I AM HE!

Michael E. Wood

June 2, 2014

 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”  John 4:23-26

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  John 5:24-25

How often do we who have the privilege to read the scriptures in our own language miss out on the fact that as we read, God speaks to us through Christ by the Spirit?  We can become so immersed in reading as an accomplishment of a particular goal that we have set for ourselves and miss the sweetness of the communion, or the wisdom that we could be given, or the understanding for correction needed, or the blessed assurance that we have indeed heard Him for whom all praise is due.

While reading the passage where Jesus was confronting the woman at the well, my heart was stirred afresh in the realization that the words of eternal life of which He spoke to her, He likewise spoke to me. He has borne my judgment and has brought me from death into life.

Have you heard from Him today?

I speak to you from heaven

By the Spirit that I give

Who immersed you in the love

Of God the Father now to live

As a child whom He adopted

When we brought you forth to birth

As a part of the eternal plan

Prepared before the earth;

In the counsel now revealed in truth

Through Holy Scripture taught

By the Spirit who is in you

And my blood by which you’re brought

Into union with the body

As the virgin bride to be

When the consummation comes

And all will know that I AM HE!

Happy Anniversary, ‘Wifey’!

May 18, 2014

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Amos 3:3

Four years now and nothing I’d change

As God has seen fit our life to arrange

As a platform for love which comes from the heart

Of Christ who is pure and has made us a part

Of His body as one o’er which He does sing

And walks in our midst by grace now to bring

The honor that’s due, Oh, Father above.

There’s no One like You that together we love.

I Love You Dianna Lynne Wood!!!!

Thank you for walking together with me,

To the praise of His glory,

Michael

The Bread of The Presence

Michael E. Wood

May 13, 2014

So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.         1 Samuel 21:6

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:9-11

Do you remember that old saying, “You are what you eat”?  As members of the body of Christ we have each been given the privilege of partaking of the bread of the presence of Christ through the Word of His grace that we might become more like Him from one degree of glory to another until we are with Him and like Him in glory

The bread of the presence of Christ we partake

Who strengthens our hearts and our minds to forsake

The sin which remains so that Like Him we’ll be

When with Him in glory His face we will see.

No sin will be seen then as all God forgot

When Christ in our place crushed that serpents own plot

To rob and to steal and to kill and destroy

The glory that God only wise can employ

When all He will bring to that consummate end

Revealing in splendor the Son He did send

Whose greatness and power then fully displayed

Will fill all our joy then forever amazed.

So feast on Him there in the Word of His grace

As He quickens our step in His patience of pace

For He knows of our weakness to stumble and fall

Yet He answers in mercy when on Him we call.

The Sure Foundation

Michael E. Wood

May 12, 2014

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:1-2

“Now this is surely a message for us at the present time. The first thing we have to do is make certain of the foundations. We need not to labour this point. We all must be ready to agree that the main effect of the various movements in the realm of thought and in the realm of religion (alas!) during the last hundred years has been to query and to question the foundation. The trouble still in the church is a matter of foundations.” October 6, 1946, from a message preached by DM Lloyd Jones in Westminster Chapel, London.

While contemplating thoughts that came to mind upon beginning a new book of expository sermons on 2 Peter I was reminded that we need to preach the gospel to ourselves every day.

The gospel call is what I know

And need to hear most, every day.

For Jesus set His love within

My heart, to speak along the way.

The narrow gate, He brought me in

By blessed holy union

And through His blood I now enjoy

The Father’s sweet communion.

The Holy Spirit leadeth me

And shows to me my teachers,

Confirming truth by scriptures

As they’re taught by His own preachers

Appointed and anointed

To instruct by wisdom given

To live each day by faith in Him

Who in me is now livin’.

How subtly our enemy

Attacks the sure foundation

On which we have been built

Upon in each new generation.

But Christ who has accomplished

Our salvation to the end

Will glorify Himself

In each new battle that we win.

So courage take, by righteousness

Through Christ within the veil

As we as bones and flesh of His

Are strengthened to prevail

O’er all that is now present

In this worldly evil haze

Till all the glory of His light

Shines through all of our days.

Imputed and Imparted

Michael E. Wood

April 22, 2014

 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, Ephesians 6:10-14

“Before I can stand in the presence of God I must be positively holy, I must be positively righteous. God is just and holy. ‘God is light and in Him is no darkness at all’. To stand in His presence I need to be positively righteous. And this is how it happens. As I believe on God’s Son and His perfect work for me, He ‘imputes’ His righteousness, His perfect observance of the law to me. I have not kept the law; Christ has kept it perfectly and He is righteous before the law. God puts that to my account, imputes to me, the righteousness of His own Son. He clothes me with it. So, as I stand in the presence of God, God does not see me, He sees the righteousness of His Son covering me completely.”

“That is the beginning; that is what makes me a Christian; that is the foundation. But God does not stop at that, He now begins to work in me the righteousness of His own Son. He ‘imparts’ it to me, He makes it a part of me, He puts it into me. This happens of necessity as the result of the rebirth, regeneration, the new life. There is a seed of life ‘implanted’ in me.”  

Quotations from: “The Christian Soldier", D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, p. 229, 230

Imputed and imparted is the righteousness alone

Which comes by faith in Jesus Christ who did for us atone

To give us such a standing that we in the presence of

God the Father, know Him and are known as His Beloved!

And no inherent goodness or integrity of ours

Could ever stand the torments of the darkest cosmic powers

But grace so freely given helps us learn that we can stand,

Receiving strength by promise in obedience to command

Of God breathed words provided through the text of Holy writ,

Empowered by the Spirit, working in our inner wit

To grow us and sustain us for the purpose we were born

Anew and thus prepared as Christ’s own bride, He did adorn.

His Sheep

Michael E. Wood
April 20, 2014


“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15:18-19

It appears that our life is getting back to some similitude of being normal once again. We still have a few things which would be good to have finished in our little humble abode, like having air conditioners installed before the Summer heat comes, but living here in Rancho Cordova has become a reality.

As mentioned in the previous post, Dianna has been writing about the events of our transition and found another sight to post the transformation process of the 1964 mobile home we have moved into. http://www.hometalk.com/ Most of the response has been very positive and encouraging to others to venture out in do it yourself projects for home improvement, but one individual was put off with the fact that "Christ is in every room" and used the word sheep as a derogatory description in their response. While thinking on these things the following came to mind.

His sheep indeed we humans are
Who know the sweetest voice
Has called us each by name to know
Our Shepherd made the choice
To give His life as payment
For our great offence toward God
And suffered in our place when struck
With judgments mighty rod.

And as He rose victoriously
O'er sin and death and hell,
His righteousness provided us
With entry through the veil,
To praise the One who is our King
With joy, no words describe,
Who ransomed all the church
From every nation, tongue, and tribe.

Fulfilled Then in Your Presence

Michael E. Wood

February 21 & March 16, 2014

 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

 1 John 3:2

Having been much distracted over the past month and a half with researching, purchasing, and now in the process of remodeling an older mobile home (Dianna has written more of the details on http://thewoodssecretgarden.blogspot.com/); it seems that time for writing on this blog has become less of a priority for a season. With maintaining “the old school method” of writing out poetry and songs by hand and then transferring everything to the blog with introductory remarks requires more time than one might think. I smile as I look back when going through a season of writing profusely and some one remarked, “You must have a whole lot of time on your hands”. Well now I can more readily appreciate what they were saying. It’s not the writing of the poems but the contemplation and writing of the introductions that seem to take up the most time.

Sometimes I get the sense that though my writing comes from the heart that God has and is transforming in me, the intent of the writing is meant more for the benefit of others..

Oh may my final breath

When that day comes be to Your praise

With joyful expectation

That this body You will raise.

Resulting in the glory

That belongs alone to You

When Christ in all His beauty

Is than seen in every hue

Of transformation that takes place

Begun while here on earth

As by the sacrifice of Christ

You gave me second birth.

Fulfilled then in Your presence

Holy Father, as Your son;

Rejoicing in the Spirit,

Who through Christ

Has made us one.