Lent

To my readers, I apologize for the absence.  Life just seems to get in the way.  Pray for me and my family that we can dedicate more time to the important things in life, and developing a life pleasing to Christ.  On to my next subject…

 

Lent is the forty days before Easter, excluding Sundays.  It begins with Ash Wednesday., which this year is February 18th, 2015. the seventh Wednesday before Easter.  Next week, we’ll talk about that.  But, Lent is a season in which Christians are to focus on simple living, prayer, and fasting in order to grow closer to God.  Daily life, culture, society, school, work, too many outside activities often take us away from living a life with Christ.  So, Lent is a time when we focus on Jesus and get our lives more in line with His.  It’s a time of soul-searching and repentance, reflection, rededication and self-denial.

 

The word “LENT” is not in the Bible.  The word “lent” actually means “spring”, the season between winter and summer.  Lent, however, is set aside as a time of prayer and preparation to celebrate Easter.  Some churches chose to use the color purple in their sanctuary.  Purple is the color of royalty and also an anticipation of the suffering and death of Christ and the hope of newness that the coming resurrection represents.  Jesus can give you the hope of a new life.

 

After Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit sent Him into the wilderness where Jesus spent 40 days fasting and praying.  While He was in the wilderness he was tempted by Satan and resisted.  After His time in the wilderness, Jesus began his ministry.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  But he answered, “It is written,

 

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

 

 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple  and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

 

and

 

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

 

 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God

    and him only shall you serve.’”

 

 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.”  Matthew 4:1-11 (ESV)

 

Lent is a time of fasting, service and prayer. 

 

What is fasting?  Most of us think of giving up food.   You can give up food.  Some people opt to give up candy, sweets, soft drinks, cigarettes, or even meat. But giving up food isn’t the only way to fast.  You can fast by cutting out anything that distracts you from God.  How about staying off of Facebook or Instagram?  How about cutting off the television?  Why not, rather than spending time on the internet, go outside and enjoy God’s creation.  What clutters your life?  When you answer that question, you’ll know what you need to give up during Lent.

 

Serving is another practice for Lent.  You can volunteer at the local soup kitchen, collect food for the needy, or you can even collect food for the needy.

 

Finally, Lent is a time of intentional prayer.  Did you see that?  I said INTENTIONAL.  You need to set apart time to spend with God.  You can pray while you walk, exercise, driving down the road, or while you’re cooking dinner. 

 

Here are some things you could try this Lenten season:

 

 

1.  Volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.
2. Set apart 30 minutes of quiet time each day for silence and prayer.
3. Give up an addiction (cigarettes, alcohol, tv, internet, sugar).
4. Read a chapter in the Bible each day.

Lent begins next Wednesday.  Drop me a note and let me know what you plan on doing to prepare for the Easter season.  Thanks for stopping by!