Wednesday, December 10, 2014

The Moment By Moment Cross - Part 1

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 48
         
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. 

Thinking back on the past 30 years of studying, preaching, and pastoring, I know the lack of sharing the “power of the Cross” other than for salvation has been one of my biggest mistakes.  Michael brings to the forefront the great power God has given Christians at the moment we were crucified with Christ, received Christ’s life…were Born Again.

THE MOMENT BY MOMENT CROSS – Part 1

excerpt from pages 139-142 of SIW (5th printing, March 1998)
excerpt from pages 138-141 of SIW (14th printing, March 2012)
                   (used with permission from ALMI):


Michael begins this section by sharing his indebtedness to Andrew Murray, Jessie Penn-Lewis, Watchman Nee, and F. J. Huegel for their teachings which the Holy Spirit used to make real the teachings of Romans 6 to Michael.

…Ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your heart that He would make the foolishness of the cross not understandable teaching, but revelation, for with revelation comes faith and power to experience what is taught.

…Watchman Nee uses an appropriate analogy when he asks the question, “Am I a Nee because I was born a Nee, or am I a Nee because of my behavior?”…Nee concludes, “I am a sinner because I am born in Adam.  It is a matter not of my behavior but of my heredity, my parentage.”

…There is no way out unless we can somehow change our parentage or line of existence!

God’s solution to the person with faith is complete removal of that life that was with Adam and is cut off from God, that life controlled by sin.  He replaces it with Christ’s life!  As Jessie Penn-Lewis (a great teacher of Cross truths) so often points out in her writings, there is only one way out of Adam, and since we came in by birth, we must go out by death.  Bondage to sin came by birth; deliverance from sin comes by death.  And now just as in Adam we received everything that is true of him, in Christ we receive everything that is true of Christ…

What glorious news that the “old me” I have worked so hard to change was put to death on the cross with Christ…It happened the day I came to Christ!



Those are great words, aren’t they: “not understandable teaching, but revelation, for with revelation comes faith and power to experience what is taught.”  Wow!

It may be that in wanting to “abide” we have neglected the power of the Cross to free us from sin that keeps us at least thinking we are defeated instead of overcomers.  And if we accept that, then how are we going to “abide” in such a way as to experience Christ’s life?  God has told us that we are to take His word “precept upon precept, line upon line.”  Getting things out of order leads to trouble down the line.

What I hear Michael telling us is to:
    Reckon ourselves “dead to sin & possessing Christ’s
           resurrection life.”
    Appropriate Christ’s “death to sin & resurrection life”
          to THE sins in our life, and see His power take them away.

Of course we have to know what “reckon” and “appropriate” mean…

Well, amen.

There is more “power” to come next time…


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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