Day 229 - Raising Children Practically

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 356

         

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.

There are basic “life principles” that dictate so much in our life. Gravity is one. Our perceptions and beliefs are another.

Michael delves into an area of life where God has a lot to say in His Word, humanism has today interjected its religious views, and most parents know little of either and have no clue how to parent. Especially from a Spiritual (God’s) view or putting His wisdom into practical use.

DAY 229

Raising Children Practically

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight! –Isaiah 5:21

Often I am asked to share some basic principles that I have found in childrearing. Below I have mentioned a few. 

1.     The attitude of the parent must be always to approach the child with an empty bag. Even if a parent’s I.Q. were 200, God’s is infinite. When a parent comes to the child with his own knowledge of what to do, he will almost always get it wrong. Everything in life teaches us dependence on the Lord. The child has specific needs that only God knows. Therefore, the parent who does not know what to do is better off at the time of need to seek the One with the infinite I.Q. How does this work out practically? A parent need not react right away when he sees the child acting out; he can just wait, pray, and see what the Lord would have him do. In every situation he can see God or himself; if he sees God, he can have a move in the Spirit. If he only sees himself, he only has a move in the flesh. God is working something in the parent as he works with the child. Waiting before he acts and listening to Him both work something in him. God is intensely personal with each one of us. Remember when Jesus brought the exact fish to the exact place to the exact man (Peter) to meet an exact need? When the child acts out, it is the exact thing needed for the exact parent to meet an exact need. In short, the child will drive a parent to his knees, and that is not bad. 

2.     The situation must be entered in faith and with the belief that God does not fight sin or failure but uses it. That is very important, because a person does not rule his belief system; it rules him. A parent must see that God will work in his child’s life. God does not have any grandchildren; all must come to Him on their own and out of need. Therefore, the child needs some failure, turmoil, and pain. My prayer for my kids has always been, “Father, allow enough in their life so that they will see they need You, but not enough for them to be destroyed.” Jesus is God’s peace. He sees the believer today, and yet He sees the believer in Jesus in heaven. No matter where a Christian is today in his struggles, the Lord sees him complete in Christ, and He is at peace. The parent sees his child today and sees Christ today, and he also has peace. 

3.     You must be willing to fight with the child and be miserable. There are so many messages that this young generation gets from the world that ours did not. For every one time you tell the child something is wrong, the world is telling him one hundred times that it is all right. I hate fighting with young people, but we must. Many women have told me how disappointed they were that their father did not exert any influence to keep them from dating a particular boy. In my house I decided that I would fight over drugs, sex, and alcohol, and nobody would be happy if those things were happening. 

4.     Let the peace of God rule in your heart. You may not know when it comes, but you do know when it leaves. Simply listen to it for guidance as to when the child needs confronting, hugging, or nothing at all to be said. 

5.     It sounds simplistic to tell people to rest in faith, listen to His peace, and go in emptiness, but only until it is tried! The greatness of faith is not determined by how much one receives but by how long he can wait though receiving nothing. 

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Isaiah’s words of warning have long been the bane of Christians. Instead of finding out what God has to say, and following His Words, too many Believers have turned to their “own understanding” and “cleverness.” Well, King Solomon had something to say about that also:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

And what about that astounding statement to close out the Book of Judges:

        In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which 

        was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25

Just a short summary of what Michael has said…

Parents must be willing to be parents.

Parents must be trusting God’s Word that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

Parents trusting God will find the peace of God ruling in their Heart.

What we perceive, we believe. What we believe…really believe…God solidifies with His Faith (Galatians 5:22). Will there ever be a day when God’s people BELIEVE Him and see His Life Lived out in our lives?

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

(website) www.leemccm.wixsite.com/lmcm    

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

Day 212 - Not of This World

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 355

         

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.

Questions are one of the best ways to discover where we stand. Every doctor I go to always asks questions to find out what is going on in my life. Michael asks some questions that easily show us what is going on Spiritually in our life.

Don’t you just love “tests”?

DAY 212

Not of This World

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. --Romans 12:2

Here is a simple test. Please answer the following from the heart.

--Would you rather meet the President of the U.S. or a new believer in Christ?

--Do you believe that computer-chip dates determine your destiny?

--Imagine meeting a famous celebrity and a Christian on the same day; neither had you previously known. Arriving home, which one would you first tell your family you had met?

--You have the opportunity to speak to a small group in the inner city, and a famous politician calls you for a private meeting. Would you cancel the little group meeting?

--When reciting your family history, do you immediately tell of all the famous people to whom you are related?

--In a social gathering, do you drop the names of celebrities, sports figures, and politicians you have met?

--Do you discuss the ideas and statements of politicians as though they are important facts?

--Do you brag about the intellect, talent, and abilities of someone close to you?

--Do you believe that people are rich because of their great talent, ability, and effort?

--Would you lay down your life to maintain the glory of a man?

See how easy it is to be influenced by and conformed to the world? The world has done a good job convincing us of its ultimate importance. Since the glue, Jesus, that holds all men together witnesses constantly to something higher, the world must clamor for our attention by constantly bombarding us with messages of its importance, lest we stop for a moment and question.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Every Christian has two souls (seat of the mind, emotions, and will/decider). The one we were given at our physical birth. The One we were given at our Spiritual birth. Choose the one from our physical birth, and we only think of the world and all it has to offer. Choose the One from our Spiritual birth, and we only think of Christ and all He has to offer.

To be influenced by the world takes us to the one from our physical birth.

Abiding, and receiving from our Vine (Jesus) only takes us to the One from our Spiritual birth. All of Michael’s teachings take us to Christ’s Soul in us. 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

(email) leemccm@gmail.com

(website) www.leemccm.wixsite.com/lmcm    

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

Day 202 - Marriage and Oneness

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 354

         

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.

Today’s writing is one of the reasons I consider Michael to be one of the best confidants and disciplers I have ever known. His knowledge extends to all areas of life…

(His book: Heavenly Discipleship, I like to refer to it as his textbook. This book MWfHS I like to refer to it as his workbook.)

DAY 202

Marriage And Oneness

Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control. --I Corinthians 7:5

I was listening to a woman who had a rather spectacular testimony. She had been a gang member and into drugs and a lesbian lifestyle. Several other sisters in Christ were discussing sex and marriage when she blurted out, "There are a lot of times that I do not want to have sex with my husband, but I do! I do because I want to proclaim to Satan, 'You will not come between my husband and me!' I want to proclaim, 'We are one,' no matter what the enemy says, and I want God to know I believe Him, that what He has brought together no one will separate." My spirit leapt within. I leaned over and gave her a hug, announcing to the group, "I believe her." Sex in marriage is a proclamation that we are one no matter what. As I have mentioned before, there are several issues in marriage, but every issue is separate. We lock ourselves out from ever finding an answer to an issue when all issues are lumped together. There are many more issues in marriage than sex, but that is the issue this article addresses. 

I like traveling, but I have had some horrific experiences. Some involved the tiny airplane seat. Some had to do with the need for luggage, for I despise having to carry so much from one country to the next. I remember traveling in the Amazon, being poisoned by the local water, and thinking I would die. In Northern India it was a bad chicken meal that I thought was killing me. If I am invited to speak elsewhere in the world, must I decline the invitation because I have discomfort on the plane, I loathe lifting luggage, and I sometimes get sick traveling? How much would I miss out on? I could take any one negative experience and just quit, but instead I have allowed the bad experiences to make me a better traveler. Each trip is an individual event linked to previous trips only by what I learned from past experiences that can enhance my present journey. After many years of travel I have learned things that work and things that do not. Some international trips were just barely tolerable, but I so loved the people I went to see; they ministered to me and I to them. Some international trips were just average; let us just say I got there. But I so enjoyed the brothers and sisters at the end of the trip and those with whom I traveled. Some trips have been spectacular. I have been bumped into first class, where seats recline and people call me "Sir." I totally relaxed, but still what I remember the most were those brothers and sisters waiting for me after the travel. Any journey is tolerable because for me, the goal is not the travel but arriving to be with those at the end of the trip.

Sex in marriage is like a journey in the following three areas. First, couples will find that sex is most enjoyable with a minimal amount of baggage. So much baggage from the past is taken into the bedroom by some couples that there is barely room for them. Second, each experience must build upon the last experience. Third, the person is more important that the journey. 

First, entering in without a heavy load. Many bedrooms are crowded from sex-based hurts of the past. Sex, which is intended to be associated with pleasure, has become synonymous with the pain of an impressionable earlier experience, such as abuse, date rape, performance-based acceptance, innuendo, pornography, comparison, or just being made to feel unattractive. All of these emotions and experiences from the past can become a heavy load. It is unfortunate that these things happen, but tragic if they continue to control a person’s life today. Any issue that has to do with the senses or natural desires takes special care, since it is impossible to walk away and never have to deal with it again. I remember a fellow who had an obsession with water. He had to go all day, even on the hottest days, without drinking water, or else he would drink too much and even possibly drown himself. Next question: where could he go to escape the temptation to take a drink of water? As you can see, problems that deal with the natural pose unique problems. The sex desire is part of the natural; sexuality is built into mankind, so if one attempts to run from it, he runs from himself. To tell one to forget all bad experiences associated with sex and then tell him to go have sex will, more often than not, throw him right back into the emotions he is trying to avoid. The question is how to participate without dragging up all the past emotions. First, it must be realized that the world has done a good job of selling sex as the center of life. The sexual experience as described by the world is just as unreal as an airbrushed, enhanced photo of models. Second, the fear of poor performance will cause anxiety and poor performance. Fear is invited in and must be invited out. The fear of sex cannot be dealt with by obsessively thinking, "I must not think of sex," for by so doing, sex is exactly what is thought about. It must be handled with every thought of sex being taken captive to Christ. How? When the thought of fear comes, the direction of the mind must be changed completely by telling the mind, "I am not going there; I refuse to think that." By turning to the Lord for enabling with this, it really is possible to have life centered in something other than sex. It is possible to lower expectations of sex while maintaining expectations for the spouse. Third, recognize that the life that was hurt has been buried with Christ. It is impossible to change the past, but it can be buried by an act of faith. Throughout the day as the doubts about performance ability come, speak out loud, "I believe that I have been crucified with Christ."

This brings us to the second aspect of the sex journey. Each new experience builds on past learning experiences. The bad experiences are not to turn a couple away from intimacy, but rather they give the couple something to build from. There is no need for a couple to obsess on what went wrong at the beginning of the marriage. They are no longer at the beginning of the marriage; they are in the now. They can learn from what was unpleasant and not repeat the mistake. All of life is instructing the believer in what is the Way and what is not.

           

Finally, the most important goal of the sex journey is not physical stimulation; rather, it is the person. For the woman mentioned above who would have sex with her husband so that Satan would not come between them, sex was not the issue, but keeping her faith and her husband was the goal. Sex is meant for oneness and the acceptance that comes from that oneness in marriage. To make sex the goal is self-defeating and will correspondingly bring less satisfaction, because the mate senses he is less and less the goal and more and more the object, rejection sets in, and no one is satisfied. When the person is the goal, the times between sexual activities are much more fulfilling, much as when an obese man said to a very skinny man, "I enjoy my meals too much to live as you do." To which the skinny man replied, "But I enjoy the time in between meals much more than you!" He made a good point, for when food is the goal of life, how are we to enjoy the majority of our time we are not indulged in eating? The person who finds satisfaction in living in the between times is happy much more of the time. When the in between has the goal of affection, then not only is the sex life enjoyed, but also there is joy where we spend the majority of the time of our relationship. Sex cannot be the goal. The woman who wanted to proclaim to Satan that she was one with her husband had made oneness the goal, and if sex helps proclaim it, then so be it. For her the journey brought her to a wonderful place!

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

I think it is important for each to pick out your own “points” to highlight in this one.

Michael gives us a great truth that we must never forget: persons are more important than events or other things. Listening to conversations, it is interesting to see whether the talk is of persons or otherwise…

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

(website) www.leemccm.wixsite.com/lmcm    

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

Day 189 - Living Outside The Circle

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 353

         

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 was one to love those “living outside the circle,” as he puts it. Know anyone like this? Love anyone like this?

Well, notice the “end result” of Michael’s writing today…

DAY 189

Living Outside The Circle

But He is unique and who can turn Him? --Job 23:13

God is unique! You are His unique creation! Do you accept your uniqueness? In the course of my life as a believer, I have met people who would be considered by most to be “odd.” God creates man, man bands together, man determines his concept of what is normal using the criteria of the similarities shared by the majority, and some are left outside the circle of behaviors that constitute this notion of normalcy. Are you one of those out-of-the-ordinary people? Do you laugh at inappropriate times or talk when you should listen? Spill your deepest secrets to strangers? Did you have a ponytail when others did not or a shaved head when others had a ponytail? Are you loud in a crowd? Quiet at a party? When everyone is wearing suits, do you show up in a tee shirt? Do you laugh though no one understands your humor? Do you make people uncomfortable with the way you rearrange your silverware and organize your condiments in the restaurant? Do you invite people over and proceed to make them sit and listen to your latest recording of locomotive trains as loudly as the stereo will play?  Do you feel like you have to play the people game every day? Are you the odd one out? Do you live outside the circle of what is typified as normal? If so, I welcome you. There is plenty of room in the family of God for you. Please do not go away! We need you so much to bring color into our world. We need you to remind us that God creates outside the circle. We see God in you. Let Him shine through your uniqueness, and do not change!

I will tell you of one of God’s favorites who lived outside the circle, an odd man. It was a time in Israel when the people needed a deliverer. The odd one, David, was overlooked as a potential candidate and directed to remain in the fields. The odd one was not to speak, though it was he for whom the prophet was looking. The odd one believed God, in Whom he had found favor. The odd one slew the giant, and yet later when he found his enemy in a cave, he refused to slay him but instead cut a piece of cloth from his enemy's garment. This odd man actually danced in the streets; his wife despised him the rest of his life for it. God sums up this “just too odd” man, David, by saying, “I HAVE FOUND DAVID, the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.” There are so many odd people in the Bible, and I love to read about these people who lived outside man's circle but always within the circle of God's love and acceptance. The important thing is not whether or not you are odd, but that you allow the creative God to be Lord of your uniqueness. I thank God today for all of the odd people I have known who “do all His will.” 

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Odd is an unusual word, isn’t it? Sort of “odd.” Unique is another “odd” word. But, both have an important part to play in life, especially when it comes to fellowship with God.

Perhaps the distance of years and the distance of lifestyles, and a real lack of knowledge of “the Heart of God,” hinder our grasping and realizing the importance of God looking for someone like David…”a man after My heart”…no matter how “odd” his stature, behavior, or looks might have been. He was “unique” relative to his own brethren.

Having had the privilege to be around Michael several times, and those who were present also, there certainly were some “odd” and “unique” characters always present. One thing I always noticed was this: Michael did indeed love these people, but I sensed it was God loving them through Michael. Michael was constantly “abiding” in Christ which allowed God to love through him. 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

(website) www.leemccm.wixsite.com/lmcm    

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

Day 256 - The Autistic God

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 352

         

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.

Many folks like Job because they identify with his “suffering,” yet they do not identify with his “overcoming.” It is the same with so many trying to “look like” God (in His image) when the “image” is the trichotomy of mankind, as God is.

Michael takes us to a perspective of God in His creation of mankind that is so easy to miss, for looking at the wrong things with the wrong perspective.

DAY 256

The Autistic God

Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit. --Job 10:9-12

I enjoy spending some time with acquaintances who are autistic; typically those with autism are very unique and, in my opinion, way beyond the norm for compulsive thinkers. They lock into something and their minds do not have the ability to shift to anything else. One friend had locked into turtles; everything was about turtles: must find a turtle, must hold the turtle, and must examine the turtle. After catching a turtle, he scanned every section of the turtle, his eyes moving like a computer scanner. In the end, he put it down and drew a perfect picture of a turtle. He knew every line and dimple. Now, man is made in the image of God. Look at any man and you learn a secret or two about God. After watching the man with a turtle, I had an insight into God. God is Autistic! I could just imagine God making the turtle, thinking of every detail, locking into it, thinking of everything, how it would breathe, how it would move, what it would eat, and creating all that it needed. I could just see God locked in. It was then that I understood a bit more about the exactness of creation, that every hair of my head was numbered, and that so much detail had gone into my life. Everything has been perfect. All of creation is perfect. He has given me exactly--yes, exactly--what I have needed: in sickness, in health, in poverty, in struggle, and in stress, everything perfectly!

This brings me to another point. We see the perfection and how it must work. We cannot change it. I am often asked, “How can you believe in a God who allows suffering?” My response is, “How can you believe in man who causes the suffering?” AIDS is not the judgment of God; it is the judgment of man. By playing God and refusing to recognize Him and His perfection, man has done it all, killing many people. God has made us perfectly, and sin is a foreign resident in the body. All of the glue (Jesus) holding man together will attempt to repel it. It is in this condition that man complains about God, and yet everything that has been permitted into our lives has been the perfect thing, exactly what we need. 

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

How many ask the wrong question that Michael points out, instead of the correct one?

How many don’t “see” how God has made us perfectly, that sin is a foreign resident in our body, and the glue (Jesus) holding us together?

How many “miss” that everything that has been permitted into our lives has been the

perfect thing…exactly what we need?

Seems like we need to quit “playing God” and simply recognize him and His perfection…oh, that is what Michael said.

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

(website) www.leemccm.wixsite.com/lmcm    

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

Day 153 - I Take It Back!

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 350

         

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.

Anyone who had any experience talking with Michael, or listened to him at one of the many presentations he made of the Abiding Life, knew he could come out of nowhere with some very interesting thoughts, ideas, and illustrations. Today’s writing gives us one of those.

However, he always “brought it home,” as some say when the master teacher gives the overriding thought a landing place. Michael points us to a freedom we have as Christians to take it back when someone just doesn’t care to hear or receive the Bread of Life.

DAY 153

I Take It Back!

When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. --John 6:12, 13

In this astounding story Jesus had fed 5,000 people, and what was left over, He wanted . . . but for what? What are twelve men and a teacher on the move going to do with twelve baskets of barley bread? I imagine that they found a few hungry people along the way. The miracle had provided exactly enough food for all of the people, so I wonder if some, like the boy that offered the five loaves and two fish, had their own food with them. When the bread that Jesus gave came, they simply ate their own food; they did not feel the need for His bread. Therefore, He took it back. Matthew 7:6, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” Jesus then continues with the theme that He is the bread of life; He let us know that He was the true bread that came down out of heaven. In the same way that some would rather have their bread than His, there are those that would prefer to have what the world offers than what Jesus offers. For such people the bread is withdrawn. Sometimes I am talking to someone and am met with one argument after another. That person simply is not interested in Jesus, so I say, “I take it back; I take back everything!” He may believe that I am retracting my conviction over what I have said about Jesus, but it is not so! I am withdrawing the presentation of Jesus. A word not received is a wasted word, and there must be no waste. I pick up the message and wait to give it to others who hunger for the bread that comes from heaven. On our journey we will always find a few hungry people.

I remember being in India. As I left the airport, a band of men were attempting to grapple my luggage out of my hands. I made it clear that I would carry them myself. Since I would not relinquish the bags, they walked alongside me, each with a hand touching the bags, so that when I arrived at the car they all asked for a tip. Reluctantly, I gave them all one rupee apiece. They began to curse at me and demanded more. I responded, “So one rupee is not enough?” I then took back from each man his one rupee. They expectantly assumed I would be giving them something bigger. Instead, I simply got in the taxi and rode away with them following me, now shouting and wanting the one rupee back. However, I had taken back what they did not like and was not giving it again.

Jesus offers the bread of life; if someone does not want it, He will take it back and leave the person exactly as he was before he heard of Him.

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

Spiritual encounters are like nothing else on earth. If Holy Spirit has moved, but a listener hasn’t heard, the end result is different from what we might wish…but God knows what the next encounter might produce.

Our instructions are to keep handing out, and relish the moments when God gives us a hungry soul.

As I sit and finish this, my mind races back immediately to some of those moments…how beautiful they are! Divine moments. And worth every rejection…

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

(website) www.leemccm.wixsite.com/lmcm    

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

Day 144 - The Crucified Christ

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength (Vol. 1) - # 350

         

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.

The idea that God come in the flesh is foreign to the natural mind. To Believers it is a magnificent reality.

DAY 144

The Crucified Christ

But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. --Galatians 6:14

When people saw Jesus they were seeing God, for He was attached, so to speak, by a divine umbilical cord to the Father, whose LIFE flowed through Him. Satan could not defeat God in heaven, so he thought he would try again with his next best chance, which was when God was no longer in heaven but on the earth. Wrong! It was the same God on earth in a body, and in that body God defeated sin, the world, and every aspect of the flesh. How? The “I” attitude of Jesus intertwined throughout His mind, will, emotion, and body was this: “Of My own self I can do nothing.” To the world, He hung on the cross as a defeated man; in actuality, there hung the greatest conqueror the world would ever know.

Jesus’ body went to the grave, but His LIFE departed and descended. Jesus had no choice but to descend when He died; that is what was happening to dead people. There were a couple of battles along the way, all easily won by the power of an indestructible life. Death encountered a new foe, LIFE, and death went running. Captivity was taken captive, and a Man tore open the very gates of hell and preached! All who believed in Jesus left with Him. In short, Hell was plundered. What a time! Next, God reconnected with Him to raise Him from the dead, and Jesus returned to His body in the tomb. His life was so powerful, having overcome sin; Satan; the world; the mind, will, emotions, and body of man; the “I” attitude; and Death, Captivity, and Hell, all by doing nothing of “Himself.” When this powerful life reentered His body, His body was instantly transformed by the power of an indestructible life. His fleshly body could not decay; it was overcome by LIFE and was transformed. We men can only take our spirit along where our body allows us to go. His transformed body had to go wherever His spirit went. If He wanted to walk through a wall, His transformed body followed. Lest we forget, when He returned to His body, He was soaked with the “I” that proved the Love of God, an “I” attitude that trusted God and was holy, righteous, acceptable, and dependent.

Remember that every believer is the dry sponge attached to the soaked One that fills him. Formerly dead in trespasses and sins, believers are filled with a new “I” that soaks into their whole being and gets into every corner until thinking, will, emotions, and body all change. Believers may look the same but they are not; they are having a conversion, being filled with His Spirit, His “I” attitude, and His life. Again, like the great tree root, this divine “I” wraps itself around everything. The flesh of man does not like it, for in the past the flesh was allowed to follow flesh; now the flesh must fight to do so. However, it is fighting an “I” that has already overcome flesh and counterattacks from a place of victory. Believers are filled with THE SPIRIT and are raised up. 

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

Red – GP, Greatest Promises

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

That Believers may look the same, but in Reality are not…is another mystery (parable) that God has given to all mankind to ponder. Well, amen.

At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the Light, and the burden of my heart rolled away! (rolled away), It was there by belief I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day!

There are multitudes who will not believe, and they miss out on being raised up.

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

(website) www.leemccm.wixsite.com/lmcm    

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