Preparing for Lent

What is Lent, anyway?

Just as Advent is the time leading up to Christmas, Lent is the time leading up to Easter. It lasts for 40 days, starting on Ash Wednesday, ending the day before Easter, and not counting the Sundays within that period. The 40 days are intended to reflect the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness before entering into His ministry. When approached properly, Lent can be a powerful time of spiritual renewal that leads to a closer walk with God and greater focus in life and ministry.

A time to “rend our hearts" to God

The prophet Joel called the people of Israel to “rend" their hearts to God (see Joel 2:13), meaning that they should break from their normal routine and focus attention on opening their hearts up fully to God. It assumed that, as they did, God would show them areas of their lives He wanted to touch and change: areas of sin they needed to turn away from and righteous habits they needed to learn. Outward spiritual disciplines, like meeting together and fasting, would energize the process and enable them to experience God’s work together.

Lent is based on many of the same principles. It is an extended time of spiritual discipline that accelerates spiritual growth as we open our hearts fully to the Lord.

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Seven Keys to Making Lent Productive

1. Before Lent starts, prayerfully decide what you will fast from and what the fast will look like.

Consider fasting on three levels:

Food-related fasting helps foster an attitude of humility and seriousness before the Lord, and it can help keep you focused on the spiritual goals (see #2) you are pursuing. Possibilities to consider:

• Cut out something you’re “hooked" on, e.g. sweets, coffee, or junk food.
• Eat smaller portions than you would normally eat.
• Cut out certain meals completely.
• Cut down the frequency you eat out in restaurants, and use the money you save as the Lord leads.

Fasting from non-essential activities will free up the time you need for your spiritual disciplines (see #4). Some examples of non-essential activities you could give up, either partially or totally:

• Recreational reading or other hobbies
• Non-essential shopping
• Non-essential work time
• Working on house projects
• Watching TV or movies
• Web surfing or playing computer games

Fasting from sin is a creative approach to overcoming deep-seated sin issues. See Fasting from Sin for an explanation. It contains an interesting essay on fasting from criticalness, and the principles can apply to pretty much any area of sin you struggle with.

Once you have determined what you will fast from, make sure to specify what the fast will look like. Some examples:

• I will cut out sugary desserts through Lent, except a small piece of cake and ice cream on my daughter’s birthday.
• I will not watch [name the TV show(s)] during Lent.
• I will limit my reading to the Bible and __________ during Lent.

2. Before Lent starts, prayerfully determine a small number of areas of personal growth you’ll focus attention on.

It’s helpful to start Lent with at least one area of focus for personal growth. Of course, God will probably lead you into other areas as you go through Lent; however, this gives you a starting point that helps you focus, especially in the first week. Possibilities to consider:

• An area of spiritual discipline that you need to build into your life.
• An area of sin/character growth for which you need conviction, repentance and/or transformation.
• An area of relational pain, past or present, for which you need insight and healing.
• An area of direction/wisdom that is presently unclear.
• An area of ministry/caring for people you need to grow in.

3. Make sure, as you go through Lent, that your focus is mostly on heart change.

Lent is not about losing weight, and it’s not about meeting the challenge of surviving 40 days without whatever you’re fasting from. It’s about a journey of growing closer to God and dealing with some heart issues. Remember that the disciplines you enter into are simply tools to energize that journey.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6

4. Set apart significant chunks of time to spend with God.

Real growth comes from spending significant time with God, allowing Him to search our hearts and habits, letting Him direct our thoughts, and processing/responding to what He shows us. In order for Lent to be beneficial, this set-apart time needs to be our top priority. As we open our hearts and He begins leading us, we will need time to think, pray, study, confess, cry out, wrestle, read, etc. so His transforming work can go deep. Try to have daily times with God, as well as a couple of extended (multi-hour) times sometime during Lent.

Search me, O 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. Psalm 139:23-24

5. Meditate on Scriptures that relate directly to your growth areas.

God’s Word is powerful in directing our growth. If one of your personal growth areas relates to anxiety, use a concordance (either in the back of a study Bible or at Bible Gateway to look up scriptures that speak about anxiety, fear and peace. If you've never used a concordance, ask the pastor, an elder, or a growth group leader for help. Try to find 8-10 scriptures that speak to the issue you’re working on. Write them down. Think about them deeply and regularly. Pray them into your life. Memorize them.

Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your Truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. Psalm 86:11

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates…it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

6. Don’t walk through Lent alone.

If you’re not already involved in a growth group, this may be a good time to join, so you can walk through Lent with the support of others. If you can’t participate in a growth group, find a friend or two with whom you can share your goals, talk about your progress and pray. With their support, the benefits of Lent will be multiplied.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work…. Ecclesiastes 4:9

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

7. Plan on using your freed-up time for other things beyond Lent.

Many of the heart-changes God works in us during Lent will lead into action beyond Lent. For example, let’s say God leads you to focus on the issue of relational isolation during Lent. As you open your heart to Him, He might show you things like habits, attitudes and wounds that have resulted in you being isolated. Growth during Lent will mean letting Him change and heal those areas, and letting Him fill you with His love. Now, let’s say you’ve cut out certain TV shows as part of your fast, and that has freed up three hours of your time each week. The next step beyond Lent will not be to revert back to watching TV and remaining isolated, but to use those three hours to put into action what you’ve been working on in your heart: reaching out and building relationships. Almost any other issue you might focus on will involve the same principle: time freed-up during Lent will need to be used to put growth into practice beyond Lent.

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Please feel free to call Pastor Bob or any of the elders if you want any of this material to be explained further.

May God cause this time to be a glorious season of growth for all of us.