Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 53
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
is progressing now to showing us more and more how the abiding life is a
reality and definite possibility…and its positiveness. The life lessons from The Vine are absolutely
incredible…
PRACTICAL
APPLICATIONS OF THE CROSS – part 2
excerpt
from pages 152-159 of SIW (5th printing,
March 1998)
excerpt
from pages 152-159 of SIW (14th printing,
March 2012)
(used with permission from
ALMI):
…When
Christ appeared to the disciples, what was the proof of resurrection
life?...(John 20:27). The proof of
resurrection life will always be the marks of death…On the other hand, the one
who carries the marks of self-life, boasting in ability, talents, programs,
knowledge, wealth, family, or anything else from the endless list, has yet to
know real life.
As
I have traveled and stayed with various Christians around the world, I find the
occasional Christian who is walking in all the joy and power that the Lord has
for His children. As I have
fellowshipped with these various brothers and sisters, I have discovered that
they all have two things in common: On the one hand, they all understand the
necessity of abiding moment by moment, and on the other, they all have
faith. If this is an accurate
perception, then surely the greatest sources of power must be prayer and
abiding.
…No
one can imitate the Son; He must live through us.
…Imitation,
following Christ as an example only, is a false teaching. And how does Jesus confront this false
teaching? With a simple illustration of
a vine, a vinedresser, and a branch!
…”I
am the true vine.” He does not say He is
like a vine, but rather He is the true vine!
That is to say, if Jesus did not exist, neither would vines; all vines
are created to teach and preach the Son of God.
If we would know more of Him, then we can simply observe the vine.
…what
a vinedresser prunes from the branch are the shoots that last year bore the
most fruit…if the good shoots from last year are allowed to remain this year,
they will require more sap (life) and produce less fruit.
…The
enemy continues efforts to have our eyes rest upon the wrong things. We are not to focus on the results of
abiding, and in so doing cease to abide, but we are always to have our eyes on
Him, which will produce fruit…Our one purpose in life is to bear fruit, not to
do something for the Lord.
…Just
as a branch has no life within itself, Christians are not called to generate
life, but to receive it. We are not
called to imitate the life of Christ, but to participate in it. When we learn the abiding life, we will find
ourselves doing by very nature the things so many struggle and work for years
to accomplish, because we have the same fiber, the same life, and the same
Spirit as the Vine, being one with it!
We
find a corresponding dissimilarity between the Christian who imitates and the
one who abides. Those who work are noisy
and feverish; their efforts do not produce a sweet-smelling aroma to the
Lord. Their fruit, which often will fool
others at first glance, will be found merely to be counterfeit. But the believer who has learned the secret
of abiding is quiet, refreshing, and full of real life – Christ’s life! He has fragrant, revitalizing fruit, produced
not for himself but for others to enjoy, that they may be renewed and live. His life is spontaneous; he never emphasizes
doing but abiding, and his eyes do not stray from his precious Vine. He has no worries, for the Vinedresser and
the Vine take care of everything. He
submits to pruning readily, for each one has brought greater closeness with God
and more abundant life. The branch
acknowledges with joy, “Apart from You I can do nothing.”
I
love Michael’s point about “imitating”:
“No one can imitate the Son; He must live through us.” Absolutely.
All the imitators have proven imitation useless…only failure is ultimately
the end result. That is not
Christianity!
The
Vine shows us His way. The branch is
totally dependent upon The Vine. And
Jesus said He is The Vine, and we are a branch.
Life as a Christian is simply each being what each is. All of the false teachers who have been
telling Christians to follow Jesus have perpetrated against all believers a
losing life method. There are no
“successful” followers! And that is what
Michael keeps showing us in SIW.
Believers
need to get back to the Bible, take God at His Word, and receive the Life that
comes with abiding!
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
NOTICE: another blog…on Michael Wells’ book, My
Weakness For His Strength, called Living Life With a Capital “C”. You can
access by logging onto www.leemccm.blogspot.com
Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
leemccm@gmail.com
1737 CR
2051 Nacogdoches, Tx 75965 936-559-5696
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