4SpiritualSecrets

“…  All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16 NIV)

I find it intriguing to know that in little genes that cannot be seen with the naked eye the genetic heritage of a human being is determined:  how high their head will be from the sidewalk, the color of their eyes, their hair, the capacity of their intellectual gifts, their athleticism and even mannerisms are all wrapped up in microscopic genes.

In this inspired Psalm, David – a great warrior, king, man after the heart of God and hymn writer –  tells us that before we existed as genes God had determined the days we would live on this earth.  The Living Bible Paraphrase reads that before we existed God had an agenda for every day we were to live on this earth.

One day my wife and I woke up and prayed together that if our agenda for that day did not agree with God’s agenda we were willing to be preempted.  While we were having lunch with our pastor son later that day, I realized I was having a heart attack.  While the 911 people were taking me out the door I said to my wife, “Looks like we’re being preempted big time!”

They were able to turn things around before it became a full blown heart attack. However, that experience gave my wife and me a perspective we will never forget.  There is God’s agenda and there is our agenda for every day we live.  How should that truth impact the way we plan our agendas each day?  Are we really willing to be preempted by God’s agenda every day?

^“… My Word… will achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

In a marvelous chapter taken from the prophecy of the one who is called “The prince of the prophets,” Isaiah tells us why he preached the Word of God.  Earlier in this chapter he proclaimed that there is as much difference between the way we think and act and how God thinks and acts as the heavens are high above the earth.  He tells us he preached the Word of God because God’s Word can bring about an alignment between the way God thinks and acts and the way people think and act.

There is a strong emphasis in the Scripture on the importance of our will being in alignment with the will of God.  Jesus made his greatest prayer when He sweat drops of blood and prayed, “Not My will but Your will be done.” He taught His disciples to pray, “Your will be done in earth (or in their earthen vessels), as it is in heaven.”

The Word of God frequently describes the struggle between God and men like Moses, Job, Jonah, and many others who finally submit their will to the will of God  – and the will of God is done in and through them on earth as it is in heaven.  When God declares through Isaiah that His Word will not return to Him without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it, I am convinced that this is the purpose God had in mind.

When you read or hear the Word of God proclaimed, will you let God accomplish this purpose for the Word of God?  Will you let the Word of God bring about an alignment between your will and the will of God?

I’ve been asked to post this guest blog on behalf of those who love and appreciate Dick Woodward and his ministry.  Even though Papa has been a bed-fast quadriplegic for many years (the only way he’s been out of the house is in an ambulance!), he continues to faithfully serve God from his hospital bed at home – meeting with a daily stream of appointments, mentoring young people, and writing books, biblical guides, and things like this blog using his voice-activated computer.

When Papa turned 70, his pulmonologist doctor called and said, “Dick, don’t you know you should have gone on to Heaven at least ten years ago?”  With all the complications of quadriplegia, my father’s life is truly a miracle – a gift from God who continues to prove the Four Spiritual Secrets that “when you can’t, just remember I CAN!!”

In October we will celebrate God’s amazing gift of life on Papa’s 80^th birthday. We’ve set this site up for you to leave comments and messages for him – (he receives all these blog comments directly on his computer.)   Please also take time to check out his blogs. He writes at least two a week that, (with a little help from the Blog-Posting-Elf,) usually get posted on Tuesdays & Fridays.

Grace, Peace & Blog Posting Elves  –  Virginia Woodward

“Wrapped in a bundle of life with God…” (I Samuel 25:29)

These words of Scripture can be found inscribed on the gravestones of children who died at a very early age.   This is especially true in a Jewish cemetery because Jewish mothers believed they expressed the almost inexpressible feelings in their hearts as they laid their children to rest in that cemetery.

We could inscribe those words on the gravestones of our children and adult loved ones as well because they should bring great comfort and consolation to us as we think of those we have lost through sickness and death.  However, if we will think about it, these words should also be applied to our loved ones while they are living.  The most exciting truth in the New Testament is presented in just two words: “In Christ” or “In Him”.

Jesus told the apostles that after His death and resurrection He was going to give them the divine presence of the Holy Spirit.  They would then be able to be “in Him” the way a branch is in a vine.   That means all of us can be wrapped in a bundle of life with Christ as we live our lives in this world.  What an exciting concept!  Jesus told the apostles, and you and me, all about this in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John.  He even told us how to abide in Him and experience the miracle of Him abiding in us.  He told us we can abide in Him and He will abide in us if we abide in His Word.

I challenge you that if you abide in His Word today you will find yourself wrapped in a bundle of life with God!

“…  Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

At the starting gate of their relationship with Jesus, two sets of brothers who were professional fishermen entered into a covenant with Him.  Like all covenants that covenant was in two parts.  Jesus challenged them: “You follow Me – that’s your part.  I will make you – that’s My part.  You follow Me – that’s your business.  I will make you – that’s My business.”

When I was 18 years old a pastor shared the Gospel with me.  When I told him I couldn’t do what an authentic disciple of Jesus was required to do, he told me I didn’t have to do it by myself.  He told me about this covenant Jesus established with Peter and Andrew and James and John.  I then made the commitment to follow Jesus and I entered into that same covenant.  Next month I will be 80 years old and I have proven that if we will follow Jesus, He will make us.  In other words, if we will keep our part of that covenant we certainly can trust Him to keep His part.

I strongly encourage you to consider entering into that same covenant with Jesus.  You don’t have to do all the things involved in following Jesus.  Fact is you can’t follow Jesus in your own strength or resources.  Your part is to make the commitment to follow Him and then trust Him to do His part.  He won’t do your part and you can’t do His part.  But if you follow Him, He will make you whatever He is calling you to be. And if someone could show you what you will be doing in 20 years you won’t believe it!

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” (Matthew 6: 22, 23)

Someone has said that 5% of people think, 10% think they think while 85% would rather die than think.  And the 10% who think they’re thinking are merely rearranging their prejudices!  In the teaching of Jesus quoted above He is telling us that the way we think can be the difference between a life that is filled with light or happiness and a life that is filled with darkness or depression and unhappiness.  In this teaching He is focusing a great question: “How do you see things?”

In this profound metaphor Jesus is challenging us to join the 5% who think, and He is emphatically teaching the critical importance of thinking correctly.  When He refers to the eye He means our outlook and our mindset.  In that sense He is saying that if our eye is good and healthy our life can be filled with happiness, but if our outlook and mindset are unhealthy our life can be filled with the opposite.

The context in which this metaphor was given by Jesus is the greatest discourse He gave to His disciples.  The most sound and healthy truth for living ever stated in this world is found in what we call The Sermon on the Mount which is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5-7.

The best way to have a healthy mindset is to align what we think with the values Jesus taught and modeled in this great discourse and in all His other discourses, parables and metaphors.

“Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (1Timothy4:16)

Although it seems to contradict the ethical teachings of the Old and the New Testament, the Apostle Paul is coaching Timothy to join what we might call a “Me First Club.”  While we’re trying to understand humility as it is taught in the Bible or while we’re learning to love God and our neighbor as ourselves, the very sound of a “Me First Club” seems to be a loud screeching discord.

However, if we will think about it there are places where we are instructed by our Lord to put ourselves first.  For example, in the opening verses of the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus teaches His disciples that when it comes to judging we should join a “Me First Club.” Showing a great sense of humor Jesus taught that we should not be looking for that tiny speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye when we have a log or a plank in our own eye.  His priority judgment was that we are to first get that log out of our own eye and then we will see clearly to help others with that tiny speck in their eye.

Paul is instructing Timothy that before he challenges others to apply the doctrine (which means the Word of God), to their lives that they might experience salvation, he is to first apply the Word of God to his own life and experience salvation himself. There are times and there are ways in which if we don’t save ourselves we can’t save anybody else.

In areas like salvation and judging are you willing to say “Me first?”

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2Corinthians 9:8 NIV)

Those who are wealthy enough to own a Rolls Royce automobile realize how secretive the manufacturer of those extraordinary automobiles can be.  One man sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked “What is the horse power of my Silver Cloud Rolls Royce?  The return telegram in typical British fashion was just one word: “Adequate.”

When the Apostle Paul writes the words quoted above it is almost as if someone had asked the question “What is the measure of our grace as authentic disciples of Jesus Christ?” The response of the great apostle was more than the word “Adequate.”

This verse is the most superlative verse in the New Testament on the subject of the grace that is available to us as we follow Jesus Christ.  Mercy is God withholding from us what we deserve while grace is God lavishing on us all kinds of wonderful blessings we do not deserve.  We’re saved by grace but we are also given grace that makes it possible for us to live a life that glorifies God, exalts the risen, living Christ and holds forth the Word of God to people who desperately need it.

As you read this verse, realize that he is talking about all grace, all things, at all times, all that you need, abounding in every good work – and twice he writes that it is for you.  Has God oversold the product in this verse or do we have a flawed access into this grace?

“… For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

According to the Bible there is a time to remember and a time to forget.  In the Old Testament God frequently instructs His chosen people to erect a monument and then remember some great miracle He did by which He proved Himself to them.

In the New Testament Paul writes a letter to the Church at Ephesus.  Since he had taught them more thoroughly and longer than any church he had founded, in his letter to them he frequently exhorted them to remember what he had taught them.  When he wrote to the Church in Philippi he exhorted them to forget the things that are behind and reach forward to the things that shall be.

This principle of remembering and forgetting is nowhere more important than when we apply it to our sins.  God clearly wants us to remember that we are sinners.  Then when God forgives our sins, He also forgets them and He wants us to do the same.  Regarding our sins, we therefore need to remember what God remembers and forget what God forgets.

As a pastor for more than 50 years I have been amazed in my own life and in the lives of those who have called me pastor at how prone we are as believers to forget that we are sinners.  That’s at least one reason why we sin again and again.  It has also amazed me to realize how often we confess our sins and believe God has forgiven us and then carry our guilt baggage with us for the better part of a lifetime.

One way to win the battle against sin is to remember what God remembers and forget what God forgets.

“I am the vine, you are the branches.” (John 15:5)

We have seen that hours before His crucifixion Jesus held a retreat with the men He had apprenticed 24/7 for three years.  If they would be one with the Holy Spirit His ministry on earth would be done through them.

Having taught that in an upper room, Jesus took them into a garden. He pulled down a vine that had many branches just loaded with fruit. Essentially He told them, “This is what I have been telling you in the upper room.  I am the Vine and you are the branches. If you will be joined to Me in my Holy Spirit risen form, the way these branches are joined to this vine you will bear much fruit for Me. If you are not joined to Me in this way you will be able to do nothing!”

There are four parts to this metaphor: There is a Vine, there are branches, there is fruit and there is a Gardener or Vinedresser. Jesus is the Vine. They are the branches. Fruit is His work being done through them and His Father is the Vinedresser.

By application, Jesus is making two statements through this metaphor. He is clearly stating that without Him we can do nothing. He is also declaring that without us He has chosen to do nothing.  In this context He teaches that when a disciple is fruitful His Father performs a cut back to improve the quality and the quantity of the fruit that life is producing for Him.

Is it possible that what may look like a setback in your life is actually the cutback of a loving Vinedresser Who wants to improve the quality and quantity of the fruit He is growing in your life?