Turning Over a New Leaf

Shannon MartinLeave a comment

A meditation  on Psalm 32 based on the Leader worship resources for Lent, published by MennoMedia for the fourth Sunday in Lent 2016.

Blessed is the one
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
 Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord does not count against them
    and in whose spirit is no deceit. (psalm 32:1-2)

We have been thinking about ourselves and our relationship with the Father as a relationship between the great Author and his collected works.  We are each living ink.  Our stories are still flowing from the pen of life.

During the first few weeks of lent we focused on turning over the pens of our lives and allowing the great Author to write our stories for us.  As well as how to find light in the dark texts of life and also that we can leap off the page and become living ink in our lives through the relationships we have with others.

Today we are going to think about turning over a new leaf.  The focus statement for this week says,

“Turning Over a New Leaf.”  As we turn over the page of each chapter in the grand covenant narrative, we find ourselves invited to “re-turn” to the open arms of Christ and his ways, and to experience his good news of reconciliation.

So what does it mean to turn over a new leaf?

Perhaps the most familiar story in the Bible of someone turning over a new leaf is in the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-32.  We all have heard this story of the man with two sons who chose two very different ways to go in life.

The younger son thought all he needed to be happy was his share of his fathers wealth.  He took it and went out to find his happiness. seeking his identity in the world.

When I kept silent,
    my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
 For day and night
    your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
    as in the heat of summer. (Psalm 32:3-4) 

God desires a personal intimate relationship with each and every one of us. He sees the way we each have tried to follow after the world.  He sees each sin that we commit in an effort to chase after the world to find happiness.  And yet he still calls each one of us back to him with his arms opened wide to receive us.

Why should we go to him?  Because no matter how long we chase after things in this world we can never find something that truly satisfies us.  Just as the younger son in the parable learned, even with all the wealth and privilege an inheritance can bring you are still constantly looking for the next thing to try to find fulfillment. Eventually you fall so low even the pigs have it better.  And you are just as miserable as when you had the wealth that couldn’t buy you contentment.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you
    and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
    my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
    the guilt of my sin (psalm 32:5)

For contentment comes from the Father.  Our identities do no come from this world.  They come from the Father.  When we find our identity in him, he helps us to turn over a new leaf.  We can begin to become the living ink of the Father using our lives to tell about the stories he is waiting to write with in the lives of others.  Stories of love, redemption and humility.

Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
    while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
    will not reach them.
 You are my hiding place;
    you will protect me from trouble
    and surround me with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32:6-7)

When we turn over a new leaf we must turn it over in complete and utter submission to the Father.  We must go forward in total surrender to God’s will.   We come to the Father broken people, broken both by the world and by ourselves.  It is only in our obvious brokeness that we can begin to heal through the Father.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. (Psalm 32:8)

But there was a second brother in the parable.  He too sought to find his identity.

We must be careful when turning over a new leaf of righteousness that we don’t then become like the older brother in the parable.  This brother too was separated from his father.  He was so wrapped up in being a righteous man and doing everything to the letter of the law that he lost the righteousness that comes through the Father and instead he became self-righteous, finding his identity in the wrong kind of legalistic righteousness.

Do not be like the horse or the mule,
    which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
    or they will not come to you.
 Many are the woes of the wicked,
    but the Lord’s unfailing love
    surrounds the one who trusts in him. (Psalm 32:9-10)

The father is patiently waiting for this son to turn over a new leaf and come home to him as well.

Just as he waits for me and for you.  He patiently waits for each of us.  We just have to stop and listen.

Come as you are where you are.  Bring your brokeness to him!  He seeks to heal us.  He ignores our brokeness to pull us in.  He seeks to restore us to our identity in him.

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;
    sing, all you who are upright in heart! (Psalm 32:11)

So this week I invite you to re-examine the stories currently being written in your life.  Is it time to turn over a new leaf?  For myself this is a daily thing.  Each morning I must turn over a new leaf and start the story again.  Asking the Father for his loving guidance to help me find and live my identity as a new creation in God through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Then, and only then, can I become living ink.  An ambassador for the Father, taking this living ink out into the world around us that is hurting.  Helping the lost to see they need to come back to the open arms of the Father.

C. S. Lewis once said,

If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the logical explanation is that I was made for another world.

Come back to the Father.  He is waiting with open arms.  Turn over a new leaf and leave behind whatever has pulled you away.

 

 

 

 

The “Stuff” Society Revisited

Shannon MartinLeave a comment

Have you ever absent mindedly scrolled through your Facebook news feed only to suddenly have something reach out and grab your attention? One such post for me was a quote from noted money advice guy Dave Ramsey, and it said, “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.”  Wow!  Talk about perspective!  It caught my eye as the screen was scrolling by, and I had to back up to make sure I had read it correctly.   This is worth another WOW!

I couldn’t help but reflect over my life and the impressions I have had through out my life of what I needed to buy in order to obtain my American Dream.   Then I realized that maybe deep down I had already realized this because over the last couple of years my priorities have shifted.  My ideas of what we (the husband, our son, and I) actually need, as opposed to what would be nice, have gone through a drastic change.

 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal;  but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. – Matthew 6:18-20

Magazines and blogs are full of articles on how to organize our stuff.   They are also full of articles on how to declutter our stuff.   It seems like a vicious cycle.  We buy the stuff, we store the stuff, we get overwhelmed by the stuff, we get rid of the stuff, then we replace the stuff with more stuff — what are we really looking for?

Perhaps we are looking for approval, possibly from a parent or loved one.  We are hoping beyond hope that the stuff we have acquired will make them proud of us and our successes. All of the stuff we are buying is to show how well we are doing so that they will realize we are worthy of their  affection that we believe is otherwise lacking for us.  Trying to perhaps measure up to some imaginable standard that in reality most likely does not exist.

Perhaps we are we looking for friendship, using the stuff as our “dues” to get into the group we think we most closely identify with.  Why do we think that our character, intelligence,  sense of humor, and compassionate hearts aren’t enough to get and keep friends?  Is our society really that fickle that we choose friends based on outward appearances and possessions instead of on what is on the inside?  When did the make and model of someone’s car become more important than the knowledge that said friend would come to pick us up if we ever needed to be rescued?  Let’s start a friendship revolution instead and try to top each other with acts of kindness, not the brand names of stuff we possess.

Perhaps we are looking for acceptance from our peers and co-workers or maybe our in-laws.  For some reason we are convinced we have to prove we are capable, competent and worthy of what ever position we are holding. Be it office worker or wife, why do we feel we need to prove to others we belong where we are?  Obviously SOMEONE has chosen us, hired us, married us, because they think we fit the bill exactly right.  Let’s own that!

It’s time to put away the prizes for the best stuff.  They just give us even more stuff that we don’t need.

Perhaps we need to figure out why we are filling in the holes in our lives with stuff.  Shouldn’t we instead be turning those holes that need to be filled to our God and creator?  I can’t answer that for you, but for me I think the answer was and IS a definite YES — human insecurity plagues us and we feel less than.

The cures we tend to choose in this broken world are the ones we find here on Planet Earth.  However, I am learning that with every step I take to deepen my own personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, the less incomplete and  undeserving I find myself feeling.  I am learning to rely on him.  This is something that I have to relearn every day, but it is worth it!

As I begin to look to Heaven for the hope I need to in my life I am discovering that I am doing ok.  The Lord wants me to come to him in prayer and be like a child telling him all of the trials and tribulations I am having as wells as all the triumphs and successes in my life.  He will fill me with all that I need.  His gifts to me as his child include wisdom, courage and strength.  He is proud of me and he makes me enough just as I am.

The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing – Zephaniah 3:17 (NRSV)

 

Balancing Act

Shannon MartinLeave a comment

Modern life is definitely fast paced.  We have cities that never sleep.  We race around until we are about to have a nervous breakdown because we are out of time and energy and there are hardly any items checked off of the to do list.

Why?  Why are we stressing ourselves so much with a multitude of demands on our time?

It most likely comes back to our western culture.  Our values include things such as more is better and survival of the fittest.  We have become so used to the frantic paces of our lives that we struggle to spend any quiet time because it leaves us feeling like we should be busy.  That we are somehow being lazy.  We have forgetten how to engage in sabbath times.  This is greatly affecting our ability to spend quality time in relationship with God.

I have been reading this month a book by Paul E. Miller called A Praying Life, Connecting with God in a Distracting World as part of my reading  assignments for the Fellows Program.  He points out that one of the reasons we fail at prayer is because when we can’t stand to stop long enough:

American culture is probably the hardest place in the world to learn to pray. We are so busy that when we slow down to pray, we find it uncomfortable. We prize accomplishments, production. But prayer is nothing but talking to God. It feels useless, as if we are wasting time. Every bone in our bodies screams, “Get to work.” – pg 15

It pains me to admit it, but I am in this category.  I consistently struggle to find space for consistent prayer times in my life.  I have the best intentions, but still continue to be more of a conversational prayerer more than anything else.

By this I mean that I have little conversations with God throughout the day.  For example when I am in the car driving to or from work.  Or when I am in the latest battle of wills with Mr. Max (my son).  When I lay down in bed at night.

I also frequently do what Mr. Miller refers to as breath prayers, which are quick phrases said in a single breath (pg 68).  So it is not unusual for me to say a quick prayer like, “Lord give me strength” or “Lord help me learn patience” as I go about my day.

However, a quiet time of prayer daily seems to still be eluding me.  I am determined to change this because I can feel the presence of God during these quick times of prayer, and it makes me want to have that feeling more often!  I tend to be a highly emotional person who can be  a little high strung.  How much more effective could I be as a woman of God if I could feel his calming presence more regularly in my days?

So what is keeping me from devoting this time to be in relationship with God each day?  It is my crazy 21st century life.   Even though I have cut back my involvement in things significantly both in my home life and my church life, there are still many responsibilities that have to be attended to:

  • Taking care of my husband and son
  • Taking care of our home
  • Working a full-time job as a department manager for a redistribution company
  • My studies and assignments for the C.S. Lewis Fellows Program
  • Church Ministries I am still part of
  • Exploring the writing nudges God has placed on my heart
  • Exercising and self-care
  • Quiet times for prayer and Bible Study

These areas of my life take up a huge chunk of my time.  I am pretty sure that no matter how hard or how often I pray for it, God will not provide me with more hours in the day!  So that means I am going to have to be more intentional with my time if I want to squeeze it all in.

As the busy season for me at work dies down I am now going to turn my focus to this list of priorities in my life.  They are all important areas of who I am and who God is calling me to be.  So cutting anything from this list isn’t an option.

So what can I do to make these things happen?

To start with, I need to take a look at the distractions in my life.  One important item to cut are the ministries that I am involved with that God is no longer calling me to be a part of.  I have struggled with this greatly these past couple of months.  It has been a hard lesson for me to learn that while all ministry endeavors are good not all of them are part of God’s plan for me at this time in my life.

Have you ever read the poem about people who come into your life?  Some are there for a reason, some for a season, and some are there for life.  I have discovered that this also applies to ministries I am involved with!

Some I have been called to for a reason.  God had a lesson for me to learn there, but now it is time to let the ministry go because I have received the intended lesson.  Others I have been called to for a season and will continue with these areas, like being a worship leader.  And still others I will be a part of for life.  So I have been slowly learning to let go of the areas of church life that I served in for just a reason or a season that has now ended.  These have been some of the hardest lessons I have learned to date.

Through my prayer conversations to and from work I am also realizing that I spend too much precious time watching unnecessary television.  So if I want to find more time for the priorities I have identified above, specifically more consistent quiet times with God through prayer and Bible study and exercising and self-care, then I need to not waste time watching reruns of shows I really could care less about.  Cutting down in this area can help in two ways:

  1. free up time in the evening after dinner to devote to exercise
  2. get me to bed earlier so that I can wake up a little earlier each morning to incorporate the quiet times

In addition to these two items, I realized that I will also need to be more intentional with our weekly meal planning.  I need to be considering healthy meal  choices while also keeping in mind prep times.  This will enable me to quickly take care of meal times for my family but also leave some free space in the evenings.

So there it is.

Most likely I will need to keep coming back and surrendering myself in prayer for the Father’s guiding hands in my life as I plan out how to use the valuable time he has given me each day.  This balancing act has been and will continue to be a struggle for me, but this time I am giving it to God and asking for his help.

I can do all things through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13) when I take the time to be still and know that he is God (Psalm 46:10) and his plans for me are for my welfare and will give me hope for the future (Jeremiah 29:11).

 

 

 

 

Finding Vision in the Valley

Shannon MartinLeave a comment

Life is filled with ups and downs.  Sometimes it seems we see more valleys than mountain peaks.  More often than not we have been taught in this day and age when trials come, and we feel ourselves descending into a valley, we need to pull ourselves back up and say, “Enough!”

I am determined enough.

I am strong enough.

I am resilient enough.

I am smart enough.

These statements are filled with a ton of “I”‘s — yet when things go wrong or aren’t going right fast enough (there’s that word again), I start to wonder where is God at?  Why is he allowing this to happen to me?  I like to think I am a good person.   A faithful person.   Why isn’t he helping me?  Yet in all of the statements above there is not a single mention of God…

Suddenly my vision is beginning to clear.  God hasn’t left me or forsaken me.  He hasn’t tossed me out into the woods where hungry wolves prowl.  He has been right beside me through thick and thin.

His lack of response is because I have shut him out with my determination to be self-sufficient.  I am the biggest cause of my own separation from the Good Shepherd!

When things in my life have become difficult, trying, or impossible, I have cried out to God but turned deaf ears to him.  Then I would become angry, or feel lost and alone, because I couldn’t feel his presence or hear his voice in my suffering.  All along he has been and is right beside me.  He was, and still is, patiently waiting for me to be still long enough to talk with him and listen to what he has to say to me.  He is waiting to guide me through every valley.

We as a society and culture have done the same exact thing.  We no longer trust in the Good Shepherd to guide us.  Instead we create manmade codes of law and justice, erect walls, and other things of our own invention to fix the bane of humanity.

Problems with addictions

Homelessness

Illnesses.

We believe in the power of therapy and counseling to help determine what we are missing so we can fix ourselves.  We trust in the ability to fix society problems through human agencies.  We look for answers in our doctors and modern medicine to fix maladies.

And when these things let us down we finally ask, where was God in all of this?  How could he allow this to happen?  Why does he let these things continue?  If he truly loved us he would not allow bad things to happen.

He is the last place we are looking to for guidance, care and healing when he should be the first!

How different would our world be if the politicians and people in business were Godly men and women who were actively seeking to hear and be directed by God in both their personal and professional lives?  What if they were leaning on God through the power of prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit when making decisions that affect the masses?

It all comes back to a personal level.  It starts with me.   To be a Godly woman I need to seek God through prayer.  As often as needed to successfully navigate the road I am on.  Daily, hourly, each and every moment.

God our Father doesn’t want us to be fair weather friends.  He created us to be in community with him. God gave us the ultimate example of what fellowship and relationship should look like.  He sets the example for us with the relationship we see between the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God didn’t choose for man to fall, but he also didn’t abandon us.  He has since the dawn of creation desired to be in relationship with all of his children.  Unfortunately  we humans seem to be just as determined to forgo that fellowship with our creator because we are convinced we can do it on our own.

Fortunately God is patient with his wayward children.

Despite our best attempts to go it alone, He still wants an intimate relationship with us so that when the storms of life come we have a secure anchor in him.  He will guide us to safe harbors.

Lean on the Good Shepherd.  He will lead us through the high peaks and through the low valleys.  He will comfort us when we fall. He will protect us always with his staff.  And he will always be there to listen to our cares and give us the best Fatherly advice ever breathed day or night.

God’s grace for us is abundant.  His goodness and mercy will never end.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long. Psalm 23:6 (NRSV)

 

Of Spirits and Their Warfare

Shannon MartinLeave a comment

Spiritual warfare.  What can I say about it that hasn’t been said before?  Is it real? Absolutely!

The doldrums, the blues, Jonah days — call them whatever you want. They are dark days mentally and spiritually depressing.

Dark nights of the soul.

Like most things in life, it doesn’t come in one shape or size.  Each experience is different for each person.  I suppose there can be similarities, but since no two people are alike no two experiences can be exactly alike.  I am not sure if what I experience is the norm in these instances or not, but this is what it feels like for me:

I feel like I am slipping into a deep dark hole drowning in darkness. It leaves me feeling hopeless and lost and lonely. And it is the loneliness that gets me the most.

I feel isolated and completely alone. All hope is gone. Which I know is not true.  I know that I have ever-present hope and I have been cleansed and saved but in the midst of the darkness it feels like I have lost all hope.

It feels like I’m alone and that is how he attacks me.

He isolates me and separates me and makes me feel as if no one in the world cares about me in any way shape or form and I am a lonely island adrift in icy cold dark waters.

So is there a spiritual warfare? Yes, unequivocally yes —  and the reason that no one can explain exactly what spiritual warfare is like is because it’s tailor-made for each and every one of us. The devil and his demons pick out their target and then look for the weaknesses and put together a custom plan of attack specifically for you, specifically for me.

The devil and his minions don’t stick to one plan of attack either.

Once they have done all they can with their frontal attack, then  they become even more covert and spring up from the sides or come from behind. They continue with other little attacks when you’re already feeling lost and hopeless and alone.

The evil army begins to make you question things like your confidence in yourself as a professional.  Or perhaps it is your  dependability or worthiness as a mother or a wife or a homemaker .  Maybe it is centered on your physical appearance making you wonder if anyone can take you seriously because you don’t fit into the super model mold.

Why do these attacks happen?

Not because Satan has anything against you per se, but because as soon as you make that choice  to step out in faith  and strive to be all that God has called you to be you have captured his undivided attention.

You see we are the front lines in our communities spreading the love and good news — Light bearers in a dark and broken world.

Satan’s  issues are with God not man . He is using his attacks at us to attack God.

Our Father in Heaven is just like any earthly parent and wants to protect us.  We are after all made in God’s image.  He wants to keep us safe and sheltered and covered with his love.

How far do we go to protect our loved ones?  Can you imagine how much farther our Father God goes to protect and care for us?

He went so far to protect and care for us that it cost him his Son!

So what can we as brothers and sisters in Christ do when faced with spiritual warfare? How do we help each other and support each other when in the midst of a great attack? In the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians, we stand firm, ready for battle, clothed in the full armor God has provided to us:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.  Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.  As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. – Ephesians 6:10-18 (NRSV)

It has been said that we Christians have forgotten how to pray.  Our prayers ask for safety.  We ask God to watch over us and to watch over those we love and to keep us all safe.  We pray that no harm ever come to us.

The Christians in the early church, as well as Christians in times of persecution, didn’t pray for safety.  They prayed for boldness.  For the ability to go forward proclaiming the goodness and saving grace of Jesus on the cross no matter what the cost.

We also need to be more diligent in wielding the sword of spirit.

The Bible.

The Spirit-breathed words of God.

We need to study and immerse ourselves in these words committing them to memory and storing them away in our hearts. That way when the attacks come we are at the ready with our sword to defend ourselves.  Jesus himself gave us this example when he was tempted by Satan in the desert.

Perhaps the biggest enemy we have when it comes to spiritual warfare is ourselves.  We have become so caught up in the concept of self-reliance in twenty-first century America that we try to take on the battles alone.

We need to embrace the examples of our ancestors and rely on our mighty and powerful God to fill us with his strength.  We need to leave behind the preconceived notions that we must handle things on our own or be considered weak.

In the end we are all weak.  We need to cling to and place our hope and faith in God.  Only he can can equip us for the battles and only he can lead us through them.  We are engaged in a battle for today, but Jesus has already won the war for eternity.

Indeed, you are my lamp, O Lord, the Lord lightens my darkness.  By you I can crush a troop,
    and by my God I can leap over a wall.  This God—his way is perfect;
    the promise of the Lord proves true;
    he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.  –2 Samuel 22:29-31 (NRSV)