The purpose of this Lenten Devotional is to practice spiritual disciplines and deepen our relationships with God. That will enable us to better serve our communities in ways that bring glory to God and hope to the hopeless. It is organized according to the forty fasting days of Lent. Beginning on Ash Wednesday and going through Holy Saturday. There are devotions for Monday through Saturday. Each Sunday is a mini-Easter, when we celebrate the Risen Christ in corporate worship and indulge for a day in the things we give up for Lent. Each day includes a daily scripture reading, a devotional exposition on that reading, a prayer, a song and a spiritual discipline challenge. Collectively we join all readers of this devotional as we meditate on the same piece of scripture. We share the same understanding and focused prayer and praise, but we will make individual decisions how we practice our spiritual discipline in the world. This is a journey that requires the commitment of spending a few moments focused on our devotion to God and our practice of spiritual disciplines.
We want to couple our devotional time with the practice of fasting and abstinence on this Lenten Journey. To begin the practice we ask everyone to view Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as strict fasting days. This means that we will fast from all food following dinner the preceding day through the respective worship services. Following the services, we then invite everyone to break their fast with someone who has also been on this journey. In addition to those strict fasting days, we ask everyone participating in this devotional journey to abstain from one food item or habital practice for this Lenten season. This could be eating chocolate, watching sports, going shopping, or saying curse words. The goal is to give up something that requires us to depend upon God to accomplish the abstinence. When achieved we will discover the truth that God can sustain us through any challenge that life throws at us.
It has been said that for a commitment to truly be a commitment it must be recorded. Like it or not, there is truth to that statement, so we invite everyone to fill out the form below, sign it and place it somewhere you will read it every day. We also ask that you invite someone to participate in this journey with you, that way you can hold each other accountable and share in the celebration when as you realize that God is more than capable of meeting all of our needs.
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I, ______________________________, covenant with everyone participating in this Lenten Journey to read this devotional and practice the challenges throughout the season of Lent. I further commit to fast from all food for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and to abstain from _____________________________________________________________________________ for the entire season of Lent, excluding Sundays.
Signed ___________________________________________
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