Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 35
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.
As
mentioned last time, Michael takes us now to the life that can keep us out of
the wilderness…or, get us out of the wilderness if we have wandered there…
THE EXCHANGED LIFE
excerpt
from pages 104-106 of SIW (5th printing,
March 1998)
excerpt
from pages 101-103 of SIW (14th printing,
March 2012)
(used with permission from
ALMI):
…If
we take out your inner life and replace it with another, you are no longer
“you.”…Exchanging the inner life makes you something quite different than you
were before.
This
is exactly what happens when a person is born again; he receives a new life and
actually becomes a new person. In fact,
he is no longer the same type of human, possessing Adam-life, but is a child of
God, acquiring the life of Christ….acceptable, righteous, holy, and triumphant
over the unholy trinity. “I have been
crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20).
The
old you, consisting of the same outer body but with the Adam-life inside, has
been put to death, giving way to the new you with Christ’s life dwelling
within. “Therefore if any man is in
Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things
have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17). You
are a new creation, something different!
At this point we are not concerned about experience, but truth! What God says, we believe. We are free from the condition of flesh
because of our co-crucifixion with Christ.
Read
Romans 6 and discover the spiritual realities of our baptism into Christ; we
are set free from the power of sin…
…Baptism
(into Christ, not water baptism) must be accompanied by faith, and faith
cannot be exercised unless we have been taught what the spiritual realities
are. (this) Baptism is a
spiritual reality wherein we can experience freedom from the power of sin and
the old nature. “Or do you not know that
all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His
death.” (Romans 6:3).
“unless
we have been taught” are words that capture the essence of the lives of way too
many Christians today…discipleship disappeared from most churches years
ago. A brief Sunday morning emotional
experience replaced hours of discipleship each week in the majority of
churches. And without that teaching
(discipleship) of the spiritual realities of the life in Christ, living by
faith is non-existent for any Christian.
How
many Christians KNOW they possess a different inner life?
How
many Christians KNOW they are “acceptable, righteous, holy, triumphant over
the unholy trinity?
How
many Christians KNOW their old self with the Adam-life inside has been put
to death?
How
many Christians KNOW Christ’s life dwells within them?
How
many Christians KNOW they are free from the condition of flesh and have
been set free from the power of sin?
HOW
CAN THEY KNOW IF THEY HAVE NOT BEEN TAUGHT?
Now
listen…learning has to be desired. No
one can make someone learn. But the
teaching has to be offered. And how many
will come to learn is left up to each individual…it is their choice. And God never takes away our choices. But without the learning, faith cannot be
exercised.
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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