Author: Nicky Wood

Finding Purpose in Simplicity

by Nicky Wood

Genesis 2:15: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to take care of it.”

When God created Adam, He had a specific plan and purpose in mind for him. Adam wasn’t just placed in the Garden of Eden to enjoy it. God wanted him to be the gardener of Eden and take care of it.

We read in verse 8 of Chapter 2 that God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man that He had formed.

God was the original Gardener, planting the most beautiful garden we could ever imagine. And then placing man there for a specific purpose…to work it and to look after it. He set the scene and prepared the environment and then He placed Adam there to do the work.

As with Adam, God has a purpose and a plan for each one of us. A work that He has called each one of us to do. Maybe you feel like your work isn’t good enough or important or glamorous enough. But if God has placed you in the environment that you are currently, He has a specific plan and purpose for you there and He will reveal it to you if that is within His will.

God doesn’t measure you by your success or your title or your position. Don’t think that if you are not the CEO or  leading a team or building your own business, that your work isn’t important or significant. All that God originally wanted and expected from Adam was to tend and care for a garden and to be obedient to His instructions not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was simple. It was supposed to be easy.

Then the lies of the devil made everything complicated. Suddenly, Adam and Eve were questioning God’s original instructions. Since those days in the Garden of Eden thousands of years ago, the lies have never stopped. The devil hasn’t stopped trying to deceive us when it comes to our purpose and our identity in Christ.

As the Great Gardener, God has the ability to plant seeds in our lives and to water them, to cut off the dead branches and to prune the branches bearing fruit so they can bear even more fruit. If you submit to Him and are obedient to Him, He will make everything bloom in your life, even the parts that may seem small or insignificant to you.

And so my prayer is that wherever God plants you and me, we will “bloom with grace”.

What Is Holding You Back?

by Nicky Wood

Each year, time seems to be flying by faster than ever. They say it is a sign of aging… the older you get, the faster time seems to go by. In a sense this does scare me, because in my heart, the urgency swells. I feel like there are still so many things that I want to do to make a difference and I would like to find more purpose and know more of what God wants from me and my life.

And sometimes, the daily rut of the ordinary and the mundane, wraps its fingers around my soul and threatens to choke me.

Psalms 90:12: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”

What a beautiful request from the Psalmist. What if we knew what the number of our days would be on this earth? Would we act differently today or tomorrow? What wisdom would we gain? Would we let go of that offense if we knew today is our last day? Would we stop fearing what others may think of us and commit to what we know in our hearts to be true?

The irony of it all is that I’ve realized that if I keep focusing on myself and my own needs and desires, I am missing the point. All these years I’ve been trying to figure out what God wants me to do career-wise, etc. The older I get though, the more I realize my life is not about me, yet I keep getting in the way.

So, this well-known quote is my prayer:

“Maybe the mountain is me. Lord, help me move out of my own way.”

I pray that we won’t stand in our own way when it comes to being all that God created us to be and that we can learn to let go of the meaningless things holding us back.

After all, God helps us to place time in perspective, because He has created us with eternity in mind:

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart…”

Whatever season of our lives we are in, Jesus can teach us to number our days so that we can find hope and purpose in each one of them.

 

 

 

3 Steps to Deal with Disappointments

by Nicky Wood

At the start of 2019, I am excited about all the possibilities that lie ahead of me, but at the same time, I can’t help but ponder events of the past year and relive some of the disappointments. There were so many times during the year where it felt like I was giving one step forward yet two steps back. As much as I am optimistic at the beginning of every year, I must be realistic and realize that disappointments will come over my path again this year. Yet the important question is how can I handle them in a biblical way? I know there will be times when I will disappoint myself and there will be times when people I love will disappoint me. How do we deal with disappointments without becoming bitter and disillusioned?

I believe we can find three great pointers on how to deal with these situations in the book of Habakkuk. The name Habakkuk means to embrace or to wrestle and it literally seems as though Habakkuk is wrestling with God with the honest questions that he poses to Him throughout the short book. So, the first thing I believe we should do is:

  • Tell God how you feel

Hab. 1:2 “How long oh God must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you “Violence!” but you do not save?”

God can handle it if we pour out our hearts and our disappointments to Him. He isn’t surprised at our emotions because He created them! David often poured out his heart before the Lord, and I believe we should do so too, but at the same time, we should make time to hear His reply to us. Expect Him to answer you just like he answered Habakkuk (see Hab. 1:5 -11 and Hab. 2)

  • Trust His timing

Hab. 2:3 “…Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay”

Sometimes we just need to wait for God’s timing and trust Him with the detail of our lives. Delay does not always mean denial. Your disappointments of the past year can be turned into re-appointments during this year. When we feel upset about circumstances we should meditate on the fact that God’s ways are perfect and so is His timing.

  • Thank Him in the face of tough circumstances

Hab. 3:17-18 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no fruit, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.”

As hard as this last one might be, I think it is the most important, because it really shows God that we trust Him and that we know that His ways and His plans for us are perfect. This gives us reason to rejoice despite what we see going on around us! The Bible says that faith is the evidence of things unseen (Heb 11:1).  When all we see with our physical eyes are despair and disappointments, we can ask God to give us faith to see the unseen and to believe in better things to come! We can be assured of His perfect timing and know that He will turn our disappointments around and give us the strength to hope once again.

To Hear God’s Thoughts

by Nicky Wood

I believe that one of the most important things in my walk with God is the ability to discern His voice and to hear the Holy Spirit speak to my heart. Yet, this is the area that I often struggle with the most. I get frustrated if I don’t hear anything from Him when I need His direction, or when I thought I heard something specific, yet circumstances dictate otherwise.

For all the big decisions in life, and even all the little things, I want to be sure that I follow His leading and His voice. But God remains God, and His ways are sometimes shrouded in mystery (Job 11:7). What He tells us may not always be what we want to hear, but it will always be what we need to hear.

The Bible says in Amos 4:13 that God “…reveals his thoughts to mankind”. What a powerful verse! The God of the Universe is willing to share His thoughts with us! David even declares in Psalm 139:17-18 how precious God’s thoughts are to him. And he says that if he were to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand… God will never run out of things to say to us! I also believe that He speaks uniquely to each individual because of His perfect understanding of each heart that He created.

We know that He most often speaks through Scripture, and through other believers and circumstances, but there is a very special joy found in discerning His voice when He speaks to our hearts individually and directly. And although people very seldom experience an audible voice from God, I think of Samuel, lying in bed one night and hearing a voice calling him by name. He had never heard from the Lord before, and so he thought that it was Eli calling him. I love this story because it speaks so much of the character and the heart of our God. He did not want to frighten the boy by bellowing down in thunder and lightning from heaven and commanding the young prophet to listen. Instead, He patiently calls out three times in a voice that the boy must have felt very comfortable and familiar with (to believe it was Eli).

The thing is, God wants to speak to us. I know that I don’t always make the time to quiet my heart and listen to what He has to say. It’s much easier to have a one-sided conversation and ask Him what I need, but by doing so I know that I am losing out on one of the most precious gifts that God has given us, to be able to discern His voice and hear His thoughts.

Song of Songs 8:13: “O my darling, lingering in the gardens, your companions are fortunate to hear your voice. Let me hear it, too!”

In our love relationship with Jesus, He desires to hear our voice, just like the longing of the groom for his bride’s voice in Solomon’s beautiful portrayal from Song of Songs. But as in any two-sided relationship, He also has something to say. Even if it is just to tell you how much He loves you. Won’t you give Him the opportunity and open your heart to hear Him speak to you?

Treasure Your Heart

by Nicky Wood

Luke 2:19 (NIV): “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Luke 2:51: “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.”

The Bible tells us that the heart is the “wellspring of life” – Proverbs 4:23. Taking a moment to look at Jesus’ mother’s heart, I find it so interesting that Luke makes specific mention of what was happening inside Mary’s heart not just once, but twice. Luke was a doctor. Well acquainted with human anatomy, he would have been fully aware of the fact that the heart is a vital organ within the body and that our very lives depend on it functioning correctly.

Metaphorically, it is literally the “wellspring of life” as Proverbs so eloquently points out. Why? The heart functions as a pump – while pumping blood to the body, as the earth needs the water of a spring – at the same time it also gets rid of excess toxins that are damaging to the body. If the water drawn out of a spring is toxic, it will kill every living thing that comes into contact with it. It is of vital importance that the spring is pure.

Luke wants the reader to know that Mary held a treasure in her heart (the treasure of the events around Jesus’ birth and later the knowledge of the young boy Jesus’ astonishing wisdom as He taught in the temple). Mary didn’t know at this point what you and I know now. She couldn’t possibly have comprehended the weight of the importance and significance throughout humanity and history of what was taking place in her life right at that moment. There were so many things that probably felt completely out of control to her. But there was one thing that she did have control over. The treasure in her heart. In fact, she held in her heart the same One that she cradled in her arms – Jesus – the eternal Spring of Living Water.

Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

What you treasure, will determine the wellspring of your life.

This is why Proverbs 4:23 states: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” That first part – “Above all else” is significant. If the wisest man on earth wrote a letter to me personally, and started it with “Above all else” – I would certainly be paying close attention.

Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things…” I don’t think that it is a coincidence that we get to see almost that exact same phrase again “Above all things/Above all else”.

No wonder we should guard our hearts. Its natural inclination is deceitfulness. You cannot trust it. The world tells you to follow your heart. This is a lie, designed to lead you into a life of unhappiness and pain because your heart on its own can never have the capacity of leading you to a life of abundance and blessing. It has to be protected and purified. Only God can protect and purify our hearts if we allow Him to and if we treasure Him and Him alone, if we are willing to open the door of our hearts, where He is standing and knocking, waiting patiently.

Instead of following our hearts, we are called to protect our hearts. This does not specifically mean we should hide our hearts from people in an attempt not to get emotionally hurt. Rather, it requires filtering what we allow into our deepest being and choosing deliberately and daily not to love anything or anyone more than God.

I sometimes wonder what does the “water” look like that comes out of my heart. Is it pure enough to quench the thirst of a human race – thirsty for anything that will still the ache in their hearts? Has it become toxic due to bitterness or unforgiveness and resentments that have been left there for so long, that it has poisoned the spring? Are we protecting our hearts? Are we actively keeping away the pollution of the world on a daily basis by filtering what we see and hear? Things like pornography, violence, lust, lies, or anything that tempts us to look away from Jesus as our ultimate Source and anything that can possibly steal the treasure that we as believers are destined for – the Kingdom of Heaven.

If you believed that you carried a treasure in your heart, like Mary did, would you not do anything in your power to protect it?

Even when our hearts become polluted, Jesus can filter the water immediately, all it takes is surrendering your heart to His Heart.

John 20:34: “Instead one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.”

Jesus’ heart was pierced so ours can be healed.

I know that Jesus heals our broken hearts every time. If you feel like the Spring has run dry, the Treasure is lost and you have nothing left to give, and all has been taken away from you, remember the cup of his blood that runs red because of His love – a love that will never leave the pieces of your heart on the ground and untouched. Every piece of your heart is designed to fit into His heart, the size of which is unfathomable.

Whenever I have found myself running after things that the world tells me my heart should desire, I have always ended up lost and disillusioned. This is why it is so important to protect our hearts because the enemy will try his best to deceive it time and again.

“The human heart has an infinite capacity for happiness and an unending need for love, because it is created for an infinite God who is unending love”. (John and Stasi Eldredge – Love & War)

In our desperate pursuit of finding treasure, may we know that the greatest treasure is having Jesus, right in the centre of our hearts. If we choose to drink the water He gives us, we will never be thirsty again. (John 4:14)

From life to death and death to life

by Nicky Wood

“Death and taxes” – nothing is certain but these, as the famous quote by Benjamin Franklin rings.

As believers, though, we have slightly less grim prospects and we can count on another certainty – the promise of an eternal life with God after we die because of what Jesus did on the cross for us.

I am sure most of us look forward to the day that we can spend an eternity with Him in heaven.

Yet, I would like to challenge how we think about one day when we die and how we can bring heaven down to earth while we are still alive in this fallen world.

Do you perhaps picture some kind of timeline in your mind when thinking about all this? Of life here and now until you die and then a new life in heaven?

What if life to death and death to life are actually running concurrently next to each other? While we are nearing our death on earth and aging each hour, at the same time, we are coming closer to our new life in Christ. The more we die to ourselves (the fleshly human nature) each day, the closer we get to experiencing the life that God has planned for us – the life that knows no end.

2 Cor 4:16: “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

The irony of it all is that to be renewed inwardly, we need to die to the flesh within us to make space for the One, who can renew us daily. The “death to life” part doesn’t start when we die. It starts the moment we commit our lives to Jesus. Water baptism provides a wonderful symbolism of the death of the flesh when we go down into the water. The moment we come up out of the water we are born into our new Spirit-filled life.

God has given us a gift, not only of eternal life, but life to the full – John 10:10 (NLT) – rich and satisfying. We have the amazing promise of a fulfilling, God-enriched life on earth, the moment we lay down our fleshly lives and make space for the Holy Spirit.

It’s certainly not easy to lay down our selfish desires, and it’s the last thing Satan wants, because if the flesh is no longer alive in a spiritual sense, then he no longer has any hold on you. He cannot whisper thoughts into your ear that appeals to your fleshly desires if the self is in actual fact – dead.

The way to obtain a truly victorious life on earth is by accessing the power of God that raised Christ from the dead. But Christ had to die first before He could be raised in power. Jesus had to die first for Heaven to be opened for us. In the same way, we must die to ourselves first, before we can gain this resurrection power of God in our daily lives and concurrently we gain the ability of pulling heaven closer to earth.

Romans 8:10-11: “And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”

What a pity then, if we had to die in the flesh first physically, before finding the new life God wants us to have. Spiritually, it is available to us immediately, to the extent that we are willing to die to the flesh – our human nature and the desires that are attached to it.

When Jesus hung on the cross and asked God to forgive those that crucified Him, He became our ultimate example of a life lived – dead to self. There was no self-pity, no anger or sadness or revenge planned. He didn’t even say a word while they mocked Him and tortured Him. All that mattered to Jesus was that God’s will be done. The insults and the blows to self didn’t matter because the one they were injuring, the self, was already dead even though He was still physically alive.

As we look to the cross, one of the greatest gifts we can bring Him is ourselves along with all our selfish desires and needs, and nail them to the cross. His scarred hands are big enough to take all that you have to give to Him, and in return, He will give you His peace and His freedom – in this life as well as the next.

The Time Giver

by Nicky Wood

Ecc. 3:1: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

Ecc. 3:11: “He has made everything beautiful in its time…”

Time can either be your friend or your enemy – which one will be determined by the way you treat it…

If you are impatient and you lose your temper with it, time will be your enemy. If you embrace it and learn the art of waiting, it can be your friend. If you know when the right time is for the right action and activity, you can learn to use it in your favour… and what better way to know than asking the One who made it?

He who made the seasons is never in a hurry, yet He is always on time! The faithfulness of God is manifested in our lives if we are willing to wait on His timing. If we take matters into our own hands because of our impatience, we may miss the opportunity of seeing God come through for us and prove His faithfulness.

Moses was tending sheep in the desert for 40 years before God appeared to Him in a burning bush and his life changed in an instant. He must have known how he was destined for greater things but he was stuck in a boring job waiting for God to act.

Abraham laughed when God told him that he would have a son because he couldn’t believe that at his age (100) and that of his wife (90) it would be possible (Genesis 17:17).

I guess nobody could have blamed him or Sarah for thinking that it’s all a joke on the one hand, but on the other hand, Abraham was well aware that the God he served was and is a miracle working Father and nothing is too hard for him. He should also perhaps have known that his finite human mind couldn’t possibly comprehend what God can do with the time He gives to each of us. Be it a few years or a few seconds. Even if we think time is running out for us, the final word goes to the One who holds it in His hands.

Sometimes we lose our hope and joy if God does not act within our timetable. Yet this brings us back to the example of the Potter and the clay… Isaiah 45:9 (NLT): “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker?” In the same way shall we ask the One who made time why He doesn’t act when we think with our limited capacity, that the right time has come?

Can I encourage you to be willing to wait in a society that believes in instant gratification? A prayer that hasn’t been answered might just mean that it is not the right time for it yet to come to pass. Don’t give up hope.

Set your mind on things above, and He will come through for you at just the right time. Moreover, Ecclesiastes tells us that He has made everything beautiful in its time. Not only does He arrange everything for our good (Rom 8:28) but he makes it all beautiful.

Great Expectations

by Nicky Wood

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

What is your vision for the rest of your life? And how has it been influenced by unmet expectations?

We’ve all been hurt by unmet expectations. Every day when we wake up, whether we admit it or not, we have expectations of the people we love the most. Yet people will always disappoint you in some way or another… our humanity makes us fallible.

We can perhaps still comprehend it to a degree when other people fail us even though we might be heartbroken.

But what of the expectations we have of God?

How does it influence our prayer life, our vision and our purpose when some of our earnest prayers have not been answered and it feels like God is not listening to us, or some unexpected tragedy strikes? Will we admit to ourselves (and to God) that we are disappointed and discouraged?

God knows all about you. He knows what your next prayer will be. He knows what your next sin will be. He knows you completely and still He loves you infinitely. Even though you might be angry and disillusioned, He is not angry or disillusioned by you.

The worst thing you can do is to withdraw from Him because that which you have expected from Him has not materialized. I want to elaborate on this concept in my next few posts because I want you to find out more about who He is and what He wants to do in your life through His faithfulness.

I truly believe that when we have a revelation of His faithfulness and when we pray knowing who He is and what He is capable of doing, when we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we will see mountains being moved. When we pray within the will of God, for the glory of God and not ourselves, and in a trusting manner, we will start to see the manifestation of our prayers. When we keep record of all He has done in the past for us and meditate on this, our future prayers can become even more powerful.

Jeremiah 29:11-13: ““I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.””

You can count on His promises for your future. He never changes and He never fails…Numbers 23:19: “God is not a human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

I pray that you won’t fall into the trap of letting your vision die because of past disappointments and unmet expectations.

Easter

by Nicky Wood

In the midst of a quiet olive grove that night

Was the one who came to be the Light

Of a world fallen into impenetrable darkness

Destined for destruction forever

The One alone with only His prayer

His blood

His tears

His friends had fallen into slumber

He kneeled alone as His soul was overwhelmed by unthinkable sorrow

Facing His Father

Pleading for this cup to pass

The cup of God’s wrath for all mankind

To be laid upon the Lamb

To tear His flesh apart

Nails that will forever leave eternal scars

The horror of the ones He loved

Laughing

While they’re torturing Him

Yet

He knew

It wouldn’t just be at the foot of the cross

That His heart would rip apart…

Thousands of years to come

His heart would still be laid bare

For you and I

Would we even care?

That night in Gethsemane

The universe waited with bated breath

Upon the Creator to surrender

To sacrifice

To suffer

Betrayed

Battered

Bruised

He gave His body, His life, His love

In absolute agony.

You know the story

But it’s not just a story

It is the only story

That really matters today

And will still matter

As long as there is day and night, summer and winter, life and death

As long as the human race breathes, builds and believes.

You have a choice…

See the Man of sorrows

Kneeling between the trees

Surrendering his Life

For you

Or…

Look away

Choose not to see Him there

Blood sweat soaking into the grass

Choose to look the other way

And you will see Judas approaching

Meeting your eyes

A devious smile spread across his face

You have sold your soul

For thirty shekels

And your sin

Will swallow you up whole

The last tree you will ever see

The one your body will be hung up for all to see…

Which will it be?

 

 

Paradise lost

by Nicky Wood

If God is faithful, why does He allow all the pain and suffering that is consuming this world?

A valid question – to find a glimpse of the answer, will take you back to the beginning of Creation.

In the beginning, man was literally made for paradise. A perfect world. A perfect plan and a perfect creation. No hate, no pain, no disaster or famine or hunger or war. This was God’s plan for you and me.

God made us from love, because He is love, and love was made alive when Adam and Eve walked the earth, so God could manifest His love to them personally. The earth was created for us, out of His eternal love. But love is not just one dimensional, and in God’s omnipotent plan, he desired a relational love – he desired Adam’s love in return.

Yet love can never be forced or required or expected, so the only way to complete the picture was for God to give man a free will. A choice to love or not. If I didn’t have a choice, if I was forced to love you, it would and could never be called love at all.

Eve made the wrong choice. Chose the wrong tree. In an instant Satan received power over this world because of her choice. And forever man would have to choose between good and evil. Whether you choose to believe in God or not does not take away from this Truth. The reality that Adam and Eve were banished from paradise and paradise turned into the hard reality of life on earth as it is now. Our enemy was given control of this world. And the choices people make are not all godly.

So God gave us an opportunity to choose again. We can have paradise again. God decided that it’s not the end. After life on earth man can spend an eternity in Heaven with Him and no man will ever be able to change that because of the one thing that the One man, Jesus, did on the cross.

My intentions are not to oversimplify all the problems of this world, and I know that not everything is a matter of choices. As I mentioned in my first post – time and chance happens to all.

Yet the key here is this:

Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Whatever happens to you in this world, if you love Him, God will work everything out for the good.

That includes all things that might seem wrong or a mess to you or the things in your life that are there because of your own mistakes or weaknesses. God is able to work all of it out for your good. That is how much He loves you.

God’s heart is for you to know the extent of His love for you, the extent of a love and faithfulness that knows no end. That has no boundaries and that can never be extinguished or diminished. A love that is more than likely impossible for a human mind to comprehend in its life time.

He is a God that is faithful, even if we are faithless. (2 Timothy 2:13)