Thoughts
on Michael Wells’ teachings in Sidetracked In The Wilderness - # 56
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
three pages, Michael gives us a great picture, explanation, and application of
the compassion of God. And simply put,
where would we be without His compassion?!?
FREEDOM TO
FAIL
excerpt
from pages 170-172 of SIW (5th printing,
March 1998)
excerpt
from pages 171-174 of SIW (14th printing,
March 2012)
(used with permission from
ALMI):
The
only way out of failure is faith. We do
not wallow in self-pity and guilt, but we allow failure to bring us to a place
of true dependence, which will bring maximum productivity as Christ lives His
life through us. Regrets are for
unbelievers, not for those who walk in Christ’s righteousness.
…we
must understand the character of God…His very nature is compassion. The repentant man, no matter how far he has
fallen, can count on God’s hearing him and being overcome by His own
compassion!
Israel
was warned that if she forgot the Lord and worshiped idols she would be
destroyed, but if when in distress from that behavior she would seek the Lord,
then God would hear her…We are free to fail because God is a God of compassion;
over sixty times in the Old Testament is He described thus.
…One
thing we see over and over again is what I call God’s Compassion Cycle. That is, whenever we are punished by God, our
resulting suffering stirs His compassion, so He brings us back again to Himself…
What
is your excuse for wallowing? To what end
or benefit do you continue to punish yourself because of unbelief after you
have sinned? God is compassionate,
whether you believe it or not. His
character is not dependent upon what you believe or feel, but on what He says…Have
you learned to lean on the compassion of God, or do your lying emotions tell
you God does not hear and show compassion?
God
continued to forgive and restore Israel even though He knew that they would
continue to fail and not keep their promises to Him. It is the compassion of God that has brought
all of us thus far…
…When
we walk in compassion, we are free to fail, our love covers a multitude of our
sins, and our mercy delivers us from judgment…
Wow! How beautiful is all this? Absolutely gorgeous!
Michael
has much more in the way of illustrations, particularly of God’s work in the
life of Israel in the OT, on these three pages.
I hope you have one of the books from ALMI and are working through the
life-changing truths from He Who IS the Truth.
Let
me see…I think I can summarize this with all simplicity:
We
all will fail God.
We
need to repent and return to God.
God
is full of compassion and will forgive us and restore us.
When
we walk in compassion, we are free to fail.
We
who know the compassion of the Lord must show the same to others.
Compassion
readily forgives.
That
seems to bring me to the following questions:
Do
I wallow in my failures? Do I punish
myself for unbelief?
OR…am
I repentant and turn to God?
Am
I learning to live a life of true dependence on God?
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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