We are beginning the season in the Church Calendar known as Lent. Lent is the six and a half weeks that lead up to the celebration of Resurrection Sunday, when Jesus rose from the dead and conquered death forever. You’re sins and my sins, paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus. Resurrection Sunday is a day of celebration and praise of Jesus turning the tides on death and the enemy and making way for His new Kingdom. As His followers, we get to be a part of that Kingdom now as His participants. Every year, the Lenten season is a reminder of the culmination of that day when Jesus will finish what He started, and Heaven and Earth will once again be reunited in the Garden-City (Revelation 22). For us, we can take the Lenten season and use it as a pilgrimage of self-reflection of our faith, and repentance of the ways we have fallen short. As Esau McCaulley writes in his book Lent (The Fullness of Time),
Lent is about turning away from our sins and toward the living God. A season dedicated to repentance and renewal should not lead us to despair; it should cause us to praise God for his grace.[1]
This season of Lent is meant for us to take the hard road of scoping out our inner lives, finding the dark places and allowing Jesus to work on them, and come out on Resurrection Sunday feeling a resurrection as well within ourselves. Not because of anything we did, but because of what He has done. So, everyday in this journey, the challenge is to be honest with Jesus. This devotional is a prayerful way of reading through Scripture and very similar to Lectio Divina which means divine reading. It’s listening to the ways the Holy Spirit wants to work on our hearts, to renew our souls, and come out the other side of Lent living out the hope of Jesus that has resurrected new life in us. This journey is looking at Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The Scripture reading for each day isn’t long, but the questions are meant to be an honest reflection. Each day has a couple of questions that will be the same that are about finding yourself within the passage as well as a general finding of what sticks out to you. These questions will help us find the word or phrase that God is speaking to us for that day and hang onto it as we go. The reflection questions are meant to challenge us to become more like Jesus, and expand the passage further out into our lives. It’s to help us “experience” the Scriptures and allow God to transform who we are. Then, we respond in prayer.
So, as we get ready for this Lenten journey, here are some challenges for us as we take this journey:
We’re so glad you’re on this journey. Let’s begin!
[1] McCaulley, Esau. Lent (The Fullness of Time) (p. 3). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
[2] Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, 20th anniversary ed. (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1998), 55.
Lent is about turning away from our sins and toward the living God. A season dedicated to repentance and renewal should not lead us to despair; it should cause us to praise God for his grace.[1]
This season of Lent is meant for us to take the hard road of scoping out our inner lives, finding the dark places and allowing Jesus to work on them, and come out on Resurrection Sunday feeling a resurrection as well within ourselves. Not because of anything we did, but because of what He has done. So, everyday in this journey, the challenge is to be honest with Jesus. This devotional is a prayerful way of reading through Scripture and very similar to Lectio Divina which means divine reading. It’s listening to the ways the Holy Spirit wants to work on our hearts, to renew our souls, and come out the other side of Lent living out the hope of Jesus that has resurrected new life in us. This journey is looking at Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The Scripture reading for each day isn’t long, but the questions are meant to be an honest reflection. Each day has a couple of questions that will be the same that are about finding yourself within the passage as well as a general finding of what sticks out to you. These questions will help us find the word or phrase that God is speaking to us for that day and hang onto it as we go. The reflection questions are meant to challenge us to become more like Jesus, and expand the passage further out into our lives. It’s to help us “experience” the Scriptures and allow God to transform who we are. Then, we respond in prayer.
So, as we get ready for this Lenten journey, here are some challenges for us as we take this journey:
- Be honest with God. He knows your heart and He wants to help you transform into who He’s creating you to be.
- Take time to actually fill out the questions. There is space purposefully for your pen to hit the paper, so do it. If you have to do it throughout the day, that’s totally fine. Take the time needed and return to the passage.
- Fast during the season of Lent. Find something such as social media, a favorite food or drink, or maybe TV to give up until Resurrection Sunday. You may find times to fast from food from Sun-up to Sun-down, as well. As Richard Foster writes, “More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.”[2] The point of Lent is to let God reveal what things control us and to allow Him to do the work of transformation (Romans 12:2).
We’re so glad you’re on this journey. Let’s begin!
[1] McCaulley, Esau. Lent (The Fullness of Time) (p. 3). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
[2] Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, 20th anniversary ed. (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1998), 55.
