July 21, 2015
“If any man wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the teaching whether it is from God…” (John 7:17)
Jesus gave us a principle that shows us how we can know His teaching is the teaching of God. The principle is this: If any man wills to do, he will know. For millennia those who approach the proposition of faith intellectually have said, “When I know, then I will do.” Their premise has been and remains: “the knowing leads to the doing.” Pointing to their temples they say, “Reach me here.” Then, pointing to their heart, they say, “Then I will follow through here.” They are essentially saying, “Reach me intellectually and then I will commit volitionally.”
Jesus cut through that when He proclaimed this principle: the knowing does not lead to the doing. The doing leads to the knowing. When you commit your will to doing what Jesus teaches then the intellectual affirmation will follow. It is only then that you will know the teaching of Jesus is the Word of God and not just the ideas of another Rabbi coming down the pike.
When people followed Jesus on His terms He called them ‘disciples.’ A synonym for that word is “apprentice.” An apprentice and a disciple are learning what they’re doing and doing what they’re learning.
As Jesus apprenticed His disciples they discovered that the doing leads to the knowing. Are we applying this principle to our faith as followers of Jesus Christ?
Dick Woodward, Lackey Free Clinic Health Beat, Summer 2009
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 27, 2015
“So he said, ‘Lord, what do You want me to do?’” (Acts 9:6 NKJV)
Two Men named Marx and Engels authored The Communist Manifesto. For years after their book was written the membership in the Communist Party was meager. Then a man named Lenin appeared on the scene and wrote a very short pamphlet entitled: “What Is to Be Done?” His thesis was that if you read the book authored by Marx and Engels and then look at the world, what do you think should be done by those who truly believe what they wrote? Until the collapse of the “Iron Curtain” there were a billion people under the control of the Communist Party.
During the height of The Cold War, I was obsessed with this question: As a devout follower of Jesus Christ why not write a short booklet entitled ‘What Is to Be Done?’ by those who read and believe the Bible and then look at the world? After asking many of the spiritual heavyweights I met this question, the best answer came from a man I highly respected. He told me that no one person could write that booklet for everyone. Each individual disciple of Jesus needs to write his own booklet by asking the question the Apostle Paul asked the risen Christ on the road to Damascus.
“Lord, what do you want me to do?”
The way we each receive the answers to that question from the Lord can become our personal vision and marching orders for what we are to do. Sadly, so many followers of Jesus do not have a vision of what Christ wants them to do.
I challenge you to ask the risen Christ, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”
Dick Woodward, 24 January 2010
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 20, 2015
“All our steps are ordered by the Lord; how then can we understand our own ways?” Proverbs 20:24
God doesn’t think or act as we do so Solomon has the wise question in Proverbs 20:24: “If we are going the way God wants us to go, how can we expect to always understand the way we are going?” That’s the revised Woodward translation. I believe it is obvious that God is making an original and He always does that in an original way. There ain’t nobody like you and there ain’t supposed to be.
Today my thoughts turned to six of the most powerful verses in the Bible: the last four verses of Romans 11 and the first two verses of chapter 12. They tie in with Isaiah 55 and the reality that we do not know what God is doing but the profound truth focused is that He is the source of, the power behind, and His glory is the purpose of everything He is doing. The application in Chapter 12 is that we should express intelligent worship by surrendering our bodies as a living sacrifice (not a dead one), be sure we are not getting our signals from the secular culture, ask God to transform our mind so we can think as He does, and then, having met these prerequisites, prove one day at a time that His will for us is good, meets all His demands, and moves toward spiritual maturity. (This passage is especially good in the Phillips.*)
You are such a magnificent person and God is shaping you to be a champion for Christ in dimensions that are far beyond anything we could imagine or even think to imagine! Whatever help it takes you must master this problem or it will master you. Every time God wants to do a great work like what He is doing in your life, the evil one is there trying to defeat the work of God. Don’t let him have the victory. Put on the whole armor of God to defeat what the evil one is trying to do.
Dick Woodward, (email, 20 January 2007)
(*J.B. Phillips translation of The New Testament in Modern English)
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 16, 2015
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
These familiar words of consolation and exhortation are found in the context of a great calamity described by the psalmist. Many believe this calamity is prophetic and relates to the great and terrible Day of the Lord. By application these words, and other words of consolation in this psalm, can be related to any calamity we experience as the people of God.
As the hymn writer declares this calamity to be a total devastation, in the midst of this devastation he exclaims, “God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in times of trouble.” Since Hebrew is not as precise as Greek, the New American Standard Bible offers helpful alternate readings in the margins throughout this psalm. The alternate reading offered here consoles us with the thought that God can be a very present help to us in our “tight places.”
The helpful alternate reading presented alongside verse 10 is “Relax, let go and prove that God is – and what His will is. He is God and He wills to be exalted among the nations and in the earth.”
When you find yourself experiencing calamity be still long enough to experience these great realities: that God is God, that He is there for you, and that He can help you in the tight places of your calamity. So relax, let go, and prove Him. Then ask yourself how your response to your calamity just might align with what He wills; that He might be exalted among the nations and in the earth through the way you live your life here on earth for His Glory.
Dick Woodward, 10 March 2009
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 9, 2015
“… I being in the way the Lord led me…” (Genesis 24:27)
When we discover the context of these words of Scripture we realize they are teaching us a principle of how God often works in the lives of His people. It is easier to steer a moving vehicle than one that is stationary. God can sometimes steer us more easily when we are moving. That’s why we will find that one step frequently leads to the next step when we have faith to be led by the Holy Spirit.
The words above were spoken by Abraham’s servant who was commissioned by Abraham to travel to the land of his people to find a wife for Isaac. As he journals the events of his search he writes that while he was in the way the Lord led him he encountered the family of Rebekah. When he met her he knew that his search had ended.
We who are committed followers of Christ were commissioned two thousand years ago to go to all nations and make disciples for Jesus Christ. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Like the servant of Abraham, as we embark on the adventure of obeying our great commission, we should expect that each step will lead to the next step.
We don’t always have to know where the road leads as long as we know it is the right road. While we are in the way our Lord has commissioned us to go we must have the faith to take that first step and then, one step at a time, expect our Lord to show us His will about the next step.
Dick Woodward, 28 July 2009
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 28, 2014
At Dick’s Memorial Celebration his grand-daughter shared a moving tribute. Be blessed and challenged today by Morgan’s words & ‘inbox discipleship.’
“Granddaddy was, and still is, my hero. He was so compassionate… He was always there for me – loving me so well, exactly where I was, providing endless affirmation. When I was 18 and wrestling with my faith, Granddad was there to disciple me. I may have gone to a ‘missionary school,’ but the true discipleship in my life took place in my e-mail inbox. I would ask the most difficult theological questions you can imagine and he would take the time to answer them in full. One of my favorite responses he gave is this:
Precious Granddaughter, do not judge too quickly about the context in which you find yourself. 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 found at the center. One of the greatest things you will learn in this adventure out there is that God can use you. That truth is on a need to know basis. When we place ourselves between the love of Christ and the pain of hurting people, we discover that He loves to turn us into conduits of His love (I John 4:16.) When that happens we find out where He is and where we want to be for the rest of our lives. You know my four spiritual secrets. We learn them best when we are in over our heads and He is using us to do what only He can do. The miracle is that He does work through us. Looking back, standing on the finish line, I see clearly that His plan for me was perfect and wonderful! What He gave me or did not give me shaped me into the person, the unique person He wanted me to be for His glory, not my own. He is doing the same thing in your life, precious granddaughter.
“…And the Lord is doing that for us all. Let us all pick up the baton today and follow Granddad’s legacy as we lean in to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ – that we may all be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Morgan Perry (15 March 2014)
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Posted by Dick Woodward
September 30, 2014
“…You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly…” (James 4:3)
A consultant told me that much of the time, even though he is paid large fees, his clients do not want his consultation. They simply want him to affirm what they have already decided to do. At the heart of counseling session, a woman once said, “Don’t confuse me with Scriptures, Pastor. My mind is made up!” Knowing the will of God is often made difficult by our own wills. It’s out of reach because we have our agendas in place when we come to God seeking His will. If our minds are set like concrete before we converse with God regarding His will for our lives, we are not really seeking His will when we pray and open His Word. We are actually asking God to bless our will, our agenda and the way we have decided to go.
James tells us that when we pray, we ask and do not receive because our asking is flawed by our self-willed agendas. To seek and know the will of God we must be completely open to whatever the will of God may be. Our prayer and commitment must be in the spirit of the familiar metaphor, “You are the Sculptor, I am the clay. Mold me and make me according to Your will. I am ready to accept Your will as passively as clay in the hands of a Sculptor.”
There are at least two reasons why you must be open and unbiased as you seek to know God’s will. One reason we learn from Isaiah: the ways and thoughts of God are as different from our ways and thoughts as the heavens are high above the earth. Another is that we become a totally new creation when we are born again.
It is tragically possible for you to miss the will of God for your life because you do not have the faith to believe that God can make you a new creation in Christ. Your extraordinary potential as a new creation is one reason why you must be completely open and unbiased. Seeking the will of God with your mind already made up could rob you of the will of God for your life… God loves you too much to let you live a life that is only a fragment of the life He has planned for you.”
Dick Woodward, from A Prescription for Guidance
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Posted by Dick Woodward
August 5, 2014
“A person’s steps are confirmed by the Lord.” (Psalm 37:23)
There are times on our journeys of faith when we come to a fork in the road and we simply do not know the will of God. There certainly are no verses of Scripture that tell us to go to the right or to the left. We have no prompting or leading of 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.
Psalm 37:23 offers insight when we find ourselves at this kind of crossroad. As a person’s steps are confirmed by the Lord, this means we should sometimes move forward into what we perceive to be the will of God, praying and looking for 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 that God has given us a confirmation of His will. We have the conviction that God is saying to us, “This is the way, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21) We see evidence of the reality Jesus described in the Gospel of John, chapter 10, that when He calls His sheep to follow Him, He goes before them. 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. When that happens, we should be humble enough to go back to that fork in the road and choose the other direction.
Dick Woodward, A Prescription for Guidance
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Posted by Dick Woodward
July 5, 2014
“For… through Him… are all things…” (Romans 11:36)
The Apostle Paul concludes Romans with a profound benediction that God is the power behind all things. This claim is preceded by his declaration that God is the Source of all things and it is followed by his announcement that the glory of God is the purpose for all things.
I resonate in a special way with the middle part of his benediction because I have been experiencing chronic fatigue since 1978. As a bed fast quadriplegic I now have no strength of my own, so it is impossible for me to be involved in the work of God unless God is the Power behind all the work He wants me to do for Him in this world.
It is the plan of God to use the power of God in the people of God to accomplish the purposes of God according to the plan of God. The Bible is filled with stories that illustrate this proposition. To this end we continuously read that God delights in doing extraordinary things through very ordinary people while He uses His power in them to accomplish His purposes.
Sadly, many people think God cannot use them because they are just ordinary people. But the more ordinary we are increases the glory God receives when He works through us. God can anoint our tool kit and our skill set when we surrender our will to His. He can also add spiritual gifts to our lives we do not have before we bring our ordinariness to Him and lay it at His feet.
Are you willing to do that and prove that God is the power behind all things?
Dick Woodward, 12 October 2010
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 14, 2014
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Psalm 139: 23, 24 NLT)
Jeremiah wrote that our heart is “… deceitful above all things…” He asked: “Who can know it?” Then he answered his own question by writing that only the Lord knows our heart. (Jeremiah 17: 9, 10)
Jesus described serious heart pathology when He taught: “For from within, out of a person’s heart come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness …” He then declared that all these evil things and more come from within our heart and not from outside influences. (Mark 7: 21, 22) Jesus agreed with the Proverb: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)
The Apostle Paul wrote: “When the Lord comes, He will … reveal our private motives.” Then we will receive praise, or the opposite. (1Corinthians 4: 3-5)
Consider the amazing wisdom of David when he prayed his Psalm 139 prayer that I label A Spiritual Cardiogram. To paraphrase and summarize, David was asking God to take the lid off his mind and show Him the thoughts that should not be there. Then he asked God to take the lid off his heart and show him the motives that should not be there because he wanted to walk, looking up, with eternity in his perspective.
We should not wait until judgment to have a spiritual cardiogram any more than we would wait for a heart attack before having a medical cardiogram. We should ask God to take the lid off our thoughts and motives now while we can address the challenges we find there.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
4SpiritualSecrets 