Saturday, July 5, 2014

The Conviction of Self-Life

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 26
         
Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International
Littleton, Colorado
(303) 972-0859       www.abidinglife.com


In this brief introduction to the long discourse on the “self-life,” Michael simply asks the questions that he answers in the next 25 pages (chapter 6), which is followed by 30 pages of “The Loss of Self-Life”! (chapter 7).  So, we begin a journey of finding out what the self-life is before we can get lose it.  Grab a pen, get your Bible and a Concordance…and prepare for a tremendous journey into the best discipling you will have ever heard.  Chapter 6…

THE CONVICTION OF SELF-LIFE

excerpt from pages 75 of SIW (5th printing, March 1998)
excerpt from pages 71 of SIW (14th printing, March 2012)
                   (used with permission from ALMI):

If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whosoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is one who will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)   Jesus says the way to life will be through death, and if they are to follow Him, they must deny self.  What is this self that we are commanded to deny, and what is the life that must be lost in order to live?

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point      Green – IT, Incredible Truth        
Red – GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches           Pink – PV, Priceless Victory


“Self” and “Life”…two different things.  But when put together, all sorts of havoc is noted in anyone’s life…lost or born again.  The journey Michael takes us on in the next 25 pages of SIW show us clearly what these two are, and how devastating they can be.  But like the great discipler he is, he always gives us God’s answer to our dilemma.  We will learn “what it is.”  We will learn “how to deny.”  We will learn “how to lose.”  And most importantly, we will learn “how to be convicted, and to recognize it when it comes.”

Let me wet your whistle with a couple of harbingers of what is to come:
·         “Even the believer who is born again and has Christ’s Spirit within the renewed inner person can erect a wall of unbelief that disallows Christ’s rule over the soul; at that moment the believer, too, is quite insane.”
·         “In order to have a problem we must rebel against God, and the only thing that will justify rebellion is anger.”

Well, it will be an exciting journey, to say the least.  Why don’t you take the time to dig into the Greek words behind “deny,” “self,” “save,” and “life” in this passage from Luke ch.9.  This will give you a great start to discovering some important truths which will be of great help in the weeks to come.




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!



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Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
leemccm@gmail.com

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

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