April 19, 2013
“But woe to him who is alone when he falls.” (Ecclesiastes 4:10)
Have you observed how much Jesus valued community? He taught: “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20 NIV) He also gave a great teaching regarding prayer community: “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action.” (Matthew 18:19, The Message)
When He made that observation about being present when two or three gather in His name he was not giving us a consolation for a poor attendance at a meeting. He was being descriptive and prescriptive about the reality that His risen presence is among us in a special way when just two or three of us come together in His name.
The man who was thought to be the wisest man on earth in his day also wrote about the value of community. Before he wrote the words quoted above he told us that two are better than one for when one falls the other will help him up and “a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” This could mean that when two or three are in community the presence of God among them forms that threefold cord that cannot be quickly broken.
Are you in community? If you are not then follow the teaching of our Lord and the wise counsel of Solomon and seek the spiritual community you need. I’m not telling you to go to church. I am writing about that special relationship with two or three people where you have accountability and deep sharing of life and faith. If you cannot find one, start one. It only takes you and one other person.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
April 14, 2013
“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 wonderful results.” (James 5:16 NLT)
When Alcoholics Anonymous started it was called “The Saint James Fellowship” because it was founded on this verse. The founders later changed the name to include people of all faiths and those with no faith. While millions of secular people apply the truths of this Scripture and experience healing, it is a shame that many believers never make these healing applications.
When you meet with another believer do you keep your sins in the closet? Do you give the impression that you don’t have a problem in the world? Do they do the same? That does not burden you to pray for each other. But if you trust them and share some of your sins with them they would be burdened to pray for you. They would also more than likely have what I call “reality contact” with you by sharing their sins and that would burden you to pray for them. The result of these mutual prayers would be mutual healing.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote extensively about spiritual community, put it this way: “Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So they remain alone with their sins, living in lies and hypocrisy… He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone.”
A paraphrase of James 5:16 is that honest prayers explode with power! It is a strategy of the evil one to isolate us into self imposed solitary confinement. Never let him isolate you into being a closet sinner; instead, find healing in confessing your sins and praying for one another.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: accountability, Alcoholics Anonymous, confession, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, faith, James 5:16, Jesus, prayer, religion, Saint James Fellowship, spiritual healing, spirituality | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
March 24, 2013
“I would have despaired, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13)
The Apostle Paul concludes his great love chapter by profiling three eternal values: faith, hope and love. We know that love is an eternal value because God is love. We can also understand why faith is one of the three eternal values because faith brings us to God. But why is hope one of the three great eternal values?
God plants hope, or the conviction that something good exists in this world, in the heart of every human being. When you get into the lives of many people and understand their battles and challenges you cannot help but wonder how they could believe there is something good in this life.
When I was in college my dormitory was located at the end of Hope Street in Los Angeles adjacent to the Los Angeles Public Library. The same day I learned in a course that more than 25,000 people committed suicide in 1952 because they lost hope, a man committed suicide by jumping from the top of my dormitory.
The newspaper reporter who recorded the story was more eloquent than he knew when he wrote: “An unidentified man jumped to his death today from a tall building at the end of Hope Street.”
David knew that he would despair if he ever lost that conviction God put in his heart the Bible labels hope. Hope is an eternal value because it is meant to lead us to faith, and faith is to lead us to God.
Let your hope bring you to faith and your faith to God. And remember that people around you are despairing without that hope you have.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: christianity, eternal values, faith, Hope in God, Jesus, losing hope, Love of God, Psalm 27, sharing hope | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
February 26, 2013
“And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work…For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 1:6; 2:13, NLT)
When Jesus met two of the apostles for the first time He asked them the question: “What do you want?” They were disciples of John the Baptist and John had instructed them to follow Jesus. They were following behind Jesus as He walked down a road. Jesus turned and asked them this question when He saw them.
Following Jesus can have a dynamic impact upon the way we answer that question. We often have a flawed “want to” when we meet Jesus. But as we follow Him He heals those flaws in the desires of our hearts. I remember a college student who met Jesus and was following Him for some time. As she expressed her excitement about the changes in her life she exclaimed, “I wonder where my want to went to!”
As we follow Jesus we discover that when He shows us what we should want we need more than just knowing what we should want. We need the power to do what we should want to do. As a pastor over many decades, I have been intrigued by the importance of this question. Why do some people earnestly desire to do the will of God while many others are apathetic?
According to Paul, it is God who gives us the unflawed “want to” and the dynamic power to obey Him and do what pleases Him. Would you like to follow Jesus and wonder where your “want to” went to? Begin every day by letting Jesus ask you, “What do you want?”
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: christianity, desiring God, doing the will of God, faith, following Jesus, Jesus, loving God, spirituality | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
February 1, 2013
“Without faith it is impossible to please God. He that would come to God must believe that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
The author of these words is telling discouraged believers why they should not throw away their faith. He writes that they must believe because without faith we cannot come to God, we cannot please God, and we cannot experience the beautiful reality that God rewards those who diligently seek Him.
When Jesus died on the cross a great veil in the Temple that separated sinners from the divine presence of God was supernaturally torn from top to bottom. The significance of that miracle was, and is, that we can now go directly into the presence of God. We no longer need the intercession of a priest. The door into a relationship with God has been wide open since our High Priest Jesus opened it for us 2,000 years ago. How could we not come to God through that door by faith?
We must believe because we are not only saved by faith – we are to live by faith. As we live by faith our chief purpose in life is to glorify God. To glorify God means to please God and we cannot please God without faith. As we live our life in this world the greatest fact of life we know is that God is, and He blesses, enables, and rewards those who come to Him by faith.
The author then gives us what we call A Hall of Faith which exhibits for all time great examples of people who did not throw away their faith. In spite of great challenges they believed that God is, they came to Him, they pleased Him and God rewarded their faith.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: belief & faith, Divine Presence, faith, glorifying God, hall of faith, hebrews 11, Jesus, living by faith, Relationship with God, spirituality | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
January 22, 2013
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you… for your fellowship in the gospel…” (Philippians 1: 3, 5)
As Paul begins this letter he uses a beautiful word when he writes: “… your fellowship in the gospel.” The basic meaning of the word is partnership, but Sam Shoemaker paraphrased it as: “two fellows in the same ship.”
I met with a man who was on the threshold of coming to faith. He had many, many problems. So, I said to him, “There is a word you’re going to be learning soon: “fellowship.” It means “two fellows in the same ship.” I want you to know, Charlie, I am in the ship with you!” As he took a long drag on his cigarette, with tears in his eyes he blew smoke in my face and said, “Well row, *bleep* it!”
Charlie was saying to me that he did not fully understand this new word but he wanted to know what difference it was going to make. Was I just going to take up room, or rock the boat or was I going to grab an oar and row?
I often said to others what I said to Charlie. But Charlie added to my paraphrase of this word. After Charlie, when I said those words I found myself asking, “What would it look like if I got in this person’s ship with them and rowed?”
When Jesus got in Peter’s little ship He surely made a difference. He filled Peter’s ship and his partner’s ship with fish (Luke 5: 1-11).
What difference does it make to others when you get in their ship with them? Think of the difference it could make because you are bringing Christ with you into their ship.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 9, 2013
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12)
The greatest obstacle to inner healing is un-forgiveness. Those who work in ministries of healing claim that the lack of forgiveness on the part of a victim that has been terribly violated can retard their own inner healing.
Can you see why Jesus instructed His disciples to pray every day: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors?” The original language has it, “As we have already forgiven our debtors.” Do you think Jesus knew how important it is to our inner healing that we should forgive those who sin against us?
Some are bothered by the way Jesus offers commentary on this petition in the disciple’s Prayer. He commented that if we do not forgive we are not forgiven. It almost sounds as if we are forgiven because we forgive. He defuses their confusion with a parable that is recorded in Chapter Eighteen of Matthew. A man is forgiven a very large debt in the millions of dollars. He does not have to go into debtor’s prison and see his wife and family sold into slavery.
But on the way home he meets a man who owes him twenty dollars. He grabs him by the throat and orders him to pay him every cent or he will have him put into debtor’s prison. Both events are observed and told to the one who forgave him the large debt. He is recalled and his forgiveness is revoked. Jesus comments on that story, that if we from our hearts do not forgive, we are not forgiven.
The point is that if we are a forgiven person we will be a forgiving person. If we are not a forgiving person we are not really a forgiven person.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: faith, faith & healing, Forgive us our tresspasses, Forgiveness, inner healing, Jesus, Matthew 6:12, prayer, religion, The Disciples' Prayer, theology | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
October 24, 2012
“But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Luke 8:15)
This verse is taken from a very familiar parable of Jesus called “The Parable of the Sower, “ but I call it – “Four Men in a pew, which one are you?”
Jesus is claiming that when the Word of God is taught, seventy-five percent of the time nothing happens. The first man who hears is wearing a hard hat – the Word does not penetrate his mind. When the word is not understood, nothing happens.
The second takes his Word on the rocks. The seed of the Word does not penetrate his heart, or his will. If the Word of God does not penetrate the will, nothing happens.
The third man understands and fully intends to obey the Word but he loses the Word in the weeds of riches, pleasures and worries. Again, nothing happens.
The fourth man understands, obeys and overcomes all the weeds above the soil and the rocks under the soil. He perseveres through all this and produces a crop that is more than one hundred percent what was planted.
Jesus is giving us a formula for hearing when the Word of God is being taught or preached. We must understand, obey and overcome all the obstacles that are trying to defeat us as we hear the Word of God.
Jesus is also challenging His disciples to realize that as they teach the Word of God unless they penetrate the understanding, the will, and the opposition of the evil one nothing happens.
He concluded this teaching with the challenge to be careful how we hear His Word and how others hear when we teach.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: cultivating faith, faith, Jesus, Luke 8:15, parable of jesus, Parable of the Sower, religion, teaching God's Word, teachings of Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, the Word of God, theology | Permalink
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
June 20, 2012
“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:2)
Paul declared that the greatest virtue of a servant of the Lord is faithfulness.
The story is told of a man who was told by God to push against a huge rock as his primary work for a lifetime. The man did that and exhausted, burned out and discouraged told the Lord that rock had not moved a centimeter. The Lord responded that He had not told the man to move the rock, but to push against it. He made the observation that pushing against the rock had given him a strong healthy and muscular body. God knew all along that only He could move that rock.
This leads to an acrostic based on the word push. It goes like this:
P- Pray
U– Until
S– Something
H– Happens
I am now living in by 82nd year of life. One of the observations I have made in my long life is that God is our Mentor. He is always teaching us and He is fiercely committed to the proposition that we are going to grow spiritually and in every other way. He deliberately assigns us tasks that are not only difficult but impossible knowing that those tasks will grow and mature us into a faithful servant He can use to do through us what only He can do in this world.
Another observation without which I could not function as a human being or especially as a pastor is what I call four spiritual secrets. They are that I’m not, I can’t, I don’t even want to but He is He can He wants to and He does.
So push and pray until He does work through you.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: 1 corinthians 4, faith, Faithfulness, Four Spiritual Secrets, God's faithfulness, Jesus, moving rocks, P.U.S.H., prayer, religion, Trusting God | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
4SpiritualSecrets 