Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 16
Michael’s book is
available through:
Abiding Life
Ministries International
Littleton, Colorado
Notice: this email is part of a BLOG, called Getting Out of the
Wilderness. Why a blog? So that multitudes can receive the weekly
thoughts I express on Michael’s writings in an easy manner. In the event you sign up to receive the weekly
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Unbelief…the
sad testimony of any human being who doesn’t believe God. And as Michael points out, much of so many
Christian’s “unbelieving” (defeat) is the result of bad definitions (and
understanding) of key words in life as a Christian.
THE DEFEAT OF UNBELIEF
excerpt
from pages 40-42 of SIW (5th printing,
March 1998)
excerpt
from pages 35-37 of SIW (14th printing,
March 2012)
(used with permission from
ALMI):
...As we turn to the Scriptures we find that there are three things
Christ has accomplished for us. First, through faith in Him we can be
born again. Second, through His blood we can be
forgiven, and third, through
His life we can be saved. There is a difference between
the three; a person can possess full inclusion in the first two without
participating in the third! In
fact. I believe that heaven will be filled with people who were forgiven and
born again but never entered salvation in their daily lives. They are those who did not find Jesus as
daily Savior from vexing sins that control, the guilt that follows, and the
unavoidable, inescapable bondage.
To understand what the term saved means, we must
turn to the Old Testament. In most cases it refers to being
delivered from present conflict, circumstances, and enemies. The people look for the God of their
salvation. When they cry out, they need
help right then, not at a subsequent time such as when
they reach heaven. Being born again will
get us into heaven (John 3), but we need salvation from the things that
currently oppress us.
…The same, however, is true of the believer who embraces the message of the cross;
that is, he will experience
the saving power of the cross today…Being saved occurs in the present!
…When we understand what salvation
means, the words of the angel in Matthew 1:21 have all the more meaning to us: “And
she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will
save His people from their sins.” Salvation is to be a daily
experience that must be supernatural.
We must believe what the Savior exhorts in John 15:5, “…apart from Me you can do nothing.” But if we are full of unbelief, then those words will in our minds
sound like a blessing but in our emotions sound like a curse. Also, we will search for a savior other than Christ to free us
from the bondage we are in. In
this condition, we cannot help but look in all the wrong places!
Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point Green
– IT, Incredible Truth
Red – GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches Pink
– PV, Priceless Victory
Michael
loved to say over and over: “We rise and fall on our definitions.” And it is so incredible that the church, and
individual Christians, are falling because of faulty definitions of so many
crucial biblical words. “Saved” is one
of them. In many circles the word, “saved,”
has taken on one meaning: “saved from my sins, going to heaven one day.” And very little, if any, appropriation of the
Cross or the power of God’s salvation is experienced in daily living, certainly
not “a daily experience that must be supernatural.” And the almost exclusive use of this faulty definition
has pretty much negated, or removed, the scriptural teaching of being “born
again.”
Oh,
that we could see a renewed emphasis of using “born again” when speaking of
being delivered from our sin nature we were born with, and using “saved” when
speaking of being saved from our sins of today…sins that control, the guilt
that follows, and the unavoidable, inescapable bondage. And in doing so, we would also be witnessing
to those who don’t even know Christ about their need to begin a relationship
with God ONLY through the new birth. Well, amen.
Note:
if you don’t have one of Michael’s Sidetracked In The Wilderness books,
please contact ALMI (www.abidinglife.com)
and get one today!
Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
leemccm@gmail.com
1737 CR
2051 Nacogdoches, Tx 75965 936-559-5696
