Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 23
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 many can receive the weekly thoughts
I express on Michael’s writings in an easy manner
Coming
off last week’s writing…is it staggering, or what, to hear Michael say that
among the defeated Christians he disciples MORE THAN 90% of the time their
concepts of God really describes their fathers?!? Goodness, how do pastors and teachers reach and
communicate truth about God to such believers?
WHO, THEN, IS GOD?
excerpt
from pages 64-66 of SIW (5th printing,
March 1998)
excerpt
from pages 59-62 of SIW (14th printing,
March 2012)
(used with permission from
ALMI)
I like to read through 1 Corinthians 13 with those who have an
unrealistic concept of God, because if He is love, then this chapter must
describe Him. How many sermons have you
heard regarding this passage that made you come away thinking, I have got to love more? Yet what a joy it is to read it substituting the name of God for the
word love, and realize that this is the God who loves us and
lives His life through us….
(Michael then gives a description of who
God is in that chapter)
Many have spent their whole lives trying to get their
spiritual needs met. Jesus Christ is the only One who can
meet those needs, but
so often we run from Him because we feel He is something other than the God of
1 Corinthians 13.
…many people have never given God a fair opportunity to prove Himself,
for they reject who they feel He is before He can act on their behalf.
The way out of emotional unbelief is quite
simple. We need only confess as sin our
wrong feelings of who God is and profess who He really is…Unbelief is the mother of sin;
however, the depth of our unbelief is truly revealed in how we respond to God
when we fail. If we wallow, cut
ourselves off from Him, and traffic in self-punishment we prove that our
acceptance never rested in the Son of God, but rather in how well we could
perform.
…If we remain miserable with such a great God, we can blame no one but
ourselves!
It is a
great step of faith to go against all the lying emotions you have concerning
who God is and to just open that door to His life one time, for one time is all
it will take for you to discover the abundant life for which you have searched
so long. There is
a verse often quoted to unbelievers which was actually written to unbelieving
believers: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and
opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me”
(Revelation 3:20).
Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point Green
– IT, Incredible Truth
Red – GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches Pink
– PV, Priceless Victory
In
the closing words of the fourth chapter of the book, Michael takes us one step
further into the dreadful state of the believer who is sidetracked somewhere in
the wilderness of life: from just being an unbelieving
believer…which certainly is terrible
enough…to realizing that for most it is actually emotional unbelief
(fired by lying emotions) that is keeping the individual from ever really
having an intimate fellowship with Almighty God, their Savior God. The devastation and defeat at the core of the
believer’s Christian experience is shown to be so consuming that Michael states
“we prove that our acceptance never rested in the Son of God, but rather in how
well we could perform.”
How
many grew up in homes with a Dad and Mom who loved conditionally…love dished
out based on performance? “God will get
you; you can never please Him” (what about pleasing Dad and Mom???).
But
(and that is a HOLY “but”!), God is one decision away…saying “no” to our lying
emotions and trusting God for who He really is.
And the choice is ours.
May
God help anyone who needs this…especially to make the choice of the preceding
paragraph!
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!
To access ALL past weekly
blogs, go to Getting
Out of the Wilderness by logging onto www.leemcchristianministries.blogspot.com
Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
leemccm@gmail.com
1737 CR
2051 Nacogdoches, Tx 75965 936-559-5696
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