Friday, February 6, 2015

Freedom To Fail

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 56
         
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 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. 

In three pages, Michael gives us a great picture, explanation, and application of the compassion of God.  And simply put, where would we be without His compassion?!?


FREEDOM TO FAIL

excerpt from pages 170-172 of SIW (5th printing, March 1998)
excerpt from pages 171-174 of SIW (14th printing, March 2012)
                   (used with permission from ALMI):


The only way out of failure is faith.  We do not wallow in self-pity and guilt, but we allow failure to bring us to a place of true dependence, which will bring maximum productivity as Christ lives His life through us.  Regrets are for unbelievers, not for those who walk in Christ’s righteousness.

…we must understand the character of God…His very nature is compassion.  The repentant man, no matter how far he has fallen, can count on God’s hearing him and being overcome by His own compassion!

Israel was warned that if she forgot the Lord and worshiped idols she would be destroyed, but if when in distress from that behavior she would seek the Lord, then God would hear her…We are free to fail because God is a God of compassion; over sixty times in the Old Testament is He described thus.

…One thing we see over and over again is what I call God’s Compassion Cycle.  That is, whenever we are punished by God, our resulting suffering stirs His compassion, so He brings us back again to Himself…

What is your excuse for wallowing?  To what end or benefit do you continue to punish yourself because of unbelief after you have sinned?  God is compassionate, whether you believe it or not.  His character is not dependent upon what you believe or feel, but on what He says…Have you learned to lean on the compassion of God, or do your lying emotions tell you God does not hear and show compassion?

God continued to forgive and restore Israel even though He knew that they would continue to fail and not keep their promises to Him.  It is the compassion of God that has brought all of us thus far…

…When we walk in compassion, we are free to fail, our love covers a multitude of our sins, and our mercy delivers us from judgment…



Wow!  How beautiful is all this?  Absolutely gorgeous!

Michael has much more in the way of illustrations, particularly of God’s work in the life of Israel in the OT, on these three pages.  I hope you have one of the books from ALMI and are working through the life-changing truths from He Who IS the Truth.

Let me see…I think I can summarize this with all simplicity:
We all will fail God.
We need to repent and return to God.
God is full of compassion and will forgive us and restore us.
When we walk in compassion, we are free to fail.
We who know the compassion of the Lord must show the same to others.
Compassion readily forgives.

That seems to bring me to the following questions:
Do I wallow in my failures?  Do I punish myself for unbelief?
OR…am I repentant and turn to God?
Am I learning to live a life of true dependence on God?


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  


NOTICE:  another blog…on Michael Wells’ book, My Weakness For His Strength, called Living Life With a Capital “C”.  You can access by logging onto www.leemccm.blogspot.com



Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
leemccm@gmail.com

1737 CR 2051    Nacogdoches, Tx 75965                                             936-559-5696

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