Reality Contact

November 1, 2011

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (James 5:16)

A long time ago I lunched with a friend on Mondays.  I’d always ask him, “How are you, Skip?”

“Great, wonderful, marvelous and tremendous!” he’d answer.  Always!

On many Mondays I’d not had a good weekend, and life was not great, wonderful, marvelous, and tremendous for me.  But this guy was always emphatically optimistic. After this pattern continued for some time, one Monday I asked him, “Tell me something. If everything wasn’t great, wonderful, marvelous, and tremendous, how would you answer my question?”

“Oh, I’d probably lie to you,” he responded.

I then decided to rephrase my question.  I asked, “How are you, really, Skip?” He worked with a group of people who emphasized Scripture memory and they all memorized a verse of the week.  “Frankly, if you really want to know,” he said, “My verse of the week is, ‘Hang it on your beak, freak!'” We then had some really honest conversation, what I call “Reality Contact.”

What James had in mind is that if we are honest with each other we will be burdened to pray for each other.  Then as a result of our mutual prayers for one another we will be healed.  If when we meet together we are not honest, we will not pray for each other and the mutual healing will not happen.  One translation reads that our honest prayers will explode with power!

We should have this kind of relationship with a believer we trust, but we are missing something important if we do not have “Reality Contact” with someone.  Do you have that kind of relationship with anyone?

1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward

Who Are You?

October 19, 2011

“…  Who are you? What do you say about yourself?”  (John 1:22)

 John the Baptist was the greatest man and the greatest prophet ever born of woman according to Jesus, yet there’s very little space given to him in the Gospels.  His greatness as a man and as a prophet seems to be attributed to the way he answered this question a delegation from Jerusalem was commissioned to ask him.

At first he did not want to answer the question because he did not want to talk about himself.  He just wanted to talk about Jesus Christ.  But when they told him they had to take an answer back to Jerusalem, he finally gave the answer that he was a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord.  That was who he was, that was what he was, and that was where he was.

We might summarize John’s answer by saying that he accepted the limits of his limitations and the responsibility for his ability.  We bear a lot of needless pain because we do not accept the limits of our limitations.  But at the judgment most of us are not going to come up short because we did not accept our limits.  We will fall short because we did not accept the responsibility for our ability.

Therefore, we should have a realistic, objective evaluation of who we are, what we are, and where we are to be as we live out our three score and ten, or four score years of life in this world.  Who are you?  What do you say about yourself?  When you meet the Lord, are you going to be able to say that you were who, what, and where He willed you to be?

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward

A Communication Flap

October 14, 2011

“We have spoken freely to you Corinthians and opened wide our hearts to you… As a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts also.” (2 Corinthians 6: 11, 13)

Life so often comes down to relationships and relationships are all about communication. The Apostle Paul profiled that reality when he wrote these words.  He also prescribed a solution.  As a summary paraphrase of this passage, Paul is suggesting that each of us has a communication “flap” on our heart.  As a married couple we should be face to face and heart to heart with our communication flaps open.  But, the hard reality is that we are often back to back with our communication flaps closed tight.  The solution Paul models here is that someone must take the initiative and say “I am heart to heart with you and my flap is open.  Be heart to heart with me and open your communication flap.”

Communication in relationships is a problem and a challenge we can face all day long every day in our family, work life and our interaction with people.  It’s so very important to realize that someone has to initiate a solution by saying, in spirit and in principle, to the person with whom they are having a communication conflict: “I am heart to heart with you and my communication flap is open.  Be heart to heart with me and open your communication flap.”

You may be totally amazed at how taking this stance can melt down the obstacles between you and a difficult person. Throughout any given day we face  relational challenges that can be turned around through good and loving communication.  God has to begin with the person who is mature enough to initiate the solution Paul is modeling for us.

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward

Next Entries »