July 1, 2016
“When I am weak then I am strong…” (2 Corinthians 12:10)
In these eight words the Apostle Paul gives us a strength formula. When you are having a serious operation, instead of counting to 10 as the anesthesiologist administers the medicine that knocks you out, I suggest you say these eight words: When I am weak then I am strong. While most of us are ‘control freaks,’ after experiencing the full effects of anesthesia we give up all control. But, as believers when we give up all control, we will find underneath the everlasting arms. (Deuteronomy 33:27) This makes us stronger than we have ever been.
Paul, quoting Isaiah, writes the key to spiritual strength is that God gives strength to the weary and power to the weak. One translation reads that God’s strength looks good on weak people. The key to spiritual strength is therefore not found in our strength but in our weakness. These eight words are therefore the formula for strength. They will give you great spiritual strength in your time of absolute weakness. Discover with the Apostle Paul that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness, not in trying to make ourselves strong. We find our greatest strength in the Everlasting Arms that are there underneath us.
Prove what Isaiah and Paul teach us. The everlasting arms are there and they give us more strength than we have ever known as healthy active people. The next time you experience weakness on any level of life remember to pray these eight words: “When I am weak then I am strong.”
You will soon find yourself saying, “I’m not but He is; I can’t, but He can;” and then, “I didn’t but He did” when you let God perfect His strength in your weakness.
Dick Woodward, 26 February 2014
Editor’s Note: After fixing up this blog post for today, the Blog-Posting Elf just realized that this was the last blog Papa wrote before he went to rest in the Everlasting Arms of God on March 8, 2014. As all who knew him attest, Dick Woodward exhibited God’s strength in his weakness in extraordinary ways through countless days of weakness and suffering that was especially challenging as he wrote these words. As he would say, “I didn’t, but God did” in and through him… even to his last breath.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 28, 2016
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
When I was in a very difficult situation, the prayer of Saint Francis had great meaning for me. I memorized it and prayed it every night for several months. I know you are very familiar with it but in case you don’t have a copy there, here it is:
“Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console: to be understood, as to understand: to be loved as to love: for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Dick Woodward (email, 05 March 2005)
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 24, 2016
“So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” (Luke 10:36)
Jesus was the absolute master storyteller of parables – stories that illustrated His teachings. A lawyer asked Him the question: “Who is my neighbor?” In response Jesus told a parable about a man who was mugged and left half dead on the side of the road. When a priest saw him he passed by on the other side of the road and did not get involved. A Levite, or Temple assistant, who traveled that road did the same thing. Then a traveling Samaritan came down the road. When he saw the helpless man he gave him all the first aid he could, put the man on his animal and took him to an inn where he paid for his care. Jesus then asked, “which of these three was neighbor..?”
This parable presents three philosophies of life. The mugger’s philosophy of life was: “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours will be mine as soon as I can take it.” The religious professionals in the story believed: “What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours.” The philosophy of the Samaritan was: “What’s yours is yours, and what’s mine is yours any time you need it.” That is obviously the philosophy of life Jesus is teaching us through this parable answer to the lawyer’s question.
May I ask you to get real and ask yourself which of these three philosophies of life and neighbor is yours? Do you believe people are to be exploited for your personal gain? Do you not want to get involved? Or are the people who intersect your life an opportunity for service?
Dick Woodward, 14 February 2012
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 17, 2016
“…To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children… to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’” (Luke 1:17)
When the Old Testament prophet Malachi prophesied the birth of John the Baptist, he predicted he would prepare the way of the Messiah by exhorting fathers to prioritize their relationships with their children. The challenging truth by application is that the way of the Lord in the lives of children is prepared when fathers are faithful in their responsibility toward their children.
One example of this reality is when our Lord taught His disciples how to pray, He instructed us to address God as “Our Father.” What images come into our minds when we address God in this way? Our relationships to our earthly fathers can strongly influence the way we perceive our heavenly Father.
As a pastor I’ve had parishioners say to me in private, “When I address God as my father I experience a spiritual short circuit.” When asked to tell about their earthly father I often heard a story about a very dysfunctional father/child relationship.
Professional Christian clinical psychologists and psychiatrists strongly reinforce the hard reality of the profound influence fathers have in the lives of their children. The profound truth that was focused when the life and ministry of John the Baptist was profiled is confirmed in millions of lives every day.
As we in America call this Sunday “Father’s Day,” may the vision statement that was prophesied for John the Baptist raise awareness in all of us who are fathers of the solemn mission objective we have been assigned by God when He made us fathers.
Dick Woodward, 20 June 2010
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 14, 2016
“So do not throw away your faith; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised… For he that is righteous shall live by faith.” (Hebrews 10:35-38)
As the author of the book of Hebrews continues giving doubting disciples reasons why they should not throw away their faith, he says they should keep the faith because they need faith for living. Authentic disciples know they are saved by faith, but the disciples to whom he was writing had forgotten that they are also called to live by faith.
He quotes the key verse of Habakkuk’s prophecy written to suffering people. When we are suffering we need reminders that God has given us the faith to persevere and do the will of God in our crisis – until we receive what God has given us, the faith to believe will ultimately happen according to His promises.
I have observed a direct correlation between spiritual growth and suffering. The Greek word translated “persevere” in these verses is a quality God grows in those who are living by faith while they are suffering, according to the Apostle Paul (Romans 5: 3-5). Other authors of the New Testament agree with Paul.
The immediate response of many authentic disciples when they find themselves in a difficult situation is: “Lord, get me out of here!” When that doesn’t happen they are sometimes tempted to throw away their faith. The message conveyed by these verses is “Don’t throw away your faith. You need your faith to live through your crisis.”
Is this a message you need to hear today?
Dick Woodward, 03 December 2010
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 10, 2016
“Thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is our Father and the source of all mercy and comfort. For He gives us comfort in our trials…” (2Corinthians 1:3-4, J. B. Phillips)
Suffering can drive us to God in such a way that we make this great discovery: God is there and God can comfort us.
There is supernatural quality of comfort that can be found in simply knowing God. God does not want us to go through life and never discover that God is there for us and will comfort us. When you undergo a life-threatening surgery and you, completely alone, are being placed under the bright lights, remember that God is the ultimate source of the greatest comfort you can possibly experience in this lifetime.
As a pastor, I have frequently heard believers say that God met them in a supernatural and intimate way while they were going through a medical crisis. Two weeks ago a man for whom I’ve been praying for twenty years wrote from another part of the country to say he has now come to faith. God gave him that absolute assurance while he was undergoing a critical life-threatening surgery.
Many of us have known people we loved very much who are depressed and oppressed. They are nearly always alone and their pain is so intensely private they do not want any of the caring people in their lives to be with them.
Others believe their suffering is so personal they must place themselves in a self-imposed solitary confinement. If that happens to you, I challenge you to make this great discovery: God is there, and God can comfort you!
Father of all mercy and comfort, make me know personally that You are the source of all comfort. Comfort me in my pain, and when I feel alone and depressed, may I discover that You are there, You are real, and You can comfort me. I pray in Christ name, Amen.
Dick Woodward, from 30 Biblical Reasons Why God’s People Suffer
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 8, 2016
“… the Lord will not be with you!” (Numbers 14:43)
When pilots are landing a large commercial jet they reach a point where they must commit to their landing. They call that point of no return the LD – the “level of decision.”
God is very patient and full of mercy and grace. However, Numbers Chapter 14 tells us there is an LD in our journeys of faith. There is a point where we either do, or do not, commit to doing the will of God.
God will lean on us like an elephant to get us to see and do His will. He reaches a point, however, where He will let us have it our way. When God lets us do our own thing we suffer great loss. For starters, we forfeit the present purpose of our salvation. We all know we are not saved by good works but we can lose the opportunity to do the works for which God has saved us (Ephesians 2:10).
When the Israelites chose not to do the will of God, Moses said: “The Lord will not be with you!” Perhaps the saddest word in the Hebrew Old Testament is the word “Ichabod” that means “the glory has departed” and teaches that God sometimes withdraws anointing power from His people.
There is such a thing as the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God for your life and mine (Romans 12:1, 2). The book of Numbers solemnly presents two options: after being delivered from our “Egypt” we can go around in circles for 40 years, or we can commit to doing the will of God.
Are you making a wise commitment in your spiritual LD?
Dick Woodward, 06 December 2013
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 4, 2016
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption … What counts is a new creation.” (Galatians 6: 7, 8, 15)
The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Galatians. The first part of this passage is often preached to unbelievers, but Paul was addressing professing believers. As believers this is a spiritual law of our lives in Christ. Every day we can sow spiritual seeds in the garden of our life, or we can sow seeds of our flesh in that garden. William Barclay, a professor of Bible at Edinburgh University for forty years, wrote that when the Bible refers to our flesh it means “human nature unaided by God.” According to Paul, human nature unaided by God is a seed that produces corruption.
We have the option to sow spiritual seeds in our lives every day. Paul writes that these spiritual seeds produce a continuous creation. David prayed “Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me.” (Psalm 51:10) In the New Testament the apostles refer to being born again as a miracle of creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God…” (2 Corinthians 5:17, 18)
This means we have two awesome options before us every day: creation or corruption. We can sow spiritual seeds in the garden of our lives which continue the act of creation God is miraculously performing in us, or we can sow seeds that produce corruption.
What seeds are you sowing in the garden of your life every day?
Dick Woodward, 15 February 2011
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Posted by Dick Woodward
May 26, 2016
“Let love be your highest goal…” (1 Corinthians 14:1)
What are your priorities? Paul challenges us to let love be our highest priority at the end of his inspired love chapter. We should follow after love, make love our greatest pursuit, and love should be our highest goal, depending on how the verse is translated in your Bible.
A practical way to make love our greatest goal is to take the 15 virtues in the middle of the love chapter (I Corinthians 13) and apply them in our relationships. It will not take long to realize we cannot love in these ways on our own. These are the ways God loves. The miracle is God can love in these 15 ways through us!
The love virtues are all others-centered, unselfish ways of showing unconditional love. They are not natural, but unnatural for us, because they are supernatural. They are the fruit and evidence that God lives in us and is expressing the essence of God’s character through us. The dynamic effect of God’s love upon those we love in these ways will convince us this love is God and deserves to be our highest goal.
I have been loved in these ways and by the grace of God I have loved in these ways. I am committed to making this love my first priority. I resonate with Joyce Kilmer who summarized the essence of the lives of the fallen who lie beneath poppies in French WWI military graveyards when he wrote: “Loved and were loved, but now they lie in Flanders Fields.”
Paul prescribed these love virtues believing they could solve the problems in the worst relationships in his worst church. I believe they can solve the problems in all our relationships if we will graciously apply them, through Christ.
Dick Woodward, 12 November 2013
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Posted by Dick Woodward
May 20, 2016
“Let me hear of Your steadfast love in the morning, for in You I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul.” (Psalm 143:8)
Early every morning the eagle preens its feathers for more than an hour. Sitting on the side of its nest, the eagle passes each feather through its mouth, something like steam cleaning while depositing a liquid that makes its feathers water repellent.
This is important because eagles fish by diving under the water. The fluid deposited on their feathers also locks them together to improve their aerodynamics. Whether an eagle is planning to fish or not, every morning for an hour they sit on the side of their nest and preen. They are not primping, they are preening – a very prudent preparation.
Like you and me, eagles never know what challenges they may face on any given day. Therefore, they preen in preparation for every possible challenge each day may hold.
Do you wake up holy in the morning? Before you’ve had your coffee? It’s possible for spiritual people to wake up holy, but if we’re honest we will concede that most of the time we don’t wake up that way.
Oswald Chambers wrote, “With your first waking moment learn to fling the door wide back and invite God in. Then pray in private to your Father, Who is in the secret place, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.”
It is very important to make a good beginning each day. When we consider the eagle’s daily practice of early morning preening preparation, we are challenged to begin every day of our lives with spiritual preparation.
Have you preened your spirit with God’s help this morning?
Dick Woodward, (from As Eagles: How to be an Eagle Disciple)
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Posted by Dick Woodward
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