Lee McDowell Christian
Ministries LMCM
Nacogdoches,
Texas Gal. 2:20 KJV
Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 2
Michael’s book is
available through:
Abiding Life
Ministries International
Littleton, Colorado
In
this second writing I continue with some of the basic introductory thoughts
that Michael shared…thoughts that are needed in order to proceed on to
victory. After all, we all know that if
we don’t know or admit WHERE we are, how are we ever going to get somewhere
else…or, want to. As you read, note how
many of these same self-defeating “ways” you have had to go through to get to
the point you are desiring to get out of the wilderness.
SOMETHING THAT DID NOT
REQUIRE FAITH
excerpt
from pages 12-13 of SIW (used
with permission from ALMI)
“…I
decided to attend Bible college and then graduate school, where the emphasis
was really quite simple: Success rested on my intellect, ability, talents, and
appearance. If all of these could be
perfected to some measure, I would be a success – I would be acceptable to God
and to His people. How I envied the
student or professor who could preach from the original Greek text. If only I had the natural ability to speak,
to be witty, to be clever; if I could just sing or play an instrument, then I
would be living the abundant life! Maybe
I could memorize the whole Bible as some had, ask the audience to pick a
Scripture verse, and then quote the one before it and the one after it – yes,
then I would have arrived.
There
was, of course, great emphasis on a variety of programs. Many renowned speakers came and shared their
recipes for success. We all took notes
vigorously, knowing that each must be presenting the much-needed procedure. I
knew that I would not be able to adhere to the program in my own life, but at
least I could condemn others for not completing it and pin the blame on them
for its failure. After all, if they were
truly committed Christians they would do better. Little did I know that I was looking for something seen, something of
this world, something that did not require faith, some type of magic
formula to deliver me from myself and others from the same state of defeat.
Why
was it that Christianity was so difficult for me?”
(underlining
is my emphasis – LM)
Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point Green
– IT, Incredible Truth
Red – GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches Pink
– PV, Priceless Victory
Well, how many did you count?
Amazing, isn’t it… One day I had
this thought: perhaps the reason so many of the speakers, writers, professors,
and counselors are always giving “x number of things to do” to find success in
the Christian life is because we were trained years ago to get into “self-help”
or “self-do” projects and programs. One
time my wife and I took a group of couples from our church to a well-known
marriage conference. It was like what is
described: 4 ways to _____, 2 things to _______, 5 ideas to __________, etc.,
etc. An interesting thing happened to
one of our couples: they actually decided to get a divorce ON THE WAY HOME FROM
THE CONFERENCE!
Michael came to the conclusion: none of this required FAITH. Incredible.
God told His people over and over: “Now the just shall live by FAITH…”(Hebrews
10:38). “But without FAITH it
is impossible to please Him…”(Hebrews 11:6). “As ye have
therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him:”(Colossians
2:6). How can much of
the teaching, preaching, and writing tell us to do the opposite of FAITH? And get us to the point of “looking for
something seen, something of this world… some type of magic formula to deliver
me…” Something that does not require
FAITH.
Thank God that God
showed Michael the FAITH route to victory.
Beginning next week we start to walk along the path that gets us out of
the wilderness. Well, amen.
To access ALL past weekly blogs, go to Getting Out of the Wilderness by logging onto www.leemcchristianministries.blogspot.com Look to the top right hand side of the page, enter your email address in the box under “Follow,” then click on SUBMIT. You will receive a “confirmation email,” and when you click on the link and “confirm,” you will receive all new posts via email.
Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
leemccm@gmail.com
1737 CR
2051 Nacogdoches, Tx 75965 936-559-5696
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