Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 49
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.
In
this incredible, short section of SIW Michael brings us to realize the life of
Christ within every Believer is much more than our guarantee of Heaven. And there are a couple of astounding truths
that grip us and will not let go in just this NEXT paragraph…
THE MOMENT
BY MOMENT CROSS – Part 2
excerpt
from pages 142-143 of SIW (5th printing,
March 1998)
excerpt
from pages 141-142 of SIW (14th printing,
March 2012)
(used with permission from
ALMI):
…there
is one thing that God will never bend on, and that one thing is faith! He will become a man to get my attention, He
will overlook my sins, He will show me great compassion and mercy, but He will
not do away with His demand for faith. I
didn’t realize it, but what I was saying to God was, “If I experience Christ as
my life, if I experience the crucifixion of my old self, if all my feelings of
inferiority go away, then I will believe what you say.” I was an unbelieving believer. Finally I said, “Lord, if I live in defeat
all my life and never sense freedom from inferiority and failure, I will still
believe that my old self has been crucified.
I have received Christ’s life, and all that is true of Him is now true
of me!” Not long after that, experience
followed faith.
It
is amazing how specific Scripture is in telling us what God thinks about faith,
what faith is, and how we get more faith…and yet, Christianity suffers from
lives lived without faith. Unbelieving
Believer…what a testimony. What a
hindrance to receiving what God has provided for His kids.
Gripping
truth #1 – “God will not do away with His demand for faith.”
“The just shall live by faith” is not a
suggestion. “According to thy faith…” is
not a “maybe.” Hebrews ch.11 is not a
testimony of some strange group of outsiders in Christianity. (Perhaps “unusual,” but not an extra
option.). “Without faith it is
impossible to please God” is a standard of life for a Christian that all of us
must recognize and desire to participate in.
Gripping
truth #2 – “ ‘I will still believe that my old self has been crucified. I have received Christ’s life, and all that
is true of Him is now true of me!’ Not
long after that, experience followed faith.”
It is a harbinger of life as a Christian
to know that “experience follows faith.”
Oh that we could believe this, and know our lack of experiencing is tied
to our lack of faith.
But,
thank the Lord, there is always HOPE, for the One who lived His entire life BY
FAITH now lives inside every Believer and IS each Believer’s actual LIFE. May we learn to abandon SELF to HIM and see
HIM bring all that we have been looking for (and far too often trying to “work
for” when it has been impossible to attain by our efforts).
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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