March 10, 2015
“And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Corinthians 12:9-10)
I shall never forget an afternoon in the late 1970s when I discovered that I was not able to lift the set of weights I regularly lifted. I then tried to mow my lawn and realized I was too weak to cut the grass. Finally, I tried to replace the license plates on my car and learned to my horror that I was too weak to do even that.
Although it was two years before I could accept the awful reality that I would never feel full strength again, my weakness made it possible to resonate with Paul in a deeper way when he described the way his weakness drove him to access the strength and power of the living risen Christ.
I’ve had times of such great weakness, especially while ministering, when I’ve thought: There is absolutely nothing coming from me; everything is coming from God! In spite of his great weakness, as God used Paul to make the Church a worldwide force, he put into words what I have felt many times: “Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God!” (2Corinthians 3:5. italics added)
These were merely familiar Scripture verses until I had no strength of my own. There is a dimension of the power and strength of the risen Christ I did not discover until I was powerless. The vehicle that brings the grace of God to me which outweighs my challenges is the strength of the risen, living Christ. Paul’s experience of weakness, recorded for us in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, directed me to that miracle.
When we have no strength of our own, we simply must learn that is possible to tap into the strength of the living Christ. I now thank God for my experience of weakness that forced me to discover the strength of the risen living Christ that outweighs my weakness – and helped me discover the happiness that doesn’t make good sense.
Dick Woodward, Happiness That Doesn’t Make Good Sense
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 23, 2015
“… but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ” (Philippians 3:13-14)
As we move forward into this new year and consider our priorities many of us could say, “These forty/eleven things I dabble in.” But spiritual heavyweights like Paul write: “One thing I do.” They can write that they have their priorities sifted down to one thing because they forget those things that are behind.
We all have things we need to let go of so we can press toward the goal of what God wants us to do now and in the future.
There’s a story of a man who fell over a cliff but managed to grab hold of a little bush that was growing out of a cliff about forty feet from the top. He frantically shouted, “Help!” several times but his voice simply echoed back to him. Desperately he yelled, “Anybody up there? A subterranean voice answered, “Yes!” He then yelled again “Help!” Then the voice said. “Let go!” After a brief pause the man shouted, “Anybody else up there?”
Sometimes it takes a lot of faith to let go. It may be that we need to let go of things that we cannot do and only God can do. It may be we need to let go of things we cannot control. And, sometimes we need to let go of hurts that people have inflicted on us and we cannot forgive them and just let it go.
Do you need to let go and let God so you can unload baggage and move forward with God?
Dick Woodward, 11 January 2013
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 7, 2015
“… who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:4)
The Apostle Paul has just experienced life threatening persecution when he was stoned in Lystra. As he describes that experience for the Church in Corinth he gives them (and us) a perspective on suffering. He writes that there is a kind of suffering that drives us to God and there is a quality of comfort that can only be found in God when the level of our suffering drives us to Him.
According to Paul, an evangelist is “one beggar telling another beggar where the bread is.” A hurting heart that has discovered the comfort that can only be found in God is “one hurting heart telling another hurting heart where the Comfort is.”
As a pastor when I met grief stricken parents who had lost a child, since I had never suffered that loss I sent a couple to comfort them who had lost a child and found the comfort of God to help them. Any time your heart is hurting because God has permitted you to suffer, realize that you are being given a credential by God. As you find the comfort that is to be found in God you are now qualified to point any person with that same problem to the comfort you discovered when you had that hurt in your heart.
Although you will not answer all of the “why” questions until you know as you are known, are you willing to let this perspective bring some meaning and purpose to your suffering?
Or would you rather choose to waste your sorrows?
Dick Woodward, 10 March 2012
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 2, 2015
“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…” (Philippians 1:6)
This is second day of a new year. A friend informed me that he no longer makes New Year’s resolutions. When I asked why he said, “My willpower is nearly always out of power.”
The Apostle Paul’s favorite Church was the Church he planted at Philippi. Having brought scores and scores of people to faith in Christ in that city, he finds himself in prison and unable to have any physical contact with them. As their pastor he cannot use his powers of reason and persuasion or his spiritual gifts of wisdom, preaching and teaching. Yet he has an unwavering confidence that they will continue in their faith until Jesus Christ returns.
This confidence is not based on them or on himself. He believes his positive and upbeat perspective about them because he knows that the One Who began a miraculous work in them will complete what He has started.
The word “perspective” means “to look through to the end.” At the starting gate of a New Year it’s so very important to have healthy perspective. I’m not thinking about willpower driven resolutions but spiritual goals that only the risen, living Christ can make doable. I’m talking about what you would like to see Christ do in your life this year.
I have recently learned a new formula for setting goals. In the context I have established, let the letters BHAG stand for Big, Hilarious, Audacious, Goals. As you set goals for the New Year make them big enough to let Christ in. Watch Him work because you have set goals that only He can accomplish!
Dick Woodward, 04 January 2011
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 14, 2014
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you rest in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4: 6-7 NLT)
In these two verses the Apostle Paul is challenging us with two options: when we are facing challenging problems we can worry about them, or we can turn our problems into prayer requests. The reason Paul writes that we are not to worry is because worry is counter-productive. He therefore prescribes that if we are overwhelmed with problems, we should let our mountain of problems turn us into prayer warriors.
So here we have two options. We can be worriers, or we can be warriors. Prayer changes things! Worry, on the other hand does not change anything except for the severe negative consequences it can have on our body, soul and spirit. When we consider the devastating effects of worry and the miraculous results of answered prayer, that no-brainer should resolve our two options into one.
When we realize we are anxious or uptight and we know it is because we are choosing to be worriers, we should ask God to convert us into prayer warriors. We should hold our problems up before the Lord and trade our futile worries for powerful prayers. He may deliver us from those problems or give us the grace to cope with them. But, in either case, He will give us peace.
Paul writes that God will stand guard like a soldier over our hearts and minds and give us supernatural peace as they rest in what Christ will do.
Dick Woodward, 29 November 2011
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 7, 2014
“… Being confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ…for it is God at work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure.” (Philippians 1:6; 2:13)
The Apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote these words to his favorite church. Chained between two Roman soldiers without any privacy, he was not able to shepherd these believers he loved so very much. But is he stressed out because he fears that they will fall away from their faith? No, he has a beautiful confidence that they will continue in their faith until the day when Christ returns for His church!
The source of his confidence is found in two realities: he knows that the risen, living Christ has begun the miracle of regeneration in them, and he is completely convinced that Christ will continue any miracle work of salvation He begins. His confidence is not in the fact that he has led these people to Christ. His confidence is in Christ!
In Philippians 2:13 Paul adds that his confidence is in God Who is at work in them giving them the will and the power to do according to that which pleases Him. Why is it that some people want to please God and others do not? Why is it that some people have the grace to do what pleases God while others do not? Paul answers those questions when he writes that it is God working in these believers giving them both the want to, and the power, to live in a way that pleases God.
Where is your confidence that you will continue in what Christ has begun in your life? What a miracle it is when we see evidence that God has begun the work of salvation in the life of one of our loved ones. Where is your confidence that those you love will continue in what Christ has begun in their lives? Is your hope in them? Is it in your ability to shepherd and mentor them?
Or is your hope in Christ Who began that miracle and in God Who can give them the will and the power to do what pleases Him?
Dick Woodward, 09 October 2009
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 4, 2014
“The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11)
This verse is not teaching the random chaos of life. This verse instead parallels a truth emphasized in the Bible and expressed by the word ‘grace.’ The truly significant events in the life of a believer are the result of grace and not the results of self effort. The charisma of God upon the work of your hands will make the difference between your life having eternal significance and your life’s work amounting to wood, hay and stubble in the eternal state (I Corinthians 3:12-15; Psalm 90:17).
The writings of the Apostle Paul are filled with an emphasis upon the concept of grace. The word grace means ‘unmerited favor.’
The blessing of God upon His people is not won by a positive performance or lost by a negative performance. The grace of God and the love of God are unconditional. When you understand the meaning of the word grace which is found in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, it follows that the race is not to the swift or strong or wise or skilled…
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10
Dick Woodward, MBC Old Testament Handbook, p.428
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Posted by Dick Woodward
September 23, 2014
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
Three times in this verse Paul tells us he “lives,” and each time he tells us he lives, he tells us why and how he lives. If we consider his three explanations for living, we discover a good summary of the book of Romans.
First, Paul says he lives because he is crucified with Christ. When Paul gets to the application in his letter to the Romans he tells us we should surrender ourselves to the Christ Who has done so much for us, and become “living sacrifices” for Him. He tells us this is our intelligent worship when we understand all that God has done for us, in Christ.
Secondly, Paul tells us he lives because Christ lives in me. That summarizes the second section of his Roman letter where he tells us how the Christ Who saved us from where we are going (which is straight to hell), can save us from what we are doing, and from what we are. We can be saved and live like saved people because Christ lives in us!
Thirdly, Paul tells us that he lives by faith – by faith in the Son of God Who loves him and gave Himself for him. That summarizes the first section of Romans, which concludes, “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
…The proof that we understand and are experiencing Paul’s message to the Romans will be for us to say, because we have really understood him, “I live, I really live! I live by faith, I live because Christ lives in me, and I live because I am crucified with Christ.”
Dick Woodward, MBC New Testament Handbook (p.284-285)
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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 19, 2014
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love… I am nothing.” (I Corinthians 13:1-3)
In the middle of the first century, the Apostle Paul composed an inspired poem of love in which he declared that the agape love of God should be the number one priority of spiritual people. He wrote that love is greater than knowledge and more important than faith. His inspired words about love have been, and should be read in every generation of church history. That includes you and me.
His teaching about spiritual gifts in the previous chapter concludes with: “Earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I will show you a more excellent way.” (I Cor 12:31) Paul begins the next chapter with his prescription for that most excellent way: “Let love be your greatest aim,” or “Put love first.” (LB, NEB)
A SUMMARY PARAPHRASE APPLICATION:
If we speak with great eloquence or in tongues without love, we’re just a lot of noise. If we have all knowledge to understand all the Greek mysteries, the gift to speak as a prophet and enough faith to move mountains, unless we love as we do all those things, we are nothing. If we give all our money to feed the poor and our body to be burned at the stake as a martyr, if we give and die without love, it profits us nothing.
Nothing we are, nothing we ever become, nothing we have and nothing we ever will have in the way of natural and spiritual gifts should ever move ahead of love as our first priority. Nothing we do, or ever will do as an expression of our faith, our gifts, our knowledge, or our generous, charitable, unconditionally-surrendered heart is worthy of comparison, or can replace love as we live out our personal priorities in this world.”
Dick Woodward, from A Prescription for Love
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Posted by Dick Woodward
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