Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Day 134 - Thy Will Be Done

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM
Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV


Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 4
           Michael’s book is available through:
Abiding Life Ministries International
Littleton, Colorado
(303) 972-0859     almi@abidinglife.com


Once again, Michael makes one of his formidable statements:  “I have never made a mistake.”  Well, amen!  I agree with him wholeheartedly, but read carefully what he says.  So, read on and find out how YOU can LIVE the same!!!


Day 134


Thy Will Be Done

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. --I Thessalonians 5:18

Can you believe it? You do not rule your believing; your believing rules you!(VIP)  Often your faith will be the mere size of a quarter, but you will find yourself in a situation the size of a plate. At first you will want to shrink the situation to fit what you can believe God for, but God’s plan is to have you expand your faith.(VIP)  Your Shepherd has led you to the exact place you are at today,(PV) so today you can choose the grass in your meadow that looks best to you. I do not believe that I have ever made a mistake.(PV) That is not to say I have not sinned, erred, or failed. But I have never made a mistake in knowing the will of God. I simply acknowledge that He is leading, next I make a decision according to what looks good to me, and then I say, “Father, I want Your will, not mine. I choose such and such.” Next, I act.(VIP)  God has been faithful to close doors to all that is not of His will.(PV) 

“I know it could not be God’s will for me to do that, because I want to do it, and it would be so much fun!” What a statement of unbelief that is. Who put the desire for something in you from the beginning? Are you really so smart as to have conjured up the desire all alone?(VIP)  Why do some people want to stay home and others travel? Why does it not bother me to go without food or to sleep on a dirt floor with no heat? It is because God put it in me.(VIP)  Why would some people abhor such a thing? God has not put it in them. I am glad that God put something different in Betty from what He put in me. She prefers home because God put it in her, and because she prefers home, I have a foundation from which to travel. It all works together, in faith!



Well, how much of that shocked you?  I remember back to the first days after Barbara and I became Christians…we encountered the “great debate” of every Christian I have ever met (even to this day!!!).  “Is it God’s will for me to …?”   And the questions and “answers” are endless.  None ever embracing or approaching the issue of God’s sovereign rule in our lives, much less contradicting many things said every day by the “best” Christians:  “God is in control.”  (He is?  Oh, He lost control for a moment when I made such and such a decision…).  “God must not be through with you yet.” (“Boy, if you hadn’t made it to the hospital in the nick of time, you would have been a gonner!”…never mind my heart stopped beating for almost 7 minutes, had no pulse, and Barbara couldn’t have helped me, BUT Officer Cross just went on duty and was one block from the house and got there several minutes BEFORE the ambulance arrived.  Oh, and he had never gotten a pulse back from someone who didn’t have a pulse when he got to them…until me).  “Those folks who got caught in traffic and missed that plane that crashed sure were lucky.” (Yeah, you’re right, they sure were “lucky”…but that word is never found in God’s Holy Word).

Actually, I was fortunate to hear some messages years ago that led me towards the Truth of knowing God’s will.  So, this hasn’t been such a battle for me as it is for others.  And I’ve come to realize: “I have never made a mistake.  God’s will IS being done!” 

So, it is time for you to either believe that your Lord IS the Great Shepherd, and He IS leading you every moment of every day, OR…keep on doubting. 

Do we still MAKE CHOICES?  Are we responsible for making choices?  Find out next week!

Give ‘em Jesus!

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point             Red - GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches         Pink – PV, Priceless Victory


Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
P. O. Box 633244    Nacogdoches, Tx 75963                                    936-559-5696

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Day 145 - Crucified With Christ

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM
Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV


Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 3


If Christians could just get this one truth, life as a Christian could be better understood and ultimately enjoyed.


Day 145
  

Crucified With Christ

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with {Him} in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also {in the likeness} of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with {Him} that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts. --Romans 6:1- 12

The believer could not handle being attached directly to the Father, but Jesus attaches him to Himself through an umbilical cord. Jesus is the transformer that makes the power coming to the believer safe; He is the mediator in heaven providing a constant flow so that the attached believer can always be soaked with His “I.” In a very real sense, then, the believer is in heaven with Him, and conversely, when the believer is on earth, so is Christ. He will carry out His work through the believer while He is in heaven, much like the Father did through Him while He was on the earth. A believer has entered into the same kind of relationship that Jesus while on earth had with the Father. A believer has what Jesus had, an “I” that of its own self can do nothing, but he will do greater things, because when Christ was on the earth, He was working toward victory, but the Spirit that now dwells in a Christian works from victory. A believer will do so much by doing nothing! He must not have tunnel vision and see himself as either independent or a passive tool, either in control of every action or having no control over his actions. The spiritual place, called “abiding,” is neither, best illustrated by the vine and branch. As a branch the believer is unique and independent but must use the freedom to choose to do nothing unless the Lord is doing it through him. The believer needs to see he is in control of his actions, and the action he needs to take is inviting Jesus to come and soak him and be his life in the present situation. In the end he will have an expression of Christ through him that is not he. Throughout the recorded life of Jesus we see Him proving that this spiritual place exists, and though few today might discover it, it does exist.

Those present at Pentecost were unique; they had believed in Jesus before all of His victories had been accomplished. They believed in Jesus but had yet to have their “I’s” crucified and replaced with His. Therefore, after His resurrection, as these various groups of believers were gathered together, Jesus, in one climactic moment, did an instantaneous, mass removal of the carnal “I’s” in these believers, replacing them with His divine “I.” The people found themselves without their carnal “I’s,” attached to the Vine, with the flow of the all-powerful new “I,” the Holy Spirit, in them. Each was given, along with the consistent fruit of the Spirit/”I,” a unique expression of Jesus through them in the form of a spiritual gift. It is here that we first see the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is exactly Jesus, just as Jesus was exactly God; to see Jesus was to see the Father. To see the true manifestation of the Holy Spirit will be to see the exact expressions of Jesus.

As a side note, Jesus was never weird! In the Hindu world, the gods are always weird, with oddities such as a man, monkey, or cow god. Jesus never portrayed God as something strange, abnormal, or out of place; He did not go off into any visions or dreams. He was not trying to be mysterious. He was not starting a cult and threatening people to stay with Him. He was not psychopathic but balanced and sane, addressing the real issues. Time with Him was worthwhile, He never misled, nor did He go on continual emotional rampages. The expression of His Spirit will be no different. The new “I,” His Spirit, or His Life, was not given so the believer could have an emotional high point. It was not given as a sedative to block the world in which we live. It is not given to resurrect the old “I.” Sometimes those who by temperament are Doers believe that the Holy Spirit came to make them prophets once they receive Christ. For them the “Holy Spirit” is power over others. The new “I” definitely is not given to exalt man, nor is it given to entertain. The Holy Spirit will give experiences manifesting the very life of Jesus, the life portrayed in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. The flesh is not interested in these, for with His filling, the believer will find himself being offended until he cannot be offended, forgiving, laying down his life, returning good for evil, walking across the room to kiss an enemy, and failing at everything he independently tries to do. Many genuinely do not want to be filled with His Spirit; they prefer a counterfeit spirit that promises to meet their perceived needs. Well, amen, we have all been there, but when we admitted where we were, we could leave the miserable place. 

I personally believe there are still some, as in the days of the early Church, believing in Jesus but not yet knowing that the old “I” is crucified and replaced with the new “I.” In this frustrating state the believer is trying to whip the old anti-Christ “I” into imitating Jesus. Why would I say that such believers exist today? I believe that I was one. I have always believed in the man Jesus, and I actually always believed that I was called to minister. Yet I never knew that my “I” was crucified, that “I” was buried and raised again. I never knew He could be my new “I,” LIFE. Then one day He revealed it to me. He stopped being my Savior from sin and became my very life. It is so nice to be alone with Him and soaking up His “I”!



Read, and re-read this day’s words over and over.  Have you come to the point of KNOWING that your old “I” was crucified?  And if crucified, is dead.  And yet, you have a new “I.”  And your new “I” is really Him…His Spirit.  He is alive in you, a Believer.  His LIFE is now your LIFE.  And His LIFE will live through you to:
·         never be offended
·         always forgive
·         experience Matthew 5, 6, & 7

And if you are not experiencing those, rest assured you can say, “That’s not Him, that’s my flesh.”  (Read one of the lists of the “flesh” in Galatians 5:19-21).  And decide to say, “Jesus, You are welcome to be my life today.”  Choose to move forward and watch what the Lord is doing through you.  One “list” of His doing is in Galatians 5:22-23. 

Let me share something I do every time I get up to preach or teach.  I pray something like this:  “Lord Jesus, no one needs to hear from me.  They need You and what You have to offer.  So I abandon myself to You as best I know how.  I want only Your thoughts to be the thoughts that pass through my mind.  I want only Your words to be the words that pass through my mouth.  And by faith, I believe that You will do this.  Thank You, Lord!” 

This type of prayer could be used in all sorts of life’s situations.  Well, amen.

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point             Red - GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches         Pink – PV, Priceless Victory


Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
P. O. Box 633244    Nacogdoches, Tx 75963                       936-559-5696

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Day 112 - Give Me Jesus! Please!

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM
Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV


Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength, # 2

Today’s verse, John 12:21, has words that I had inscribed on a small metal plate that I then glued to my pulpit that I preached from for almost 20 years.  “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  A constant reminder to me that the folks who came wanted one thing: they wanted to see and hear Jesus.  Wow!  Things have not changed since Christ walked on this terra firma we call Earth.  People really want to see and hear Jesus every time a Sunday School teacher teaches, every time an Awana worker talks with kids, every time a preacher preaches, every time a missionary goes to a foreign country and speaks to someone through a translator.  Every time folks saw and heard Michael Wells they saw and heard Jesus.  In “Day 112’s” writings, the message is simple and clear.

Oh, in my Intro Letter I mentioned several things I wanted to get across in these blogs…I am using the following “colors” to highlight those things:
     Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point
     Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches
     Red - GP, Greatest Promises
     Pink – PV, Priceless Victory
  

 

Day 112

Give Me Jesus! Please!

Sir, we wish to see Jesus. --John 12:21

I want Jesus! I want to see Jesus! In me, around me, in all things created, in everything good and bad, I want to see Jesus. I keep getting in trouble for saying it, and I do not understand why. I am more excited about Jesus than anything else. I will tell you a secret, something rarely heard, “He is not dead!” Jesus is alive. I am more excited about this living Jesus, raised from the dead, than I am the Bible, church, material gain, health, relationships, or all else that, when compared to Him, is considered rubbish. He must come first, or nothing else will have significance, meaning, or life.

Jesus is alive, but where do we look for Him? Amazingly, the very Jesus we read about today does not live on or in a page. He lives in us, if indeed we have recognized Him as Lord. There is no need for us to read the Bible to have something put into us, when its purpose is to reveal and witness to what is already in us, Jesus. We may or may not want to hear or read the words, but we know we want the Living Word, the life that the page is proclaiming and pointing to.

God is very excited about Jesus. He does not want you to be like Jesus; He wants an exact expression of Jesus flowing out of you. God does not intend for you to spout out the things of God; He wants you pouring forth the very articulation of God, Jesus Christ. It is your birthright! Is it possible? Is it believable? It is truth! The Man who did everything did nothing, and you could do greater things, not know greater things but do greater things (loving an enemy, forgiving, being a leaven, and having a peace that passes understanding). It will not happen without Jesus exactly presenting His Life through you. Do not substitute anything for Him; that will end in disaster. Good is the enemy of the best. Do you believe it? Just keep wishing to see Jesus! With Him comes everything that you have looked for in vain outside of Him. I am tired of teaching, tired of knowing, exhausted with putting into others, and weary of hoping for change. I want to know Christ in me. I want you to know Christ in you. I wish to see Jesus!





Very simple isn’t it.  Jesus is alive.  He lives in those of us who are God’s children.  (first time I read Romans 8:11 I just about flipped out!).  And life as a Christian is NOT about trying to “be like Jesus.”  God intended all along for Christianity to be Him being Him through us.  That’s why we all should want to know “Christ in me,” and especially for others to see Christ through us.

The first 15 years of my life as a Christian I wanted more and more of “who I was in Christ.”  Then God took my wife and me, along with another couple, to a couple’s retreat in Colorado…where Michael Wells introduced us to “Who Christ is in us.”  It was as staggering as the Romans 8:11 encounter!

By the way, some may wonder what Michael was referring to when he said, “you could do greater things.”  Jesus said that in John 14:12.  And for generations Christians have been trying to “figure out” what Jesus meant.  Michael meant what he mentions right after he wrote those words: “It will not happen without Jesus exactly presenting His life through you.”  Jesus meant the same, and then the possibilities become limitless when we compare and think of the limitations Jesus had in one body, a small territory He could cover, and not able to be in but one place at any given point in time with one type of communication…and those same limitations not applicable to us today.  And then think of how many Jesus is flowing His life out of at any given moment!  It could mean several things to an innumerable number of people, but the main thing is that “it will not happen without Jesus exactly presenting His life through me/you/any Christian.”  Well, amen!















Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
P. O. Box 633244    Nacogdoches, Tx 75963                                     936-559-5696

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Day 222 - Practical Abiding

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM
Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength, # 1
                 

“There is nothing the nearness of Christ can’t overcome.”
           Michael Wells

It would seem crazy to me to start any venture into the world of Michael Wells’ teachings without looking at this most “famous” statement of his.  And on “Day 222” Michael highlighted this truth…read on:

Day 222 
Practical Abiding

Abide in me and I in you. --John 15:4

Abiding in Christ sounds good. However, sometime tomorrow a driver will pull in front of me, and I will find myself cursing him. It will all happen so fast that I will not have time to think about Jesus. What am I to do? Good question, but it reveals that we are consequence-conscious and not cause-conscious. The real reason for the problem is not the driver, but neglect and strength. Getting up in the morning, we do not expect anything negative, we are feeling strong, and therefore we do not invite Jesus to come go with us. If we had invited Jesus, we would be driving with a Jesus consciousness. When the driver pulled in front of us, our response would be natural and immediate. We would find ourselves blessing those that curse us. Jesus in the morning prepares us for trouble in the afternoon.

Often I see those who because of frustrations with their circumstances fall back to the idols of the past. Yes, committed believers going back again to slander, bitterness, anger, withdrawal, punishment, lust, immorality, drugs, alcohol, and the list goes on. They are angry and tired of trying to be something better, to live above circumstances, and to imitate Christ. They are tired, mad, and no longer care. Their thoughts go something like this, "I have tried and cannot change." "I am sick of Christians and their talk of happiness." "God does help a few, but I am not one of the lucky few, and I had better admit it." "For now sleep will deliver me from this miserable state, and in the future death will. I cannot wait." "I am a victim of people intent on making me miserable." Notice in all these statements happiness and joy are tied to circumstance. To the degree circumstance is good we feel good, and the converse is also true. But Jesus was victorious over circumstance; in Him we are more than conquerors. The solution is not to fix circumstance, but to draw near to Him in this moment and to share in His life as more than a conqueror. I am not writing this to be disagreeable; it is a fact. To the degree we look to circumstance to make us happy, to that same degree of misery we deservedly descend! Believers are created for God, and much is invested in us; therefore, happiness only comes when we are in the midst of God. This is an absolute that can be proven! Take the challenge! Next time you compare your miserable life with the success an unbeliever enjoys, next time you are angry over circumstances, next time you despise the power that the flesh, sin, and Satan have over you, just draw near to Christ! Spend a few minutes in fellowship and prayer; only crack open the Scriptures and see if there is not a change. Within fifteen minutes you will desire to press on, to lay aside old sin, and to share Him and the happiness He gives. Your life will truly make sense. There is nothing His presence will not cure! You will then clearly see that if God gave us the easy life, we would soon neglect Him, living our lives fulfilled in the flesh but unfulfilled in the Spirit. 

Upon returning, finding your place before Him, and living out of His presence, the enemy will use guilt, the only weapon that is then available to him. Often a return to the Lord is accompanied by a flood of guilt, for in His presence all is clearly seen: the deeds of the flesh, the self-centeredness, the stupidity of doubting God, the wasted time, and the mistreatment of others. The blinders are removed and the enemy, knowing your enlightenment, wishes to make the most use of it. Using your renewed sensitivity from being with the Lord, the enemy will point out all the insensitivity of the past, hoping that the guilt of it will cause you to run from God and the perceived coming judgment. Do not listen! Stand fast! God has drawn you near not for discipline but for love. The discipline was self-inflicted from avoiding His presence, but discipline is over. It is now time for restoration, fellowship, forgiveness, and love.

WOW!  Is the church nothing but a bunch of “imitators”?  And not succeeding at being good “imitations”?  Doing, trying, struggling, worrying…and less than victorious.  Where is JESUS in the lives of church members?  Where is JESUS in the actions of church members?  He is mostly nowhere to be found.  Why?  Because we have been taught to focus on US, OUR faith, OUR efforts, OUR works…and not on HIM and HIS faith, HIS efforts, HIS works.  Only when Jesus is our Life, and we are experiencing His presence, are we going to enjoy Life as a Christian.  His Life is not the “Christian life”…that necessitates guidelines, lists, & rules.  His Life is Our Life as a Christian.  We are simply branches getting Life from the True Vine.  Try it!




Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
P. O. Box 633244    Nacogdoches, Tx 75963                                  936-559-5696

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Intro letter, 9-4-12

Lee McDowell Christian Ministries                         LMCM
Nacogdoches, Texas                                                           Gal. 2:20  KJV


It is my joy to begin a journey with you to look at the great teachings of Michael Wells, teachings that always land at the feet of Jesus and tell us what He will do for us.  Christianity  has suffered too long from those who keep handing out lists of “do this, do that…and you can be a ‘good Christian.’”  Michael captured the essence of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" in his book, My Weakness For His Strength.  It is a compilation of 365 "days" of life-giving hope for each and every Christian.

God gave Michael Wells the most phenomenal insights into Scripture centered around one major premise:  “There is nothing the nearness of Christ can’t overcome.”  Beautiful (as only Michael could say)!  And from that point, we discover that life here on earth for a Christian is simply “Him, “ and not “me.”  For 15 years I have had the privilege, as well as the pleasure, to tell everyone listening the things God has given me through my friend, Michael Wells.

We will look at one “days” words from Michael, then I will try to emphasize what I see as:
·         The most important points (VIP – Very Important Point)
·         The most exciting truths
·         The greatest promises
·         The unfathomable riches
·         The innumerable possibilities
·         And…the priceless victory that is ours as a Christian from the Christ Who lives in us!
     (a PV)

The format will be as follows:
·         A few introductory remarks for the “day” we shall look at
·         The “day” reprinted from Michael’s book
     (Betty Wells has given me permission to use the material)
·         Then the observations gleaned from Preaching, Teaching, and Pastoring the Abiding Life

It will be short, concise, and hopefully something that each of us can carry with us through each day, each month, and each year until God calls us Home.  Mike (as Betty lovingly calls him) is already face-to-face with His Savior and Lord.  May our endeavor bring honor to Christ, and strength & encouragement to those of us still on the path the Lord is directing for us here.



Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
P. O. Box 633244    Nacogdoches, Tx 75963                                        936-559-5696