Lent 2017 Lenten Activities + Prayers Day 12

[READ + MEDITATE]

Read John 15:1-5.

It is only in connected communion with Jesus that we experience spiritual growth and formation.  We know it, yet we do not live it. Somehow we often live as if there are other sources of life and growth we must explore, outside of Jesus. But Christ keeps calling us back, "Come back to me, abide in me, give me your cares, burdens, anxieties, and fears. Trust that in me and with me you may find growth, grace, and peace."

Take some time today to review a past sorrow and find one positive outcome. Discipline yourself to exercise gratitude for this positive outcome several times throughout the day. "Look even in the smallest corners to nurture a thankful heart." (Henri Nouwen)

LENT 2017 Lenten Activities + Prayers - Day 11

[READ + MEDITATE]

Read Hebrews 12:1-3.

Following Jesus requires sacrifice and perseverance. What is the call to follow Christ asking of you today? How can you use “the joy set before you” as a motivation to press on?

LENT 2017 Lenten Activities + Prayers - 2nd Sunday

[CELEBRATE]

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.” (Psalm 133:1)

Charles Spurgeon once referred to the Church, imperfect as she is, as the “dearest place on earth." He continued, "...All who have first given themselves to the Lord, should, as speedily as possible, also give themselves to the Lord’s people. How else is there to be a Church on the earth? If it is right for anyone to refrain from membership in the Church, it is right for everyone, and then the testimony for God would be lost to the world! The Church is the nursery for God’s weak children where they are nourished and grow strong. It is the fold for Christ’s sheep—the home for Christ’s family.”

Come to church today with a gratefulness for Christian community and attempt go out of your way to thank those who helped make it happen today - teachers, greeters, set-up people, musicians, leaders, nursery + children’s volunteers, etc.

Lent 2017 - Lenten Activities + Prayers - Day 10

[READ + MEDITATE] 

Psalm 37:1-18

What does it mean to “delight yourself in the Lord?” Delight is a strong feeling of happiness, great pleasure, or satisfaction. How can the Lord become more of your source of delight? Take some some time to meditate on this today.

Lent 2017 - Lenten Activities + Prayers - Day 9

[GIVE]

We are a people of plenty. As we continue with our Lenten Activities, Lent calls for us to reconsider our regular consumption and lifestyle and it challenges us to give and/or give up certain things. As one Lent Devotional reads, “Lent…invites us to jump off the hamster wheel of consumption and experience the pinch of abstaining from thoughtless indulgence.”

This weekend, do something sacrificial for someone or for a ministry. Give away a little bit more money than you normally would. Put your schedule on hold and offer to give someone a hand. Take time out of your schedule to converse with someone who desires to connect with you. Spend some additional time in the Scriptures and in prayer.

Lent 2017 - Lenten Activities + Prayers - Day 8

[GIVE]

Is there someone you need to forgive?

Consider Ephesians 4:32. Confess your sin of unforgiveness, and ask God to help you reach out to that person with the healing grace of forgiveness.

Lent 2017 - Lenten Activities + Prayers - Day 7

[PRAY]

Heavenly Father, our Father in heaven, reveal who to me who you are and what you desire. As you set the world to rights through Jesus, our Messiah, may you also graciously set my own heart right. Do to me what is needed the most. Change me from the inside out. And give me the courage to release what you ask me to let go and to embrace what you tell me to pick up.

Lord, may it be.

Lent 2017 - Lenten Activities + Prayers - Day 6

[READ + MEDITATE]

Read Romans 11:33-36

Meditate today on the wisdom of God.  Think of the infinite number of ways God knows better than we do. Ask God to show you His wisdom in areas where you are choosing the folly of the world.  Seek Him and allow Him to reveal to you what it would look like to follow in the wisdom of His ways more closely.  Thank him for speaking to your heart and pray for the Holy Spirit to empower you to follow our wise Savior.

Lent 2017 - Lenten Activities + Prayers - Day 5

[PRAY]

A prayer for justice.

Heavenly Father, we praise you for being truly just and perfectly good in all you are and in all you do. Make us into a people that represent your justice and goodness. Forgive us for being more known by the things we are against rather then the things you are for. Change us into a people who pursue true justice and goodness within ourselves. And may what we are becoming internally spill out into the way we live. May your justice and goodness shape the handling of our resources. May it rearrange our priorities. May it teach us how we treat others. May it stabilize our emotions. May it keep our greed and selfishness at bay. And may it motivate us to live justly.


"The Church must see justice as part of our discipleship. In other words, seek justice not just to change the world but to also be changed." ~ Eugene Cho

Lent 2017 - Lenten Activities + Prayers - Sunday 1

[CELEBRATE]

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.” (Psalm 133:1)

Come to church ready + eager to receive the sown seed of God's Word in order to be equipped "for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13).