John Woodward

My wife and I have been challenged by the life story of Rees Howells. He was raised in a Welsh mining village a century ago and grew to be a man of great spiritual zeal and witness. This founder of the Bible College of Wales demonstrated the amazing potential of intercessory prayer. His biography recounts…

“And now abide faith, hope, love… ” (1 Cor. 13:13). “[The Lord’s mercies] are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:23). One of the lessons we can learn from the life of Moses is the importance of faith and God’s faithfulness. As this man of God was sent back to Egypt to lead…

When parents want to emphasize to their child the need for obedience, they may say, “no ‘if’, ‘ands’, or ‘buts’! ISometimes I needed such direction as I was growing up. Although children can develop skill in giving excuses, the determined mom or dad sees through these tactics. We will notice that God’s children can also…

Have you had one of those days when nothing seems to go right? You’re late for work, stuck in traffic, lock your keys in the car, have a headache, get into an argument with your spouse … You wish you could go back and get out of the other side of the bed, if that…

“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those…

“Amazing grace, shall always be my song of praise, For it was grace that bought my liberty; I do not know just why He came to love me so, He looked beyond my fault and saw my need.”[1] The words of that song gratefully acknowledge the wonderful blessing of God’s grace in the lives of…

We sometimes use the expression “keep the faith!” to encourage steadfast endurance. How should we “keep the faith”? “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col 2:6). Faith in salvation includes belief and trust. Belief denotes the idea of confidence in the truth, and trust denotes reliance upon the…

The preacher said “We all start out life naked and hungry, and it goes downhill from there!” Thankfully, the way we were born again in Christ has more of a basis for optimism! Colossians 2:6 draws an important comparison between the way the Christian life begins and how it should express itself in discipleship. “As…

We conclude our study of 1 Corinthians 1:30 by focusing on Christ as our Redeemer. “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God –and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” All these spiritual blessing are graciously bestowed on the believer in Christ! To “redeem” involves securing someone’s release through…