September 14, 2021
“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)
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 lives. And sometimes they were not talking to God, they were talking to people about God: praising 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 God for all His blessings? The Psalmist 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? Or do you want to be part of the 10% who thank the Lord for our salvation in grateful worship?
Dick Woodward, 12 September 2012
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April 23, 2021
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ.”(Ephesians 1:3)
There is a sense in which the letter of Paul to the Ephesians is the “Joshua” of the New Testament because the theme is the same: possess your possessions. In Joshua 1:3, the possessions were one square foot of the Promised Land of Canaan at a time. In Ephesians, the blessings are spiritual blessings not to be found in a land like Canaan but “in heavenly places, in Christ.”
By “heavenly places” Paul means the spiritual dimension of life. He uses that expression six times in this letter. He uses the expression “in Christ” nearly 100 times in his letters. By this second expression he means that it’s possible for us to be in a relationship with the risen Christ the way a branch is in relationship to a vine from which it draws its sustenance and nourishment.
“In heavenly places in Christ” there are all kinds of wonderful spiritual blessings God wants to give us. But we have to come into that spiritual dimension and into relationship with Christ to get those blessings. In other words, “heavenly places in Christ” is the location of our spiritual Promised Land.
Make a list of all the spiritual blessings you think Paul is referring to in this verse like prayer, the Scriptures, worship and fellowship with other believers. Then apply them and possess your spiritual possessions!
Dick Woodward, 01 May 2009
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Posted by Dick Woodward
February 19, 2021
“… but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better…” (Luke 10:42)
Every time we meet Mary, the sister of Martha, she is at the feet of Jesus.The verse above describes her at the feet of Jesus hearing His Word. Martha is frustrated because Mary is attending Bible study while she is doing all the serving. Jesus sides with Mary because she has chosen the number one priority that day.
In the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John the brother of these two sisters has died. When Jesus arrives too late to save their brother both sisters greet Him with the same words:“Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.”
However, when Mary spoke those words we read she prostrated herself at his feet showing that she accepted His will.
In the next chapter of the Gospel of John a banquet is described at which their resurrected brother is the guest of honor. Mary was there again worshiping Jesus at His feet. She anointed His feet with perfume worth a year’s wages. What would it mean if you worshiped Jesus with your annual income?
Mary is a great example for us as she is at the feet of Jesus hearing His Word, accepting His will, and worshiping Him. If we will not merely read our Bibles but hear His personal word to us at His feet when we do, we will find His will for our lives. If we continue to follow Mary’s example we will be at the feet of Jesus accepting His will.
And those who follow the example of Mary will find themselves worshiping Him forever with costly worship at His feet.
Dick Woodward, 19 February 2013
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 21, 2020
“Don’t worry over anything whatever; tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer, and the peace of God which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Observe that the Apostle Paul prescribed “earnest and thankful prayer.” Do you know what thankful prayer is? My definition of thankful prayer is grateful worship.
I have found an effective peace therapy in a litany of thanksgiving that has evolved in my devotional life over the last thirty years of praying through Paul’s peace prescription while accepting the hard reality of my limitations.
When we are thankful, we automatically move our minds from the negative to the positive issues in our lives. When suffering from a condition or illness that is causing us to lose our faculties one by one, we have two choices: we can continuously think about what we have lost, or are losing, or we can think about what we still have and be thankful.
As I experienced the loss of my physical ability, I found that I get more mileage out of this condition for peace than any of Paul’s other conditions. I have so many blessings for which to be thankful. I discover regularly that when I begin to focus on my blessings, the peace of God is in place.
As I think of all the problems I have because nothing works from my neck down, mentally I put those challenges on one side of a scale, while on the other side I place my blessings. I always find that the good stuff far outweighs my bad stuff – and the peace of God returns.
I highly recommend this thanksgiving therapy, which is a vital part of Paul’s prescription for peace.
Dick Woodward, from “A Prescription for Peace”
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Posted by Dick Woodward
November 28, 2019
“Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” (Psalm 100)
In this profound thanksgiving psalm David tells us that coming into the presence of God is like having an audience with a great King. That audience begins with the gates of thanksgiving that are followed by the courts of praise. In a corporate worship service or in your worship closet, always try to begin your approach to God at the gates of thanksgiving followed by the courts of praise.
I personally know of no other worship helps that mean more to me than to begin my approach to God with thanksgiving. When I begin thanking Him and praising Him I soon find myself coming before His presence with singing.
In His presence I know that He is God. I know that He is my Shepherd and I am His sheep. I know that He is good and His mercy is everlasting. I know He wants me to share the truth of His Word in all the lands of this world because He wants people in all the lands of this world and in every generation to know what it is to make a joyful shout of worship in His presence.
Let this great worship psalm of David show you how to…
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!
Dick Woodward, 23 November 2011
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Posted by Dick Woodward
October 15, 2019
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing …Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him, bless His name! For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” (Psalm 100)
If you read Psalm One Hundred you will find that David has given us a universal prescription for worship. He begins by prescribing that people in all the lands of the earth should make joyful sounds of worship in God’s presence. He concludes by prescribing that those who worship know that God’s truth endures in all generations.
This brief prescription for worship tells us what worship is: it is to come before the presence of God. It tells us how to worship: it is like having an audience with a Heavenly King. To have an audience we must pass through gates of thanksgiving which are followed by corridors of praise.
The doors that open into the presence of the King are the doors of singing.
As we worship in the presence of the Heavenly King there are certain things we know. We know He is God and we know we are His. We are His little sheep who live in His pasture. We know He is good, His mercy and unconditional love is everlasting, and His truth endures.
David prescribes the result of worship: We should serve the Lord with gladness until people in all the lands of the earth in every generation make joyful sounds of worship in the presence of God.
Dick Woodward, 22 June 2007
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Posted by Dick Woodward
July 5, 2019
“Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven...” (Matthew 6:9-13)
The message of the Bible frequently sifts down to just two words: God first.
From Genesis to Revelation, the bottom line interpretation and application of parables, commandments, character studies, allegories, psalms, sermons, Gospels, Epistles and teachings of Jesus Christ is simply “God first.”
The prayer Jesus taught us begins with that God-first emphasis when Jesus instructs us to begin by asking God that His name, the essence of Who and what He is, might be honored and reverenced…
Prayer is not a matter of us persuading God to do our will. The very essence of prayer is an alignment between our wills and the will of God. Prayer is not a matter of us making God our partner and taking God into our plans.
Prayer is a matter of God making us His partners and taking us into His plans…
We are not to come into our prayer closets or corporate worship with a ‘shopping list’ and send God on errands for us. When we pray, we should come into the presence of God with a blank sheet of paper and ask God to send us on errands for Him.
Dick Woodward, A Prescription for Prayer
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Posted by Dick Woodward
May 27, 2019
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you…” (Philippians 1:3)
It is fitting that we in the United States of America set aside one day each year to memorialize our fallen warriors. In the Old Testament God regularly commanded the Israelites to erect memorials so they would never forget certain events on their journey of faith.
When we study those memorials we realize that God wanted them to remember miracles He performed for them. God never wanted them to forget significant spiritual datelines. Throughout the Old and New Testaments we therefore continuously hear the exhortation to remember!
Memorials are closely linked with the attitude of gratitude and the awful sin of ingratitude. On Memorial Day are you thankful for “The Greatest Generation,” who in the first half of the 1940s saved us from an unthinkable future without freedom and throughout decades of the Cold War from more of the same? Does your memorial gratitude continue through those who fell in Korea, Vietnam and now in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Do you have spiritual memorial datelines for which you are grateful as you remember them before God? Do you have a dateline of when you came to faith in what Christ did for you on the cross?
Do you have spiritual datelines beyond that point of beginning your faith journey, when the risen Christ proved Himself to you in miraculous ways? Do you have a dateline when He made you know what He wants you to do for Him?
In the fulfillment of that vision has He brought significant people into your life to help you bring that vision into reality?
Then have a spiritual Memorial Day and be filled with grateful worship!
Dick Woodward, 31 May 2010
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Posted by Dick Woodward
April 26, 2019
“…For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13)
[In the Disciples Prayer] Our Lord teaches us to begin our prayers with a God first mindset and conclude our prayers with that same focus. We begin our prayers looking through the grid: “Your name be reverenced, Your Kingdom come,” and “Your will be done (in earth and) on earth, just as it is willed and done in heaven.”
We are to conclude our prayers the same way.
Jesus wants us to conclude our prayers by making this commitment to our Heavenly Father: “Yours is the Kingdom.” By this confession, He means for us to pledge to God that the results of our Heavenly Father’s continuously answering our prayers will always belong to Him.
As we face challenges of life every day, we should be poor in spirit enough to confess that we need the power of God: “Yours is the power.” When I have entered into a challenging day, I have confessed this over and over in my journey of faith and ministry by saying, “I can’t, but He can.”
Finally, we are to conclude our prayers by confessing: “Yours is the glory.” When we apply this third providential benediction, we are simply confessing, “Because I didn’t but God did, all the glory goes to Him.” Jesus prescribes that we conclude our prayers every time we pray by making this solemn commitment to God: The glory for everything that happens in my life because You have answered my prayer(s), will always go to You.”
The essence of this benediction is: “Because the power always comes from You, the result will always belong to You, and the glory will always go to You.”
Dick Woodward, from A Prescription for Prayer
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Posted by Dick Woodward
March 22, 2019
“Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see the good?” (Psalm 34:12)
When David was a fugitive from King Saul many other fugitives joined him hiding out in caves. About 400 who were in debt, in distress and discontent joined David. (1 Samuel 22:2) Psalm 34 gives us little summaries of sermons David preached to those fugitives and failures that eventually turned them into his mighty men.
David began by challenging them with questions like: “How many of you want to live? How long do you want to live? Do you want to live so you may see the good?”
When we are asked how long we want to live we almost never give a precise answer with a specific number of years, months, weeks and days. We just answer, “Many!”
In that culture “seeing the good” was an expression that meant a person was convinced there was something good in this life and they were going to find it. David preached that the Lord was the good thing they were seeking.
After telling them about the most humiliating and frightening experience of his life, David’s great battle cry to them was: “Magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together!” (v. 3)
David identified with the weakness of these fugitive failures. He then preached that the greater their weakness the more they exalted the name of the God when God used them. Finding the strength of God in their weakness made them the mighty men of David God used in mighty ways.
Have you learned how to find God’s strength in your weakness? Have you discovered how the greater your weaknesses – the more you can magnify the Lord?
Dick Woodward, 21 March 2013
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Posted by Dick Woodward
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