October 12, 2012
“Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.” (Matthew 7:26)
As we apply the previous formula for living blog, Jesus is clearly teaching that if we base our belief system on His teachings we will have a rational belief system that can weather the storms of this life. When a counselor is disputing the belief system of a depressed person, a favorite disputation question is: “What are you telling yourself about the fact they you lost your job that has you so depressed?” That is the question you should ask yourself when you are experiencing irrational emotional consequences like depression.
The medical director of a large mental hospital for the entire state of Virginia told me the purpose of psychiatry is to find the unconscious explanation for the conscious behavior of people. He lamented the hard reality that so often today the psychiatrist is a pharmacologist who medicates the person’s depression without ever getting to the cause of the depression.
The word “psychiatry” means “the healing of the soul.” Was there ever a greater healer of the soul than Jesus? I’m convinced that Jesus was the greatest Psychiatrist who ever lived. I also believe that the values and the teachings of Jesus will give us the healthiest belief system for living we will ever discover as we pass through this world.
However, it is critically important that we implement that belief system as we respond to the storms we encounter. In this era we have gone bonkers over knowledge. According to Jesus, it is not the knowledge of His teaching but the application of that belief system that builds the house that survives the storms.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 10, 2012
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.” (Matthew 7:24 NLT)
There are about 75 different approaches counselors can use as they help people live their lives. One of these approaches tells us that living is as simple as ABCD. The letter A represents adversity or the problem that a person may have. B represents the belief system of the person with the problem. C stands for the emotional consequences the person is experiencing because of their problem. And D describes the role of the counselor.
Because the economic downturn in America and elsewhere has put many people out of work and forced them to abandon their career, many counselors are hearing people say their adversity is that they have lost their jobs. Since they get their worth and their identity from their work the emotional consequences for them is serious depression.
These people are saying their adversities are leading directly to their emotional consequences; however, the ABCD approach purports this is never true. Rather, it is the way people process their adversity through their belief system that causes their irrational emotional consequences. The basic idea is that if you have an irrational belief system, you will have irrational emotional consequences. The therapist is a Disputer who challenges the irrational belief system of the client.
The counselor would dispute that belief system with statements like “We are not human doings but human beings. We should not get our worth or our identity from our work.”
I like this approach for two reasons: I hear Jesus saying the same thing in the verse above and you can use this formula to be your own best counselor.
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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
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
August 31, 2012
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1:8)
The mercy of God withholds what we deserve and the grace of God lavishes on us countless blessings we do not deserve. As we appreciate what the mercy of God withholds and the grace of God bestows when we believe the Gospel, we should be filled with grateful worship of our gracious and merciful God.
When Jesus gave His Great Commission He instructed the disciples to wait until the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them before they obeyed His Commission (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1: 4, 5). After that happened to them on the Day of Pentecost, we read: “Great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33). This use of the word “grace” means there is such a thing as the anointing, or the energizing unction of the Holy Spirit upon us as we serve Christ. I am using the word in that sense when I tell people that His grace outweighs my challenges.
Paul was declaring this dimension of grace when he wrote: “God is able to make all grace abound toward you so that you, always, having all sufficiency in all things may abound unto every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). This is the most emphatic verse in the New Testament regarding the anointing and energizing grace of God.
Check out the superlatives he uses in this verse: All grace – abounding grace – each and every one of you – he repeats all of you – all sufficiency – in all things – abounding unto every good work – always! According to Paul we should all be able to make the claim that His grace outweighs our challenges!
Do you believe the grace of God can outweigh your challenges today?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
August 25, 2012
When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)
The word we use most in this life is, “Why?” and the word we will use most in the next world will be, “Oh!” The Providence of God is like a Hebrew word: we have to read it backwards. By the Providence of God I mean that God is in charge and the events of our life have meaning. Sometimes it is as if we are on the inside of a woven basket. All the threads that come up on the inside of the basket represent the way we see the things that happen to us, which seem to have no meaning or pattern at all. If we could just get out of that basket, on the outside we would see beautiful woven patterns.
Job is the biblical example of a man who tried to sort out, by looking inside the basket, what appeared to be the tragic meaninglessness of his life. It was not until he looked up and saw all his tragic circumstances from God’s perspective that he was moved from asking, “Why?” to exclaiming, “Oh!” (Job 35: 1-7; 40-42)
In Psalm Eleven, verse three, the Psalmist asked a question: “If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” The NIV version of the Bible has a footnote that suggests this alternate reading: “When the foundations of your life are breaking up, what is the Righteous One doing?”
My wife and I have made that question a knee jerk reaction to the events of our life as they happen. As a result, although we’re not on the other side yet we are already saying, “Oh!”
Will you confront the challenges you encounter daily with that same question?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
August 8, 2012
“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness.” (Matthew 6:22, 23 NLT)
Perspective means “to look through” to the end. I learned a helpful spiritual discipline on my faith journey when I asked God to give me His perspective of the long view and the forward look. I now find it helpful to look up and ask God to give me His perspective as I take the long view back at the events of my life. I believe it does wonders for our perspective when we regularly shake ourselves out of our introspective pity parties, look up, and ask for God’s long view perspective of our life in both directions.
Robertson McQuilken, a spiritual leader I deeply respect teaches: “It is easier to move to a consistent and problem-free extreme than to remain at the center of tension on any biblical issue, but the truth is often found at the center.”
In an interview Rick Warren was asked how he felt about his wife’s cancer. He reflected that he once thought life was a series of mountaintops and valleys, but he has now decided life is like a railroad track. The left rail represents this hard reality: there is always something bad in our life because God is more interested in our character than He is in our comfort. The right rail represents this blessing: there is always something good in our life because God is good and He does love us.
I have found that when we’re hurting we can often find truth at the center between these two rails of reality.
8 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Faith in God, faith journey, Matthew 6:22, religion, retrospective perspective, Rick Warren, Robertson McQuilken, spiritual perspective, spirituality, walking by faith | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
August 3, 2012
“… what does He receive from your hand?” (Job 35:7)
Not many devout people are disillusioned when they see wicked people suffer; however, the people of God are often faith-challenged when the godly suffer. For thousands of years devout souls have been asking God, “Why do the righteous suffer?”
The book of Job is the longest, most profound and comprehensive answer to that question in the Bible. If this is the oldest book in the Bible, then the very first truth God wanted to teach us is His answer to this primary ‘why question’ of His hurting people.
The way this ancient “Saga of Suffering” answers that question turns on a question Job asked his wife. God had given Satan permission to take every possession he had, including his ten children (Job 2:3). Then God permitted Satan to take Job’s health. When he lost his health and was suffering from a dreadful disease, his wife told him he should curse God and die. He responded to her cheerful counsel by asking, “Shall we accept good from the hand of God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10 NIV)
The essence of Job’s question was, “What should a righteous man expect God to put in his hand because he is living a righteous life?” The answer to Job’s question is found in a discourse of a young man named, Elihu. He told Job he was asking the wrong question. He should be asking, “What is He receiving from your hand?” (Job 35: 7 NIV)
If you are hurting, or when you do, ask God the right question. What have you done for Him lately? What are you putting in His hand?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
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