The Holy Spirit is the lubricant of the believers’ lives; when fully lubricated we run smoothly, without friction, quietly, and calmly. When we are running in the flesh, God sends someone along as a dipstick to check the level of lubricant; it may be the driver that cuts in front of us, the rebellious child, the gabby lady at church, or the self-centered husband, but what they will find in us is frustration, anger, impatience, and hostility. We can think in the back of our minds, "They are such dipsticks!" They have been sent by God, and if we will but stop and see Him in the situation, we can turn to Him, acknowledging that we are short of the oil of the awareness of the Holy Spirit, and pray, "Father, fill me up!" He does, and we can thank God for those who came along and warned us we were running low on oil before we blew up.

Very simple.  Nothing so profound as to knock us off our feet.  But, oh so sweet.  I can start using the word “dipstick” to identify someone God has sent my way to warn me of impending danger…the danger of “blowing up.”  That’s an awesome thought and realization, isn’t it…”God has sent (them) my way.”  Wow!  Amen!

Another outstanding point by Michael: “the Holy Spirit is the lubricant of believer’s lives.”  Hallelujah!  God “sent.”  He sent us the sweet Holy Spirit for so many reasons, and this one is beautiful in moment-by-moment living.  I have Him to bring the peace, calm, assurance, guidance, and control…among other things (just check the list of the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22 for starters!)…that makes living and interacting with people and circumstances SO COMFORTABLE and UNCOMPLICATED.  I like “comfortable and uncomplicated.”

Here’s an idea: let’s take a 3x5 card, carry it with us for 1 week…every time I recognize (or, should) a “dipstick” I write down the day, time, “person,” incident, and my response.  Should be interesting…  Well, amen.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries

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

Day 220 - Persecution

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM

Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 30

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       almi@abidinglife.com

It is the week of Easter, 2013.  So we have the excruciating crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ coupled with His exhilarating resurrection.  I see Jesus all throughout Michael’s words of Day 220 reminding me of the victory won on that old rugged Cross 2,000 years ago.

DAY 220

Persecution

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. --II Corinthians 12:10

Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. --Philippians 4:11

In general, people being persecuted are ushered off to a remote place, a factory, or a small cell of isolation where there is no need for them to have daily concerns about providing for a normal lifestyle. It does no good to concern themselves with food, clothing, family, friends, work, heat, or electricity. So in the case of Christians, what normally would take attention away from Christ flies to the background as in essence they are cut off from everything but Him. This accomplishes the exact opposite of the end desired by the persecutors, because far from being a punishment, persecution actually causes believers to experience Jesus in a far more unhindered nearness. This testimony is heard often from those who have experienced persecution. 

Why bring up such a subject? Many believe that the end is near since there are many interesting signs taking place, one sign being the promise of persecution for our faith. I have noticed that the end result of this speculation for many is fear of the future, fear of the enemy, feelings of hopelessness, loss of control, and a clamoring to be prepared. There is no need to worry that the end of life is to be centered in fear, for the believer who has been able to stand against the anti-Christ movement in television, media, schools, music, politics, and morals need not perceive the standing against persecution “as though some strange thing were happening to” him (I Peter 4:12). I have often wondered which would be worse, to be ushered off to a prison camp or to have one’s child tell him that he has listened to the teachers at school and decided that he is homosexual. Will it not be easier to suffer for the name of Christ than to watch a beloved child suffer in sin? Not only will God give grace needed at the time, but the believer will grow during the time of physical persecution, learning that when he is weak, then He is strong, and experiencing the freedom of self-denial while following Jesus down a road he had always thought too difficult. Do not be filled with fear, for God always gives the provision where needed. 

In our earthly minds we would never want persecution, nor “wish” it upon anyone else.  Yet Got tells us through the Apostle Paul that this is one of the greatest of life’s experiences leading us to dependence on Him.  Wow!

Have you read 1 Peter 4:12-14 closely and soaked on those words?  “Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings…the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.”  Oh, my.  How beautiful is that!

Michael makes a very profound statement: “not only will God give grace needed at the time.”  If we Believers would only believe that, and know that God will “perform” at the time of our need.  Fear, of the nature mentioned, is not of Christ.  Why?  There is nothing the nearness of Christ cannot overcome.  Vintage MW.

But look at Michael’s next words…”the believer will grow.”  Amen!  As Michael used to point out, the church needs a “ministry of weakness.”  Many are not “growing” because of pride and self and avoidance of suffering and weakness.  A beloved teacher, Dr. T. W. Hunt, once pointed out that “identification with Christ is the highest life principle in the Bible.”  Identification is experiencing Christ.  When we are “partakers of Christ’s sufferings…reproached for the name of Christ,” we are identifying ourselves with Him.  It is the key to God’s glory…the key to God being glorified through His Saints.

Have no fear, dear Christian.  God WILL give every provision when needed.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries

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

Day 100 - Flesh Is the Opposite of Faith

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM

Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 29

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       almi@abidinglife.com

I wonder how many Christians think of “flesh” being the opposite of “faith”?  I wonder still…how many Christians have a decent idea of what “flesh” is in the Bible?  To take it a little further…how many Christians have a biblical idea of what “faith” is when God speaks of it?  Let’s see if Michael has something to say about any of that…

DAY 100

Flesh Is The Opposite Of Faith

Now faith is the assurance of {things} hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

        Hebrews 11:1

Flesh and faith are opposites. In the flesh, we will have no hope; we will despair of our situation and believe that all things justify that. Faith has hope in all things. The man of faith has hope for the marriage; the woman of faith is filled with expectation for what God can do. Flesh will only believe what is seen; faith believes what has been given but cannot be seen in the individual’s life.

The fruit of the Spirit is also the opposite of flesh, which may attempt to imitate fruit of the Spirit in the power of self. It is hard to grasp, but a fleshly person is one who attempts to have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in the power of self. The fruit of the Spirit must come naturally and must be genuine. See how plastic the Hare Krishna folks, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons, Humanists, and all other cults look when trying to manifest the fruit of the Spirit? Flesh is attempting to look good, but it is flesh nonetheless, and it has Christians working for what has already been given. This work, the opposite of faith, keeps us from experiencing what is only given by faith. To have failed, and then to punish ourselves in order to have God see us, and to plead with Him for restoration, is working in unbelief for what we have already freely been given. The work is keeping us so busy that we do not have time to stop and recognize that we were never cut off. It can sound so good to work for the things of God, to attempt to take hold of them in our power, but remember, the best of the flesh is the worst of it. Flesh is the opposite of faith.

      (underlining is my emphasis)

On a couple of other “days” Michael has defined “flesh” as:  “The flesh is the body, mind, will, and emotions of man under the control of something other than Jesus.”  Very simple.  Very exact. 

Let’s itemize some important truths Michael lists above:

1.  Flesh and faith are opposites.
2.  There is no hope in flesh.
3.  Faith has hope in all things.
4.  Faith is Hebrews 11:1.
5.  Faith believes what has been given.
     (whoa!  That’s a mouth full.  “what has been given.”  Think about that.  Faith is in something God has given us, even though we may not have “received” it yet…in other words, haven’t “seen” it yet.  FAITH IS NOT “just hoping” for something, or “claiming” it.)
6.  Faith is given.

        (wait a minute!  I don’t have to “work up” faith?!?  Nope.  It is a “given.”  BIG truth!  God gives faith to His kids WHEN we believe Him.  We believe, He gives faith to secure/lock-in our believing…it has become a conviction!  Check it out throughout Scripture…God gives faith.  Man does not, and cannot, “work up”/”create”/”do enough” to get faith.  It is always a gift from God.)

     Illus: when I believed in my spirit the record God has given of His Son, Jesus, and believed Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Him,” (my “believing” is rock solid because it is founded on The Solid Rock), THEN God gave me His Faith to secure my belief…no moving from believing that Truth…remember, it had become a conviction.  AND, God goes one step further, He gave me, the new Believer, the gift of The Holy Spirit to seal my new faith and my salvation (eternal life).  Wow!  (there are more “gifts” that come with the Holy Spirit, but they are “after” the moment of salvation).  DO BELIEVERS HAVE FAITH that we will go to Heaven one day?  Absolutely.  Why?  Because God has promised it.  We believed His promise.  He has secured it in our hearts with His Faith…no shaking that or moving us from it!

7.  We Believers should give up trying to “work for” (in unbelief) something that God has already given us!  AND THAT INCLUDES EVERYTHING AFTER SALVATION…

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries

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

Day 324 - What Do You Really Want From Me? Obedience?

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM

Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 28

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       almi@abidinglife.com

This is a very profound “day.”  There is so much to “highlight” because one statement after another gives us so much insight into the wrong perceptions way too many Christians have about “what” God wants from us.  As you read the following, ask God to really open your hearts to His truth for you…

Day 324

What Do You Really Want From Me? Obedience?

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?  --Micah 6:8

We always seem to make obedience the object of the Christian life, but obedience, as we think of it, is not the goal. Actually, God is certainly able to make us obedient if that is what He wants! He made Jonah obey, He made Paul obedient, and He made Pharaoh comply. He knows how to make us bow the knee, but that cannot be His preferred manner of receiving obedience. Paul says to imitate him because he imitated Jesus. Just what did he imitate? It was the fruit and root of Christ’s life that Paul was imitating. The fruit came naturally when the root was tended to, that root being dependence on Christ, just as Christ was dependent on the Father. So first we must define what we are to imitate, for attempting to keep the commandments of Christ without dependence on Him will lead to legalism, frustration, condemnation, and death. In the order of things God has told us what He wants from us: “To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God!” I would like to focus on one thing, how to love kindness. It is an absolute that we are to love kindness. That means we must love the kindness that He has shown us, for if we cannot see that, how will we love it and show it to others? Basking in the mercy He has shown us will enable us to become intimately acquainted with it. Do you love or hate mercy and kindness? Many self-righteous believers actually hate it; in their flesh they want to be stronger so as never to be in need of mercy and kindness, and since they have avoided it, they cannot give it to others.  (also, because they think that if they are kind to a bunch of folks in sin, they are appearing to “agree” with the sin – condoning it)   Only in failure does the Lord reveal it to us. I can rightly say to the Christian whose failure has led to depression, “You do not love mercy and kindness, and you have never met them.”


We are to glorify the Lord. The word glorify means “to show forth what is true about,” and we are to show what is true about the Lord. What is true about Him? He is love, mercy, grace, kindness, and more. We show that this is true by believing and receiving it. In our failures people will see that one thing true about God is that we only rely on His righteousness and His extension of mercy to us. I know a pastor who begged for mercy from his congregation, they showed him none, and subsequently every man in that group encountered an untimely demise or unwieldy suffering. We take too lightly not our failures but our showing forth what is true about God. An old preacher started a meeting by telling something of his moral failures and then saying, “We are taking a break. You now know what kind of man I am in the flesh. If you want to leave, no one would blame you.” I wanted to stay! I could see that he had received something that I wanted, the mercy to be forgiven and the grace to carry on! Well, amen, who is like our God?

(underlining my emphasis)

I was sort of astounded when I first read Michael’s words (the ones I have underlined) speaking of Christians who have never “met” mercy and kindness.  Then I started thinking…every legalistic Christian I have known who has been so absorbed with the flesh has showed very little mercy or kindness to others whose flesh has controlled or gotten the best of them.  Amazing…to see that wanting the flesh to be so strong can lead someone to not want or need mercy and kindness.  Wow.  How many Believers are on the “obedience” treadmill?

Simply put…most Christians worry about the “fruit” more than the “root.”  It is why so many never understand (and enjoy) the “Vine & branches” truths in John 15.  And so much of it hinges on a misunderstanding of that one word: “obedience.”  As Michael points out, “Obedience, as we think of it, is not the goal.”

What do most think of when they hear or think of obedience ?  “I’ve got to do…perform, etc.  It’s everything in God’s eyes.”  What does God really want from us?  BELIEVE.  That’s what Jesus told the ones seeking Him in Capernaum (John 6:24-29).  That’s what Paul told the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:26-33.  All throughout Scripture, it is “believe and receive.”  So, to obey is to believe and receive, then watch the “root” bring forth “fruit.”  In fact, “believing and receiving” leads to God imparting faith.   It is His preferred manner of receiving obedience.   Christ works upon our obedient believing.  The goal is always JESUS!  The focus must be on Him.  Don’t I remember Michael saying something about the “hands” and focusing???

Think about it: under the Mosaic Law, was the power in the sacrifice, the water, the ashes, the sprinkling, etc., etc.?  No.  The power was in God who granted the cleansing through the person’s obedient believing, which trusted God.  This is what Michael told folks for years and years.  We “do” FROM, not in order to GET TO.  We believe God, and He does the work through us.

Think about it: the power was always in God Who “worked” when people exhibited obedient believing, because they trusted God…trusted His Word…trusted His promises.  It is the same way today.  There is a much stronger connection between believing and obedience than most give credit to.

Listen, if it is not of Him, it is of flesh.

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

 Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries

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

Day 123 - Grace

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM

Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 27

     

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       almi@abidinglife.com

Definitions of “grace.”  Since we rise and fall with our word definitions, it is a tragedy that so many Christians are living with an inadequate definition of “grace” that has been around for so long. 

For who knows how many years, Christians have been living with the following definition of “grace”: “God’s unmerited favor.”  That is a great thought.  But everything we have from God is “God’s unmerited favor.”  Not just “grace,” but everything.  In fact, it is what "grace" is that comprises the "everything" that makes "grace" come alive for us, and not just a definition!

Michael’s words here take us to a different perspective than millions have been aware of, and the Truth that changes Christian’s lives as much as anything!

Day 123

Grace

Though He scoffs at the scoffers, yet He gives grace to the afflicted. --Proverbs 3:34

There is much written about grace today. Not that my two cents amounts to much, but I wanted to give my definition of grace. It need not be preached, but it has been proven through the experience of many believers. 

Grace: At my point of need, God is everything to me that I thought He was not! 

Moses had spent forty years being trained to be everything that accompanied being a young man of the royal family; he was equipped to be a god, a Pharaoh. He spent another forty years in the wilderness discovering what he was not. Finally, he was prepared to lead, having realized that he was a "not." God told him what to go do, and Moses accurately responded, "I am not able." God’s response was, “What is that to Me? I AM!”

God is to me all that I am not. First I must acknowledge that I am a “not.” Next, He tells me what He is, which includes everything to me of which I might have need that I am not! I am not a good father, a good husband, a good Christian, or a good witness! This is my point of need. Grace comes and meets me at my point of need! I did not think He could be those things to me. However, as I recognize abiding, He is to me all that I thought that He was not. There is a life in me, His life, that is a good father, husband, and witness, and He is everything to me that I am not.

Look at what you are not. Do not determine to work harder, but call on the grace of God. At your point of need, He is everything to you that you thought He was not.

     (underlining is my emphasis)

There is nothing God is more willing to do than to give “grace” to those who seek Him.  Why?  Because “grace” is Him.  He gives Himself to whomever that wants Him.  Beautiful!

The walk of “grace” is the most comfortable, stress-free, beautiful life for any Christian.  Meditate on Michael’s words: “God is to me all that I am not.”  Wow!  What more could we want?!?  I don’t have to be…I get to receive.  “Grace comes and meets me at my point of need!”  Yes!  Me, a branch, abiding in The Vine, He flows through me to be all I need.  As Michael taught for so many years, just speak to the Lord and say, “Jesus, come and be my _______.”  (being a good Christian, father, husband, dad, brother, sister, friend, neighbor, employer, employee, …the list is endless!)  Those two words: “recognize abiding.”  That focus takes us to The Vine and allows His Life to flow through us.  Learn how to focus and “recognize abiding” like never before!!!

And the beauty of being a Christian is that we get to receive His being (not our having to be) any and all these things in and through us.  In East Texas right now we would shout out a big “hoooooo-boy!”  That’s our way of expressing great pleasure.  (the greater the pleasure, the more "o's" in "hoo...")

I remember hearing Michael saying these things, then being aware that “I thought ‘I’ had to be all those things…when ‘I’ couldn’t.”  I wanted Christ’s Life to become my life from then on.

What about you…can you admit you are a “not”?  Which “40 years” are you living in?  Trying to be equipped to be a person in The Royal Family, or discovering what you are not?

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point              Green – Incredible Truth             

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries

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

Day 65 - Do-Do

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM

Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 26

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       almi@abidinglife.com

Us old-timers (I’m talking about the ones blessed by having known Michael and Betty and ALMI for several years) remember the first time we heard Michael mention the “do-do religion” of the day.  And he said it in a church!  We muffled our laughs until our stomachs hurt!  Well, amen.

 But, oh did it change many lives!

Day 65

 Do - Do

 Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? --Galatians 3:2, 3

We know that the warnings in the book of Hebrews, chapters 3 and 4, center in the refusal of the believers to enter into the rest of God. Like the Galatians, they were trusting in their ability and had laid aside the work of Christ.

Our carnal side is accustomed to working in order to be pleasing rather than working because we are pleasing. Working to be pleasing feels natural, for we are conditioned from birth that our efforts will gain the desired rewards from others. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil encourages this distorted perception of living by teaching that doing evil will produce rejection and doing good will supposedly produce righteousness and acceptance. When we approach Scripture with this false theology, all we see are the do's, those things that we need to accomplish. The problem is that man has never been able to do enough to gain God's acceptance; that is the very reason that we need Christ. The belief that doing can replace faith will make us so discouraged that we will be forced to return to Him by way of the doing of the Son. Hence, we experience the goodness of God, which leads us to a deeper understanding of Christ and a submission to the work of the Savior within.

Here is an interesting Scripture in the Old Testament that describes what happens when man will not rest in the work of God.

"’This is the resting place, let the weary rest’; and

‘This is the place of repose’--but they would not listen.
So then, the word of the LORD to them will become:
Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule;
a little here, a little there--so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.”
                      --Isaiah 28:12, 13

Either we rest or God will wear us out with the do's!

It’s really so simple, isn’t it?  And because it is so simple, we won’t believe or receive it, will we?  How sad.  Christianity “passes by” so many simply because it is simple.

What’s wild is this:  so many profess to be “Bible-believing Christians"…and yet when it is right there in front of us, God having said it…we show ourselves to be Unbelieving Believers.  Oh, my, how terribly sad.

Therefore, DID WE RECEIVE the Spirit by observing the Law, OR “by the hearing of faith” (KJV) ?  Did we “work” for Him, or did we simply “believe to receive Him and His faith”?  SO, THEN why is it we cannot believe that “living life as a Christian” is simply “by the hearing of faith” instead of “observing the Law”?!?  Either Christianity is ALL ABOUT HIM, or ALL ABOUT ME.  I decide.

Have you made your choice?

Years ago I heard about a football coach screaming at a referee over a call the ref had made.  He kept screaming that the call “stunk,” “it stinks,” “you stink!”  The ref threw his flag, marched off 15 yards against the coach’s team, and hollered at the coach: “How does it smell from here?!?”

When we enter into the “do-do religious activity”…I imagine God throwing His flag, making His Word “become do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there—so that (we) will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured”…CRYING OUT TO US: “How does it smell from here?!?...until we are “so discouraged (and tired of the smell) that we will be forced to return to Him by way of the doing of the Son.”

Have you realized how badly that “do-do religious activity” STINKS?!?  Ugh.  Abandon to Christ, simply believe, and REST.  He will complete the good work He has begun in us!  Amen, and Amen!

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point               Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries

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

Day 64 - Do Carnal People Want Truth?

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM

Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 25

  

Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International

Littleton, Colorado

(303) 972-0859       almi@abidinglife.com

There is nothing more foundational to living life as a Christian than to be totally aware that we have the Holy Spirit living in us, have eyes that the Lost don’t have, have ears that the Lost don’t have, and have the Mind of Christ that the Lost don’t have.  What we do with these foundational assets goes a long way in determining how we live life as a Christian, AND…in interacting with the Lost.

Day 64

Do Carnal People Want Truth?

In whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. --II Corinthians 4:4 

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. --Isaiah 9:6

When Christ enters a heart, a person’s eyes are opened to see things clearly as they are. The illusion of the world is revealed--its inconsistencies and lies--and this knowledge is then used to turn him to the pursuit of the invisible kingdom, the kingdom of the Son of God. He is discerning and verbalizing things he never before could have and enjoying revelation that is so freeing. There is a problem, though, in that it is only natural for him to believe that others would like to have what he now possesses that makes a new worldview seem so obvious. 

For instance, it is estimated that across the United States 50,000 new laws are passed every year. In twenty years that is one million new laws. Each law could be construed as a means to take away a public right. At a minimum the government has determined that a million rights that we had twenty years ago may no longer be rights. In fact, the government does not seem to believe that we have rights that cannot be eroded, while at the same time an attempt is made to stir women into thinking that abortion is a right, a ridiculous assertion. However, it is quite clear that not all unbelievers would like to listen to this type of logic, and it is a mistake to believe that carnal man wants truth (neither did the believer when he was carnal). It is only as we love the TRUTH that true things become appealing and compelling. Therefore, our job is not to dissuade men concerning their inconsistencies and illogical thinking, but to persuade people of the TRUTH. Many Christians have gotten involved in politics because they saw things clearly and assumed that constituents wanted to hear true things. They were disappointed to the extent that carnal, fallen man does not want to hear true things no matter how intellectual or refined the thought might be. 

Michael Wells points to a great problem the church has always had…the battle between the Born Again and the Lost.  It is a normal, natural battle in that two spiritual entities are at war against each other…with full battle gear and mindsets that are in opposition to one another.  And as we have witnessed for so many generations, the only “winning strategy” for us Christians is to “win” one of the Lost to Christ! (The TRUTH).  Well, amen.  Why are we not doing it more???  Why, instead, are we trying to “win over” the Lost to our mindset?!?

A Lost person’s mind does not receive the things of God.  God has told us that specifically in 1 Corinthians 2:14.  How on this earth are we to believe otherwise, that is to “believe that others would like to have what (we) now possess that makes a new worldview seem so obvious”?  Nothing is more foolish and frustrating for us Christians!  It will never happen.  ONLY when a Lost person is “won” to Christ, can they begin to see and think “like Christ.”  And even then it is possible for the Christian to think “carnally.”  How about that problem?  Carnal Christians can be as big a detriment in this life as a Lost person can be.

The first message I preached after being called to the ministry of preaching (at age 36) was: “The Lost Don’t Know They Are Lost!”  Text?  2 Corinthians 4:3-6.  Born Again only a year earlier, this thought rang in my mind constantly…still does. 

Do you want to “convince” a Lost person you know, or other Lost folks around you, of a truth in life that they can’t seem to get?  Give them Jesus…they get the Holy Spirit and all that comes with Him; they will then be able to “receive the things of God.”  Simple, isn’t it?  Let’s be about “winning the world to Christ,” and not about trying to convince them they are wrong about things in this life.  That can be a waste of our time, energy, and money.

If you have any questions or comments you would like to make, write to me at the address below, or email to leemccm@gmail.com

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Lee McDowell Christian Ministries

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