October 5, 2012
“‘Who told you that you were naked?’ the LORD God asked.’” (Genesis3:11)
We have confessed, climbed and conserved to apply the jet pilot’s compass. We must now apply the most critical points on his compass and ours. Just as the jet pilot must communicate with his carrier, we must communicate with God.
We all know that we can communicate with God through prayer. In the familiar story from the book of Genesis we learn that God communicates with us and He wants us to know that He communicates with us.
In a psychiatric hospital a man told his psychiatrist that he was Napoleon. The psychiatrist asked him “Who told you that you are Napoleon?” The man responded, “God told me.” The man in the next room shouted, “I did not!”
In Hebrew the question God asked is literally: “Who made you know that you were naked?” You may be uncomfortable telling people that God told you to make a decision like a career change. Would it be more comfortable to say God made you know that you were to make a certain decision? Do you believe God can make you know what He wants you to know and do?
It is exciting to know that we can communicate with God through prayer and even more exciting to know He communicates with us. Just as the last two points on the pilot’s compass are the most critical, it is critical for us to be in two-way communication with God.
God communicates with us in many ways but the most important is when we are reading His inspired Word. We should open the Bible with this prayer: “Let all the voices be stopped. Speak to me Lord, Thou alone.”
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 4, 2012
“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
(Psalm 139: 23, 24)
Applying the compass of a jet pilot to our personal compass of life we next need to ask what it means to conserve when we think we may have lost our way. The familiar prayer of David in Psalm 139 is one answer to that question. We can assume that David is facing challenging decisions about the way he needs to go. We might also assume that he is aware of what this translation lists as his ‘anxieties.’
He is asking God to take the lid off his mind, heart, thoughts and motives along with his anxieties and show him what should not be there because he wants to walk with God in the everlasting way. By example and precept David is teaching that we should be conservative when our anxiety is letting us know that we have lost our way.
We should not make big decisions when we are down or on an emotional high. We should move ahead steadily when what God shows us under the lid of our heart and mind is in alignment with His will and the way He wants us to go with Him.
My friend, the squadron commander, told me about a rookie pilot who radioed his carrier: “I’m lost somewhere over the South West Pacific Ocean but I’m making excellent time!” When we know we are lost that’s not when we are to be making excellent time. That is the time for us to be conservative and pray this prayer of David.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 3, 2012
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is…” (Colossians 3:1)
To follow up on the application of the second point of the jet pilot’s compass to our own compass of life we must ask: what does it mean to “climb?” Since we are all different it means different things for different folks. For me personally it means to get deeply into the Word of God. A holy man named Thomas a’ Kempis wrote in words of his century that he found spiritual retreat and peace in ‘a little corner with a little book.’
For you climbing could mean meeting with a mentor if you are blessed to have one. Ideally every believer should have one but realistically very few actually have a mentor or a disciple maker. If you are a spiritual person a short or long private retreat could be a good way to climb. While solitude works for some, a small group could work for others. Simply being with spiritual people is moving in the right direction.
If you love worship music, getting immersed in meaningful worship music is a good way to climb. This of course could happen in corporate as well as a closet worship experience.
Many people climb by reading the great old souls who have left us with their great expressions and “how to’s” of worship by example and precept. Getting deep into devotional classics is a good way to climb. I must repeat, however, that for me nothing replaces the Word of God for climbing.
The first letter of John tells us to track with the attributes of God. According to John if we look where the love is, where the life is, and where the light is we will find ourselves climbing big time.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 2, 2012
This week I’m blitzing daily blogs to unpack each point of yesterday’s Jet Pilot’s Compass for you. The first point is: CONFESSION…
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
In the original Greek language, what we translate as confess is a compound Greek word: to say and the word for sameness. It literally means to say the same thing God says or to agree with God. If you know the Word of God and are in the Spirit enough to be convicted by the Holy Spirit, you can know what God says and how He feels about what you have done.
Your confession is to agree with Him. Our responsibility is to agree with Him. He does all the rest.
He knows when we are lost. Because He loves us He very much wants us to agree with Him that He might recover us and lead us into the green pastures and still waters that lead to a table of provision and a full cup that never empties. That’s why He wants us to confess our sins and start climbing in the right direction spiritually.
He is not a divine policeman with a huge club just waiting to crack us over the head when we step out of line. The ministry of Jesus is summed up in the Gospel of Luke this way: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (19:10). That Gospel shows us in beautiful ways the blessings that came into the lives of lost people because Jesus found them and led them to the blessings of salvation.
Agree with Him and He will guide you to the blessings He has just for you.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 1, 2012
“… God called to the man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)
When we know we could get lost we make sure we have a compass with us. Jet pilots fly so far so fast they must have a compass to use immediately when they think they are lost. A squadron commander I knew taught his pilots to use this five-fingered compass: “CONFESS, CLIMB, CONSERVE, COMMUNICATE and COMPLY.”
They were to immediately CONFESS when they thought they might be lost. Then they were to CLIMB because communications are better and they burn less fuel with altitude. Next they were to pull back on the throttle to CONSERVE fuel. The final two points on their compass were critical: to COMMUNICATE with their carrier and then COMPLY with that communication. He promised that if they faithfully implemented the five points on this compass they would see the red light on their carrier called the “meat ball” that guided them to a safe landing.
If we realize we have lost our direction in life we must confess that we are lost. Then we should climb, or do whatever we can do to get close to God. This could be having a private spiritual retreat or seeking out spiritual people. We should not make big decisions but conserve when we have lost our way. The last two points on our personal compass are also critical: we must communicate with God and comply with what we believe He makes us know we are to do (John2:5).
If we will faithfully implement the five points on this compass we will see the “meatball” of His will that will guide us to green pastures in this life and to a safe landing in the house of the Lord forever.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
September 28, 2012
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53: 6)
A police officer on a motorcycle noticed a large enclosed truck driven down Sixth Street in Los Angeles, California. The driver stopped every few blocks, got out, and beat all around the sides of the truck with a large baseball bat. After observing this for some time, the officer flashed his lights and ordered the driver to pull over. The policeman said to the driver, “Mister, as far as I can tell, you’re not breaking the law. But I just gotta’ know, what are you doing?”
The truck driver explained, “Officer, this truck here has a capacity of five thousand pounds. But, you see, I’ve got six thousand pounds of canaries. So, I gotta’ keep a thousand pounds of canaries up in the air all the time!”
Perhaps you are up in the air about what you must believe to know that your sins are forgiven. Isaiah told us in the verse above that if we confess that we are included in the first and last all of his verse then our sins are forgiven.
As a seminar for baseball umpires concluded, an old veteran umpire said, “The way I see it, some are balls and some are strikes, but they ain’t nothin ‘til we call ’em!”
I have just thrown you a strike. I have shown you how to know your sins are forgiven. But like the old umpire said, what I have shown you isn’t anything until you call it something.
What do you call this Good News from Isaiah?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
September 25, 2012
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12 NIV)
In all the communication that flows between a husband and wife there are ten critical words that often must be spoken. These ten words have saved marriages and the lack of them has dissolved marriages into divorce. Those ten words are: “I was wrong. I am sorry. Will you forgive me?” And they critically need this ten-word response: “You were wrong. I was hurt. But I forgive you.”
Some people will never say the words: “I was wrong.” They never say: “I am sorry.” And they certainly would never ask for forgiveness. They would rather live alone for the rest of their lives than to say these ten critical words. It may be their pride prevents them or perhaps they are driven by the myth of their own perfection. But these words can make the difference between marriage and living alone.
It is hard to imagine an unforgiving authentic disciple of Jesus Christ when the Disciple’s Prayer instructs us to forgive as we have been forgiven or we invalidate our own forgiveness (Matthew 6: 8-15). According to the translation from which I have quoted, the teaching actually asks our Lord to forgive us as we have already forgiven those who have sinned against us.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
September 22, 2012
“Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him…a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12)
The wisest man who ever lived wrote that we were not meant to fight our battles alone. We need community. Jesus told us that He is where two or three of us get together in His name (Matthew 18:20). When Jesus said that, He was not consoling us for poor attendance at a prayer meeting. He was giving us a prescription for an intentional dynamic we call a small group.
For nearly the first 300 years of Church history it was illegal to be a Christian. That forced the Church to meet in small house churches. Today we have many large churches. The only way to have meaningful interaction with other believers when you are part of a mega church is to meet in small groups. Here at the close of the Church age all over the world the Church is again meeting in small house churches
Perhaps this is what Solomon meant when he wrote that a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Not only is a cord or a cable of three strands very strong; when cord number one is you, cord number two is another believer, and cord number three is our God – you have the cord that is not quickly broken.
The Old Testament calls this “Hesed.” The New Testament calls this concept of community “fellowship” or “koinonia.” When you are part of that threefold cord you are “wrapped in a bundle of life with the Lord your God.” (I Samuel 25:29 Berkeley)
Have you personally discovered one of the greatest dynamics in the Bible? Or do you believe you don’t need anybody because you can handle anything that comes your way and you can handle it alone?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
September 18, 2012
“Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven.’” (Mark 2: 4, 5)
When my wife was critically ill after the birth of our first child she reached a crisis on a Friday morning at ten o’clock. Her eyes were moving back into her head and we thought we were losing her. While several doctors did a spinal tap to relieve pressure on her brain two precious sisters in the Lord had been burdened to pray for her that morning at ten o’clock – not knowing anything about her crisis. She pulled through the crisis and her life was saved.
While having her quiet time after returning from the hospital, she read the verses quoted above. It moved her to tears to realize that when she was too weak to pray for herself her sisters in the Lord were praying for her, and when the Lord saw their faith He ministered healing to her.
In our life span there are sure to be times when we will be too weak to pray for ourselves. That’s one reason it is wise to be in spiritual community with other believers who know the Lord and love Him and who know you and love you. If you had an accident or a sudden illness do you have anyone who would pray for you when you are too weak to pray for yourself?
The wisest man who ever lived wrote: “Two are better than one, because… if one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4: 10, 11 NIV)
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Posted by Dick Woodward
September 12, 2012
“Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion…” (PSALM 103: 2 – 4 NIV)
The Old Testament people of God sang from the Psalms when they worshiped God. When they worshiped, sometimes they talked to God about God. Sometimes they talked to God about people, usually their own life. And sometimes they were not talking to God at all, they were talking to people about God: praising, praying, and preaching.
When we read the psalms we should always ask ourselves, “To whom was the author speaking and about whom was he speaking?”
The verses quoted above are from a psalm of prayer. But the strange thing is there is no petition in this prayer. The verb “to pray” literally means to ask. So we are not really looking at a prayer psalm but a psalm of praise and thanksgiving. The Psalmist’s soul is so full all he wants to do is praise the Lord in grateful worship.
What an example for us to pray with no “gimme” in our prayer. Does your soul ever get so full that all you want to do is thank the Lord for all His blessings? He begins by thanking God for his salvation. In the Gospels Jesus heals ten lepers and only one comes back to thank Him. Jesus asked the question “Where are the nine?”
Are you one of the 90% who never thank the Lord for redeeming your life from the pit of sin? Or do you want to be part of the 10% who thank the Lord for their salvation in grateful worship?
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: christianity, faith, Grateful hearts, Jesus, praise and thanksgiving, prayer, prayers of thanksgiving, Psalm 103, thanking God, the Psalms | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
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