March 3, 2026
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6
It is easy to say, “Don’t worry,” but what are we going to do about our problems if we don’t worry about them? Paul does not leave us in a vacuum here. He goes on to prescribe: “Pray about everything!”
Psalm 46:1 states: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” An alternate reading states that God is “abundantly available for help in tight places.” As a result of our prayers, God can deliver us from tight places.
Someone once said, “When it is hardest to pray, pray the hardest!” Paul was delivered from many tight places. He knew from personal experience, however, that God does not always take our problems away. Paul had a physical “thorn in the flesh” he asked God three times to take away. Paul saw many people healed as he ministered with the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet, when he asked God to solve his health problem, three times God said, “No. No. No.” Instead, God essentially said, “I’m going to give you the grace to cope.” (II Corinthians 12)
When God gave Paul grace to cope, he discovered the power of Christ was upon him in a mighty way. Paul learned that the will of God will never lead us where the grace of God cannot keep us. Paul later shares his weakness became a showcase in which the strength of God was exhibited.
Paul learned that prayer may deliver us from our problems, or it may give us the grace to cope with them. But, in any case, pray. Always pray about everything.
“Tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer.”
Dick Woodward, A Prescription for Peace
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Posted by Dick Woodward
February 27, 2026
“God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6:10)
All of us have or will experience a time when we are not appreciated. It’s challenging to labor long and hard helping people without a word or gesture of appreciation. The author of Hebrews gives us a beautiful message for unappreciated servants of the Lord: we can know we are always appreciated by God.
Our Lord Jesus instructed us that we are to work our righteous acts in secret. We are to give in such a way that one hand does not know what the other hand is giving. We are to pray and fast in a private closet knowing that our Father in heaven sees and knows everything we pray and do. (Matthew 6)
In the same spirit God said through Moses, “Walk before Me!” (Genesis 17:1) In our daily walks, if we hold on to the perspective that everything we do is done before and as unto God, Hebrews 6:10 reminds us that we are always appreciated when we look up and walk before God.
At the beginning of my ministry, I met a lovely elderly couple who had served as missionaries for 48 years in China. Visiting them in charity housing, in so far as I could tell they had been shown no appreciation whatsoever for their hard work in China. When I asked them how they could bear that their answer was: “You have to know for Whom you’re doing it.”
Walk before God as you do your work – and when you need appreciation.
Dick Woodward, 29 February 2012
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Posted by Dick Woodward
February 24, 2026
“For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sins I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)
When we sin, we need to look up and believe the first fact of the Gospel – the Good News that God forgives our sins because Jesus died for our sins. Then we need to look around, forgive those who have sinned against us and seek forgiveness of those against whom we’ve sinned. We also need to look in and forgive ourselves.
When we place our trust in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, we need to forget what God forgets and remember what God remembers. We are promised, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)
After we confess our sins, our faith in God’s promise is flawed when we remember our sins as guilt baggage long after God has forgiven and forgotten our sins.
A Catholic Monsignor in Paris was told about a nun who talked to Jesus every night. When summoned to meet with him, the Monsignor asked her, “The next time you talk with Jesus, ask Him this question: What sins did I commit in Paris before I became a priest?”
Several days later the nun met again with the Monsignor. He asked her, “Did you speak with Jesus again, my child?” She replied, “Yes, your Reverence.” He then asked, “Did you ask Jesus my question?” The nun said that she had indeed asked Jesus his question. “And what did Jesus say?” The nun replied, “Jesus told me to tell you He doesn’t remember.”
As we receive by faith the inner healing of salvation, we must discipline ourselves to remember what God remembers and forget what God forgets.
Dick Woodward, from In Step with Eternal Values
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Posted by Dick Woodward
February 20, 2026
Goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.” (Psalm 23:6)
“God is able to make all grace abound toward you, so that you, always, having all sufficiency in all things may abound unto every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
Two of the most beautiful words in the Bible are “mercy” and “grace.” The mercy of God, which is the unconditional love of God, withholds from us what we deserve, while the grace of God lavishes on us all kinds of blessings we do not deserve, accomplish, or achieve by our own efforts.
As we thank God for our blessings, at the top of the list we should be grateful for the mercy that withholds and the grace that bestows. The good news of the gospel is that when Jesus suffered on the cross for our sins, everything we deserved that we might have peace with God was laid upon Christ. (Isaiah 53:5-6; 2 Corinthians 5:21)
If you want to grasp the meaning of these two words observe when and why they turn up in the Bible. Try to understand what we deserve and why. That will grow your appreciation for the mercy of God. Then investigate all that is bestowed upon us by the grace of God.
As you find these two beautiful words in the Bible you will understand why I have written that when you pray you should put at the top of your thanksgiving list: “The mercy that withholds and the grace that bestows.”
Dick Woodward, 26 February 2009
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Posted by Dick Woodward
February 17, 2026
“… but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better…” (Luke 10:42)
Every time we meet Mary, the sister of Martha, she is at the feet of Jesus. The verse above describes her at the feet of Jesus hearing His Word. Martha is frustrated because Mary is attending the Bible study while she is doing all the serving. Jesus sides with Mary because she chose the number one priority that day.
In the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John the brother of these two sisters dies. When Jesus arrives too late to save their brother, both these sisters greet Him with the same words: “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” However, when Mary spoke these words, we read that she prostrated herself at his feet – showing that she accepted His will.
In the next chapter Martha and Mary’s resurrected brother is the guest of honor at a banquet. Mary is once again there worshiping Jesus at His feet. She anointed His feet with perfume that was worth a year’s wages. What would it mean if you worshiped Jesus with your annual income?
Mary is a great example for us as she is at the feet of Jesus hearing His Word, accepting His will, and worshiping Him. If we will not merely read our Bibles but hear Christ’s personal word to us at His feet when we do, we will find His will for our lives. If we continue to follow Mary’s example, we will be at the feet of Jesus accepting His will. As we follow Mary’s example, we will find ourselves at His feet worshiping Jesus forever with costly worship.
Dick Woodward, 19 February 2013
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Posted by Dick Woodward
February 13, 2026
“Love never fails.” (I Corinthians 13:8)
Human love is often based on performance. When we apply the love of Christ, our love is not based on the performance of those we love. That is what makes this love indestructible. The love of Jesus Christ is a tough, indestructible love because it is unconditional.
In wedding ceremonies, many couples make the unconditional vow: “…for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death us do part.” The living Christ, empowering the love Paul prescribes in 1 Corinthians 13, is the dynamic that makes that possible.
We can also make the application that these ways of love are irresistible, because they are inspirational. Peter, ultimately, could not resist the positive reinforcement of Jesus calling him a rock. I personally could not resist when my mentors prayed, imagined, dreamed, hoped and believed in my ultimate potential.
If you ask Christ to make your life a conduit of His love to your spouse, children, and those who are difficult to love – you may make the joyful discovery that they will ultimately find the love of Christ to be irresistible and inspirational. They will begin to believe what you pray, imagine, dream, hope and believe about and for them.
For 28 years, I experienced the gradual and relentless onset of paralysis, which reduced me to a helpless, bedfast quadriplegic. During that time, I have learned much about the love of Christ from my wife, who is the most selfless, others-centered person I have ever known. In all these years she has never taken a day, weekend or vacation from her care of me. There are very few people in this world who know how I do what it means to be the recipient of the unconditional and indestructible love of Christ.
Dick Woodward, from A Prescription for Love
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Posted by Dick Woodward
February 10, 2026
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love… I am nothing.” (I Corinthians 13:1-3)
The Apostle Paul composed an inspired poem of love in which he declared that the agape love of God should be the number one priority of spiritual people. In First Corinthians 13 he wrote that love is greater than knowledge and more important than faith.
Paul’s teaching about spiritual gifts in the previous chapter concludes with: “Earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I will show you a more excellent way.” (I Corinthians 12:31) Paul begins his great love chapter with his prescription for that most excellent way: “Let love be your greatest aim,” or “Put love first.”
A SUMMARY PARAPHRASE APPLICATION: “If we speak with great eloquence or in tongues without love, we’re just a lot of noise. If we have all knowledge to understand all the Greek mysteries, the gift to speak as a prophet, and enough faith to move mountains, unless we love as we do all those things we are nothing. If we give all our money to feed the poor and our body to be burned at the stake as a martyr, if we give and die without love, it profits us nothing. Nothing we are, nothing we ever become, nothing we have and nothing we ever will have in the way of natural and spiritual gifts should ever move ahead of love as our first priority. Nothing we do or ever will do as an expression of our faith, our gifts, our knowledge, or our generous, charitable, unconditionally-surrendered heart is worthy of comparison, or can replace love as we live out our personal priorities in this world.”
Dick Woodward, from A Prescription for Love
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Posted by Dick Woodward
February 6, 2026
“Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” (Numbers 13:30)
In the book of Numbers, we read twelve Hebrew spies were sent into Canaan to determine the strength of the enemies they would face invading that land. Ten spies reported, “The people in that land are such big and fierce looking giants they made us feel like grasshoppers. And the cities are fortified with walls so thick they build houses on them!”
However, Joshua and Caleb reported they had never seen such fruitful soil in their lives. They described seeing two men carry one cluster of heavy grapes on a thick pole in a Canaanite vineyard. Furthermore, they proclaimed since they had the Lord with them, they were well able to conquer the land of Canaan.
We might say the ten spies with the negative report were experts in “giantology” because they saw the giants, while Caleb and Joshua saw the Lord. They had a vision that God was more than able to give them the exceedingly fruitful land of Canaan.
When we are challenged to take on a project that has great potential for being exceptionally fruitful and there are many obstacles and risks involved, we often face a split committee on a ten and two basis. Ten are experts on the obstacles and the risks involved in that project and two are like Caleb and Joshua.
When you are faced with challenges that involve risks but great potential for God’s glory, are you an expert in “giantology” – or do you see the Lord?”
Dick Woodward, 11 February 2011
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Posted by Dick Woodward
February 3, 2026
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound unto every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
The mercy of God withholds from us what we deserve, and the grace of God bestows on us all kinds of wonderful blessings we do not deserve. Grace is also the dynamic we receive from God to do what God calls and leads us to do. 2 Corinthians 9:8 is the most superlative verse about grace in the Bible.
It tells us that God is able to make all grace, not just some grace, abound toward us, not just trickle in our direction. Then we may have all sufficiency, not just some sufficiency, in all things, not just some things. We are then equipped to abound, not just do our duty, as we do every good work God leads us to do, not just the works we like to do, ALWAYS! Twice in this verse Paul emphasizes the reality that this grace is for you – not just for a pastor or missionary – but you!
Is this grace a reality in your journey of faith?
I once heard Dr. A. W. Tozer preach on this verse. After he read it there was an eloquent pause before he said, “Sometimes you cannot help but allow the thought that God oversold grace in the New Testament.” He then preached a powerful message challenging us to believe God has not oversold grace but that we need to learn how to access it.
The hymn writer wrote, “The favor God shows and the joy He bestows are for those who will trust and obey…” That is a good place to start.
Dick Woodward, 10 February 2012
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 30, 2026
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
In one of the most important chapters of the Bible Isaiah shared what we might call his “philosophy of ministry.” Isaiah, who is called “The Prince of the Prophets,” declared that he preached the Word of God because there is as much difference between the way God thinks and acts and the way we think and act, as the heavens are high above the earth. Isaiah believed the Word of God can bring about an alignment between the thoughts and ways of God and our thoughts and ways.
As an application to Isaiah’s profound declaration, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, asked the question, “If our steps are ordered by the Lord, how can we always expect to understand the way we are going?” (Proverbs 20:24)
It is so important that we have this profound truth declared by Isaiah engraved in our minds: God does not think and act as we do! This is especially true when we are baffled by events and circumstances that overwhelm us and obsess us with “Why” questions.
A devout Christian surgeon I know says, “The word we use most in this life is ‘Why.’ And the word we’re going to use most in the next dimension is ‘Oh!’” That’s because when we have eternal perspective on the life we are now living, in time we will say “Oh” when we see why God’s thoughts and ways are higher and better than the way we think and act.
Dick Woodward, 25 January 2011
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Posted by Dick Woodward
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