dennis martin papp

Twenty-One • Day Seven

GRATITUDE

 

Saturday is a day to savor God's goodness.

 

Reflect on what He has done with a thankful heart.

 

Recount the many ways He is for you!

 

A Song

 

You have time today. Quiet yourself. Click the link. Give thanks.

 

The acoustic version starts with some talking. Don't skip it.

 

Twenty-One • Day Six

GPS

"Where am I with God?" By now you may have a bit more clarity with our question. The answer may even have surprised you. It surprised me.

I got out this morning for a walk. My walking habit has been in a bad place lately. I wake every day planning to go, waiting for the sun to rise, only to get distracted and put it off until tomorrow. Well, today was tomorrow! I even put it on my to do list: walk.

The canal path is icy this January. Last year I got some spikes that band around my shoes. I purchased them after landing on my backside in the middle of Cemetery Road...not a place you want to lay too long, either literally or figuratively. Walking was slower and noisier that usual thanks to the crunching ice. 

As I walked I prayed. I pray best when walking. It is easy to stay alert and to tie topics to spots along the path. I walked and I prayed. I walked out two miles, then turned to walk back. On the way back I started praying through my three audacious prayers. This year mine are rather private, not the type I feel free to share. I prayed over the first one. It is prayer I have prayed for a long time with no answer. Just silence. I talked with God about how we've been here before. I walked this same walk a year ago praying the same prayer. 

On to the second. This one is new. I've prayed about it before but it is new to the fast. It is a heavy lift, one that would require God to open blind eyes and melt icy hearts. I feel a strong burden to pray it, yet I do not anticipate a quick reply.

I came around the bend toward the long, straight part of the path. I started saying words that I've been praying for months, listing the names and recounting the situation. It was then that it happened. It caught me by surprise. I was praying hard words with great intensity. Words flowed. Hard words. Spirited words. Yes, angry words. Words of disappointment and pain, frustration and confusion. I wasn't ready for it. It was so spontaneous, so unexpected. Then I circled back to the first request with a similar honest, vulnerable, raw explosion.

In the moments that followed I had a "What was that?" conversation with myself. But I already knew what it was. It was God's Spirit answering the question that I've been asking but avoiding. I now knew exactly where I was with God. I can't say I'm totally happy with the location. Don't worry, this isn't about sin or disobedience. It's about praying audaciously when the mountain doesn't budge, the waters won't part and there is no manna to collect or burning bush revelation. It's about believing God's promises even when circumstances seem to call the promises into question. It's about hoping when hope is thread bare.

It took a few days to get to this place, to get to the answer. It took some distance from the things that fill me with a false fullness. 

How about you? Has the GPS revealed your location yet? Where are you with God?

Today's Prayer

Years back a wise person taught me to pray this question: What is the truest thing you can say to God right now? That might be a prayer worth praying today. See where it takes you. That question makes me think of another quote: Solitude is the place where we wait for God in the midst of the unfixable things in our lives. Is it possible that the unfixable things are the things God is using to draw out the truth of your location with Him?

Final Thought

Worship Team meets most Thursdays to rehearse for Sunday. We're going to sing two great songs Sunday! They feel a little different. Fresh notes. New voices. I was listening to this songs and knew I'd have to post it. 

A Song

This is the truest thing I can say and want to say to God tonight as I head off to sleep.

 

Twenty-One • Day Five

Inventory Revisited

We spent yesterday surveying our souls, asking the probing question, "Where am I with God?" We wanted to locate ourselves in relation to Him. Our assignment was to condense our answer to a word or a very short phrase. We're going to stay here for another day. As we do, we will attempt to approach the question from another direction, or maybe more accurately, from another source. 

By this point in the fast you may be sensing some internal movement. One way that movement reveals itself is through emotions. You may be noticing a greater emotional intensity. Things feel more. For me, I'd say I am feeling something of an emotional rawness. My sadness is sadder, almost to the point of grief. At the same time, little points of joy and hope feel so joyful and hopeful! 

What's that all about? I believe God speaks to us through our emotions. Unfortunately, most of us have so much emotional wreckage that we have not learned how to probe our emotions the way God desires. Some of us stuff emotions. Others deny them. Still others explode. We tend to see an emotion as an end in itself rather than a pathway of discovery. We say things like, "I'm so mad" but have no real idea why. We may have a sense of emotional lightness, but do not give the reason much thought.

The evangelical tradition lays another whole layer of complexity upon our perceptions of emotion. We are people of facts. We focus on objective truth. Emotions are subjective and can be seen as misleading. Emotions have been depicted at the caboose on a three-car train. The engine is truth and the coal car is faith. Decouple emotions, the caboose, and the train can still ride (though rather joylessly). Emotions are nice, but not necessary is the thinking.

There was a wise theologian from years past who taught those he was discipling to pay especially close attention to emotions. He saw them as a way to get at the question, "Where am I with God?" He called on people to do a short, ten-minute review of the day. They were to focus on what he called consolation and desolation, lighter moments and darker moments. We might ask, "For what was I most grateful today?" and "For what was I least grateful?"

As you continue your inventory, think about what you are feeling. Anger? Sadness? Joy? Delight? Flat? Ecstatic? Down? Sit in that emotion's space. What are your dominant feelings this day? As you work through them, ask yourself what this tells you about your relationship with God. I suspect yesterday we answered that question with our heads. Now let's take it to the heart.

Today's Prayer

Identify an emotion or two that you are feeling and pray from that space. That's what David did in the Psalms. When he was sad or felt defeated, he lamented. He cried with joy. He smiled in satisfaction. Use that emotion as a starting point for your conversation with God. Talk to Him about how you feel (or maybe don't feel).

Final Thought

This could be a practice you add to your daily routine. Take ten minutes toward the end of the day for an emotional review. I'd encourage it especially for those of us who have a hard time identifying and expressing our feelings.

A Song

Here's another soul-soaking moment. Let it wash over you.

 

Twenty-One • Day Four

Inventory

An important element of a spiritual season like this one is to stop long enough to assess. In some ways we have hit a pause button on mindlessness. We are gaining an awareness of God in all things. Our spiritual sensitivities are intensified.

Awareness of God heightens self-awareness. Where we are in relation to Him? This weekend I was asked to write a personal note in a Bible. I circled 1 John 2:28, noting that this is one of my favorite verses: And now, dear children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at his coming. I still remember discovering this verse in high school. It motivates me. John starts with the concept of abiding, continuing, remaining in Christ, just like we talked about Sunday. We are to live conscious of His constant presence, praying without ceasing. Then he gives a two-fold admonition. Because of Christ's imminent (any moment) return, we are to live in such a way that we can hold our heads high in confidence and not shrink back in shame. The fact that He could come back at any moment motivates us to be caught doing the right thing when He appears!

Awareness of God's presence wakes us up! We no live just going though the motions. We realize that every motion matters. Every one. And so, an assessment is in order. God is with me all the time. Jesus could appear at any moment. The Spirit has taken up residence in me. I am His house, His temple. How does that awareness impact my intentions and actions, my motives and motions?

Let's start with one simple assessment question today. It is not a question that I expect you to be able to answer in three minutes or less. In fact, you may find it lingering for the rest of the fast. For now, let it fill the thoughts of this day. Here it is: Where am I with God? Another way to ask it: How is my relationship with God? If possible, boil it down to a word by tomorrow morning. If not a word, a very short sentence. 

How are we going to get at the answer? By asking. Just like David did, ask:

Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, oh God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Throughout the day, let the Spirit reveal the answer to you. Let Him direct you. By tomorrow have a word or short phrase answering the question, "Where am I with God?"

Today's Prayer

In boldness and humility, ask God's Spirit to search you. Open yourself to what He might say.

Final Thoughts

Different personalities approach personal assessments differently. Some love the opportunity to hear truth so they can correct course. Some enter a state of self-loathing. Still others cower at the thought of any less-than-postive input. The Spirit is a kind and gentle teacher. He has your best interests at heart. Be open to His approach. John 3 tell us that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. Receive what He tells you in the spirit it is given, a spirit of love.

The Song

I'm including a song every day for slowing. Stop and listen. If it is a Bethel song, you might have to book an hour! Drink it in. Let Him speak.

 

Twenty-One • Day Three

Noticing

As I walked through my rather ordinary Monday, do you know what I noticed? That I noticed more. Perhaps that was the case for you as well. You experienced a heightened sense of noticing. For example, you may have noticed the number of times that you reached for the thing that you are intentionally pushing away, the object of your fast. Maybe you had a greater sensitivity to the day overall. You noticed that you were living in a sacred space in a way that is not always at the forefront of your attention. Hopefully you noticed God more. There was a greater sense of God in all things, both in you and around you.

In the Bible, a poignant example of noticing is found in three of the Gospels: Matthew 9:18-25, Mark 5:25–34, Luke 8:43–48. Mark's version is the most detailed and personal. A woman had suffered a disease for twelve long years. She exhausted her resources seeking a cure, but the condition only grew worse. Mark shares her deepest thoughts and desires: "If I touch even His garments, I will be made well." She is desperate, and her desperation drew her to the only person with an answer. Healing came immediately with the touch. 

The next moments are rather intense. Jesus senses, He notices that something has happened. Mark says that Jesus perceived that power had gone out from Him. Can you imagine this? Jesus is being pressed from every side, yet His spiritual sensitive is at such a heightened level that He recognizes a touch that is unlike all the other nudges and bumps. Luke lets us know that Peter tries to reason away what Jesus sensed in the moment. Soon the woman steps up and admits what happened. All three Gospels record a similar response from Jesus: "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well. Go in peace."

Jesus wants this way of living for us. He wants us, in the middle of the whirling commotion of life, to notice a sacred moment. Prayer and fasting heighten our ability to notice, just like they did for Jesus. As you walk into this day, allow the practice of fasting and prayer to heighten your spiritual senses. See and hear God around you. In the middle of the noise, hear the still small voice. As the crowds presses in, notice the touch.

Today's Prayer

Let your prayer be formed by the woman's story. Twelve years is a long time to look for a solution, to long for a solution. She had consulted the experts of her time. She had poured out her resources looking for an answer. She just wanted to be normal again. As you think of your audacious prayer, or as you continue to form your prayer, how does it compare to the desperation and the impossibility of the woman's desire? She prayed an audacious prayer. She had been in pain for a long time, and had tried everything. That's the kind of prayer Jesus wants us to bring to Him during these twenty-one days. Go ahead, touch the hem of His robe. 

Final Thoughts

You've heard the description of the story. Now let's take it in. Read each version out loud or listen to them on an app. First Matthew's version, then Luke's and finally Mark's. Here's the Dwell App Link. After listening, look more closely at each passage. Compare the way each tells the story. What did they include? What details are shared in all three? Which are exclusive, mentioned only by one? Spend time with the woman. Hear her desperation. Walk with her in the story. Let the response of Jesus fill your heart. Receive His message of healing and peace. 

 

 

Twenty-One • Day Two

Denial and Delight

I still have the taste of Sunday lingering in my soul. It was a good day, everything about it. I stood at the outside door before and after church for the first time since March. The lack of time between four services did not allow for connecting time. For so many reasons I sensed a deeper connection yesterday. And then there was the music! The Blessing and Graves into Gardens. It was the soul-soaking rain my dry heart needed. As I write these words I do not want the day to end. It was a good day!

On this first weekday of the fast the song lyrics continue to ring in my ears: I searched the world, but it couldn't fill me...

We are on a seemingly endless quest to fill the void within us. Philosopher Blaise Pascal identifies that hole as a God-shaped void. He wrote, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made know through Jesus Christ."

Why do we fast? Denial sweeps away all of the substitutes we consume to fill the void that can only be filled by God. We stop consuming long enough to experience a sense of hunger. It is in the hunger that we realize we've been masking our truest desire with empty fillers. So we push some things away. We embrace denial to experience true delight.

God made us to delight in Him. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." It is easy to misinterpret this verse. The psalmist is not telling us that the key to getting what we want is to delight in God. He's actually saying that new desires are implanted within us as we delight in the Lord. Delighting in Him actually changes our appetites and desires. Denying ourselves is the pathway to true delight. It is only when feel our emptiness that we can ever know that there is a source that truly satisfies. 

Today's Prayer

Bold, Humble, Audacious Prayers. As you sit with God in this quiet moment, have you yet identified the request or requests you are placing before Him during the fast? In the days to come I will suggest items for prayer. For today, focus on the prayer or prayers you are bringing to Him. Write them down. Clearly identify your focus. What will you be asking of God for the weeks of the fast?

Final Thoughts

You got a few minutes? I'm embedding the song from yesterday. Listen to it again. You'll be blown away at how well the message fits with the fast. Hear the words: Oh there's nothing, better than You! Pray God will make these words real to you and to our church in the days to come.

 

Twenty-One • Day One

Our post on the Sundays of the fast is the message from Sunday morning. If you missed it, you can watch it here or on our channel.

 

 

Twenty-One • A Time to Prepare

Starting Sunday, January 10, SouthField will engage in Twenty-One Days of Fasting and Prayer. Like a great meal, a great season of fasting and prayer requires forethought and preparation.

We are playing off the acronym introduced by leadership expert Jim Collins year ago. He advised organizations to move beyond safe, comfortable goals and form some BHAGs:

BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS GOALS

Following his lead we are going to engage in BHAPs:

BOLD, HUMBLE, AUDACIOUS PRAYERS

Last fall we studied the life of Joshua, a man who was commanded to be bold and courageous. It is time to put our learning to action and pray bold and courageous prayers.

To prepare, ponder these four questions:

What audacious prayers will I pray?

Who might I join in praying these prayers?

What will I give over to God for a fast?

How will it work practically over the twenty-one days?

What's Your Plan? (4 of 5)

April 30.

Next up, May 1.

How's your plan looking?

How will you use this month-long quarantine to take steps toward spiritual growth?

May is a great month for growth. Remember, April showers bring _________ __________.

We plant gardens, watch trees bloom and witness vivid shades of green again!

What growth will life's April showers bring to your spiritual May? Are you ready for some growth?

We have thirty-one days, that, if used intentionally and systematically, will result in a flourishing soul!

What will you do daily?

Bible intake? A new prayer practice? Some other soul practice?

If you've not tried it yet, jump on the Dwell app?

We receive Scripture differently when we hear it. If you want to try it, email me here.

Dwell offers several 30 and 40 Day Plans. Choose one and listen daily.

How about this? Why not wake every day and pray on your knees before touching a screen?

Maybe kneeling prayer morning, noon and night?

How about a daily prayer walk? I take mine on the I&M Canal Path and plan to do it every day this month. All 31, rain or shine!

Why not try keeping a daily journal. Maybe you'll write five reasons for thanks every day.

How about this? A meal every day at the table. Maybe even try reading a passage together or listening to a Dwell Plan.

Here's another. Completely turn off ALL technology for one hour every day.

What will you do daily?

Move to weekly.

Have you tried fasting one day a week?

Maybe it is time to take a true weekly Sabbath?

What if one day a week all technology was totally turned off all day long? 

How about connecting with a friend(s) for a Zoom study? Why not pray with someone weekly?

Is it time to revive letter writing? Write a letter of encouragement to someone.

Don't for get your weekly connection with SouthField.

Set your family's time. Worship is totally in your hands right now. Set a time.

Determine what you will do beyond the video. Communion? Singing? Prayer? Talking after about what you learned?

It is way too easy to put it off until later, and then never do it.

Monthy?

What one thing you will do this May to spur your growth?

Is there a book you've been hoping to read? Take it in this May.

How about memorizing a chapter of the Bible? 

You could organize a prayer journal.

Why not try unplugging from Facebook or the "news."

Maybe it is a serve of some sort.

How's your plan looking?

Time is ticking. Try something new. Revive something old. 

Share more ideas is the comments below.

What's Your Plan? (3 of 5)

We're all in this together.

Every time I catch that phase during the COVID quarantine (and we hear or see it about very 20 minutes), my mind starts blasting out with the kids singing on High School Musical. What is it about modern American life that we think a catchy, cute, sappy hashtag cures all? Sorry. I digress.

Let's stick with one word.

Together.

God made us to reflect Him. We are made in His image.

As image-bearers, we crave community. God have never existed apart from community. Three in One. Together.

Our church mission statement reinforces this concept:

WE CHALLENGE PEOPLE

TO TAKE THEIR NEXT 

LIFE-CHANGING STEP

TOWARD BECOMING LIKE JESUS

TOGETHER

That last word reinforces the power of community. We need each other for lasting life-change to occur.

A plan for growth designed and implemented in isolation often leads to a quick start and a quiet ending.

Whether exercise, diet or pursuit of spiritual disciplines, I've always done better in community.

As you map out a growth plan for May, think though the TOGETHER part. 

Who will be my partner on this journey?