October 14, 2014
“…And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (ICorinthians 13:13)
How does love fit into this trio of lasting qualities Paul writes of? The Apostle John answered that question for us when he wrote: “God is love and he who dwells in love dwells in God and God dwells in him.” (I John 4;16) When we dwell in the love Paul prescribed (in I Corinthians 13), we dwell in God, and He dwells in us.
By application, this means when we go where the hurting people are, as His love is passing through us and addressing their pain, we are touching God and He is touching us. Since the agape love passing through us is God, we are dwelling in God and He is dwelling in us while His love is passing through us.
Jesus gave us love perspective when He exhorted the apostles to look up before they look on the fields that are over ripe for harvest. (John 4:35) The Lord was focusing on two perspectives we must master as His authentic disciples. Before we look around and relate to the people who intersect our lives every day, we are to look up and then look at them. We should see them through the same “love lenses” God uses when He sees them. If we do, we will never see anyone we cannot love.
Jesus also taught that all the commandments of the Scriptures are fulfilled when we love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:35-40) His parable of the Good Samaritan answered the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?’ by stating any hurting person who intersects my life and needs my help is my neighbor. (Luke 10:29-37)
I was seeking a relationship with God when I first discovered these profound teachings. As a social worker in a large city, I volunteered to be on night call every night for an entire year. That year I discovered it is possible to touch God and be touched by God while being a conduit of His love.
I learned that seeking God is not an either/or, but a both/and proposition. We are liars if we say we love God, Whom we cannot see, and do not love the people we can see. Each time I was called out at night to be with hurting people, I asked God to pass His love through me and address their pain. My experience can be described this way: “I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God but my God eluded me. I met my neighbor and I found all three.”
Dick Woodward, from A Prescription for Love
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 10, 2014
“And every man stood in his place all around the camp (of the Midianites); and the whole army (of Midian) ran and cried out and fled.” (Judges 7:21)
One of the greatest victories described in the Old Testament is the victory of Gideon over the army of the Midianites. There were several hundred thousand Midianites and Gideon only had 300 soldiers. In the middle of the night, in pitch darkness, Gideon placed his 300 committed warriors in three strategic locations around the sleeping enemy army.
On signal from Gideon each group of 100 soldiers exposed 100 torches, blew 100 bugles, and then 100 men shouted: “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” This gave their enemy the impression they were surrounded by a powerful army. The Midianites completely panicked. In the darkness they began fighting each other and were soon conquered.
Although this was a great miracle it was a miracle that required a total commitment on the part of Gideon’s 300. That’s why he reduced his army down to less than one percent of what he started with. He had to know that his men were a one hundred percent committed minority rather than an apathetic majority.
This victory also teaches the critically important concept of teamwork. The work of God is a team sport and requires a team effort. The verse quoted above summarizes the key to this great victory. We read that every man of the 300 ‘stood in his place.’ If even a few had been too frightened to execute this plan the event would have been a disaster.
Are you willing to find and stand in your place that together we might defeat all the powers of hell?
Dick Woodward, 12 December 2012
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Posted by Dick Woodward
September 2, 2014
“Search me, Oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
David showed great spiritual wisdom when he prayed this prayer. He asked God to take the lid off his mind and show him the thoughts that should not be there. He then asked God to take the lid off his heart because he wanted to see the motives that should not be in his heart. He prayed this prayer of self-examination because he wanted to walk in the everlasting way. Another way of saying the same thing is that David wanted God to purify his thoughts and motives because he wanted to be the man God created and re-created him to be…
Paul closes his second letter to the Corinthians with a verse that has a cluster of challenges regarding how they are to think of themselves. If you compare several translations of this verse (2 Corinthians 13:5), you will realize that these challenges can be summarized and paraphrased into just three: “EXAMINE yourself, whether you are in the faith; PROVE yourself that you are an authentic disciple of Christ. And KNOW yourself, how that Jesus Christ is in you.” …
Paul wrote to the Colossians that God called him to share a spiritual secret with the Church: Christ in our hearts is our only hope of bringing glory to God. (Colossians 1:24-29) In this great passage he writes that sharing this secret is his life’s work and is worthy of all his life’s energies. “Christ in you the hope of glory.” He exhorts us to know by experience that Christ is in us and we are in Christ.
Dick Woodward, from A Prescription for Your Self
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Posted by Dick Woodward
August 26, 2014
“…When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:42)
It is true that some of the greatest Christians were once the greatest sinners. As we read the seventh chapter of Luke (verses 36-50), we cannot help but think of The Confessions of Saint Augustine. It is not necessary to sin much to love God – we should be careful not to give that impression. There is really nothing good about sin… It it true, however, that the truly repentant contrite sinner can love much because he (or she) has been forgiven much. This was a driving force in the lives of King David, the Apostle Paul and Saint Augustine.
At issue here are the condescending thoughts of this Pharisee toward the woman (who is washing Jesus’ feet.) As he compares himself, the Pharisee is self-righteous. Like his colleague in Luke 18, he is looking upon this woman with an attitude, “I thank God I am not as other people are – sinners!” The question of Jesus focuses this for him and for us. The Pharisee was the man who had been forgiven the smaller debt, which means he saw his sin as a very small thing. This teaching also focuses that the way we perceive ourselves has a profound effect upon how we perceive others. Positively and negatively our self-image is a strong force in our horizontal, interpersonal relationships.
The subtle message of Jesus to this Pharisee is that the real sinner at that luncheon was not the woman whose sin was obvious and known to everybody. His message to her was the good news, that, because of her faith, her sins were forgiven. When the real sinner stood up at that luncheon, however, he was a sinner named, “Simon, the Pharisee.”
Dick Woodward, MBC New Testament Handbook (p.137)
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us sinners.”
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Posted by Dick Woodward
August 12, 2014
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live…” (John 11:25)
In the Gospel of John, Chapter 11, we read that Jesus loved Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. As Jesus ministered in the area of Jordan, He received word that Lazarus was sick. Jesus deliberately stayed where He was for two days. When Jesus finally arrived in Bethany, what He really wanted from these two sisters was their response to life’s two most unsolvable problems – sickness and death.
The two sisters are very different. Martha runs out to meet Jesus and says, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died!” We don’t know the inflection in Martha’s voice, but it seems like she was saying, “Where were You?”
Mary is not like Martha. She waits until Jesus sends for her. When she has her personal time with Jesus, she says the exact same words. However, we read that she ‘fell at His feet.’ Mary is mentioned several times in the Gospels and she is always at the feet of Jesus. The first time is when she and Martha were entertaining Jesus. Mary was at His feet, hearing His Word… In this story Mary is at the feet of Jesus accepting His will. In the next chapter (John 12) she is at His feet worshiping Him.
When sickness and death enter our lives, as they surely will, what God wants from you and me is the right response, which is an intimate relationship to the risen Christ Who lives in our hearts. If we are at His feet hearing His Word and accepting His will, then, like Mary, we will also respond to these two unavoidable and inescapable problems by by showing our acceptance of them, at His feet, worshiping our Lord.
Dick Woodward, from 30 Biblical Reasons Why God’s People Suffer
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 31, 2014
“…He gives power to the weak…” (Isaiah 40:29)
There are many ways to be powerful. We can be physically powerful, intellectually powerful, or we can be spiritually powerful like the prophet who speaks for God with the energizing anointing of the Holy Spirit upon his words. Often preachers seek out those who preach with great spiritual power trying to discover their secret. Their pursuit of spiritual power is often accompanied by a frantic attempt to strengthen their own spiritual life.
As one of the most spiritually powerful people who ever lived, the Apostle Paul shared the best kept secret of spiritual power when he wrote: “When I am weak then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10) He preceded that by claiming God told him:“My strength is made perfect in (your) weakness.” It is in this context that Paul told the Corinthian Church he was with them in great weakness. He also challenged them to take a good look at their church because if they did they would realize: “God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty…” (1Corinthians 1:27)
Jesus taught that the first attitude we need to be salt and light is to be poor in spirit. This means among other things that we are in touch with our spiritual weakness. After we realize that we can’t do the work of God in our own power and offer ourselves as a conduit of what God wants to be and do through us, then God gives spiritual power to us in our weakness.
God gives power to the weak. We don’t find spiritual power by trying to make ourselves strong, but by confessing and accepting our weakness.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 17, 2014
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? …Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
When the apostle Paul wrote these words he was addressing people who had become believers while they were involved in the worst kinds of sexual immorality. Their past continued to impact their lives because they were still involved in sexual sin as believers. He wrote to them that their bodies were not made for sex; they were made to be Temples of God. Everywhere they went, every day, they were Temples of God and they were to be aware of that glorious reality. It’s like Paul was telling them, and us, we are mobile Temples of God on wheels, taking God with us everywhere we go.
If you read all of 1 Corinthians 6, you will see how Paul applies this metaphor. For example, he writes that it is unthinkable that they would take the Temple of God and join it to a prostitute or an extramarital sex partner. Make your own applications. What effect should it have on the people in your life as you move among them every day bringing the divine presence of Almighty God with you?
For starters, all the things you’re not and you cannot do are possible because of the Divine Treasure living in you. Then the nine fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace when you look in, patience, kindness, goodness when you look around, and faithfulness, meekness and self control when you look up), are all available to you. (Galatians 5:22-23)
How can you glorify God today as one of His mobile Temples?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 5, 2013
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28-30)
Jesus loves to give invitations. He addresses this one to people who are loaded with problems and are working themselves to exhaustion trying to solve their problems. Jesus promises that if we come to Him He will give us rest. If you look closely at this invitation He is inviting us to come to Him and learn about His heart, His burden and His yoke. It is what we learn that will lead us to this rest.
Jesus wants burdened people to learn that His burden is light, His heart is humble and His yoke is easy. There is a sense in which Jesus had the weight of the world on His shoulders and yet He claimed that His burden was light. His burden was light because He let the Father carry the load.
The most important part of His recipe for rest is what Jesus wants us to learn about His yoke. A yoke is not a burden. It is an instrument that makes it possible to bear a burden. When a cart is piled high with cargo it is the yoke that makes it possible for an ox to pull a great load with ease. It is the yoke of Jesus that shows us how to pull our heavy burdens of life.
The yoke of Jesus was that He let His Father carry the burdens. We take His yoke upon us when we let the Holy Spirit carry the load.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 29, 2013
“… that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)
This Scripture is an excerpt from one of the greatest sermons of Moses. Moses preached that the more we understand the Word of God, the more we understand life. And the more we experience life, the more we understand the Word of God. The two throw light upon each other.
After studying the Word of God in the classroom for seven years I took a job as a social worker. While being on call every night for a year I not only learned a lot about life, I greatly deepened my understanding and appreciation of the Word of God.
For example, we are told in the first Psalm that one of the greatest blessings of the blessed man is that he does not stand in the way of the sinner. As a pastor having picked up the pieces with sinners for many years I know that the way of the sinner is very hard indeed.
I have also enjoyed the benefits and blessings personally and with many others that are the result of building life on the teachings and the value systems of the Bible. We who build our lives on the Word of God are not only saved from sin but for a life that is rich with meaning and fulfillment. We live lives that are filled with meaning and a sense of accomplishment in this life and in the life to come.
Experience is a convincing teacher. That’s why our loving God will make us know that the Word of God shows us how to live.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 8, 2013
“A person’s steps are confirmed by the Lord.” (Psalm 37:23 Berkeley)
THE NINTH STEP: Look for confirmation as you seek God’s will.
At times on our journeys of faith when we come to a fork in the road there is no verse of Scripture that tells us to go to the right or to the left and we have no prompting or leading of the Spirit. We do our best to make the proper choice, while acknowledging the hard reality that we simply do not know which direction is the will of the Lord. Having done everything we can to discern the will of God, we journey down one side or the other of that road.
The verse quoted above means we should sometimes move forward into what we perceive to be the will of God, praying and looking for a confirmation. That confirmation may be positive or negative. If everything works out and the direction we have chosen obviously has God’s stamp of approval on it, we can say God has given us a confirmation of His will. We have the conviction of God saying to us, “This is the way, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21) We see evidence of the reality Jesus described, that when He calls His sheep to follow Him, He goes before them. (John 10:1-4) After we commit to a direction, we see evidence that the Living Christ has gone before us and prepared the way for us.
Sometimes, the confirmation is negative and the results are the opposite of those just described. When that happens, we should be humble enough to go back to that fork in the road and choose the other direction. We see an example of this in Acts chapter 16 when Paul wanted to go into Asia and was directed instead by illness into Philippi.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: decision making, faith, Following Jesus Christ, humility, knowing God's will, prayer, Psalm 37:23, religion, Spiritual Discernment, spirituality, Trusting God | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
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