Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 41
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.
Michael
brings us now to something every Christian must understand…the “old soul”
remains a part of the New Man, as does the old body. It is not the “old man” that is the
Christian’s problem…it is the old soul.
The old man (spirit, with a little “s”) was crucified, is dead, buried,
and has not risen from the dead. A
Christian’s Spirit is Christ’s Spirit, from the New Creation at the New
Birth. So, understanding just who we are
(note: trichotomy of man) is a major step in the direction of engaging the New
Me and my life (which is not my life, but Christ’s!). Well, amen!
THE
UNRENEWED MIND
excerpt
from pages 114-118 of SIW (5th printing,
March 1998)
excerpt
from pages 111-115 of SIW (14th printing,
March 2012)
(used with permission from
ALMI):
We will
reject the argument that the Christian has two natures, and look to Scripture
for a different explanation…the “old you”…Every sin that was committed, idol
trusted, and identity message received had
to register in your mind, will, and emotions (your soul), (boldness for my emphasis), and, therefore, the complete
history of your old nature is stored there.
When the old man is put to death and replaced by Christ’s life and
Spirit, we are one with Him and He with us (John 17:21). We receive new spirits, but our old souls
containing the old information remain.
…The baggage
that we accumulated by living with the old nature for years is still stored in
the mind, will, and emotions…Understanding the residue baggage that was left by
the Adam-life will help us to understand how a Christian can walk with the
Lord, in the Spirit, for days, weeks, even years, and in an instant find
himself attracted to the old sins, idols, feelings of the past.
…What opens the
abiding door is humility, and what closes it is pride. If there could be one word that describes
God, it would be love, but the one word that might
best describe Jesus is humility.
Humility is not saying, “I am nothing”; rather, the humble man says, “I
have nothing.”…Jesus did not walk on water because He could, but because God
told Him to…In fact, the New Testament does not record any original saying of
Jesus, for He Himself said He only spoke what the Father told Him to. He was Divine Humility.
That same
spirit of humility allows us to recognize that we have nothing, and that our
very existence must be supported by the Father moment by moment…
…we can
often see the same behavior in an unbeliever as we do in an unbelieving
believer…The door can open and close as fast as a thought. Many believe it can close as fast as a wicked
thought, but few know that it also will open just as fast with a repentant
prayer…
Michael’s
comment that all our sins from the old life are embedded in the old soul holds
the key to the struggle for Christians.
There is no struggle in the New Man (Christ’s Spirit) which is God’s new
creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) upon our being Born Again. There really is not much of a struggle in the
body…it moves with whatever the mind, will, and emotions tell it to. The battle is in the “soul.” And the real battle is that Christians are “double-souled”…we
have the residue of the “old soul” and Christ’s “soul” (His mind, His will, His
emotions).
It
helps to know what the “mind” is: Greek word, “nous” - “the organ of mental perception and apprehension;
the organ of conscious life; the organ of the consciousness preceding actions
or recognizing and judging them; the understanding of word, concept, sense” (Spiro Zodhiates,
Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, p. 1741). The
answer for Christians is to operate in Christ’s soul that is ours, instead of
the original soul that was “trained” by the Adam-life from our birth…infiltrated
by sin, Satan, and the world. James said
we are to not be “double-souled” (James 1:8)…living out of both souls. With only Christ’s mind, will, and emotions
leading our life, empowered by His Spirit within, He yields a holy life through
our body. Well, amen.
How
do we enjoy moment-by-moment, day-by-day life like this? Abandoned and abiding in Christ.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment