LIVING, LEARNING & LOVING during LENT
Lenten devotionals for March and April. We will focus on a different concept each day of the week: Sundays: Resting/Taking Sabbath Mondays: Fasting Tuesdays: Giving Wednesdays: Serving Thursdays: Praying Fridays: Studying/Learning Saturdays: Celebrating/Playing.
April 7 (Monday – Fasting)
- Scripture: Acts 14:23 – … with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.
- Reflection: Fasting and prayer are often intertwined in the early church. They focus our hearts and align us with God’s will.
One practitioner writes, “Fasting was a normal practice for the Jews of Jesus’ day. Jesus began his ministry with a forty-day fast. He also practiced fasting before healings and to overcome temptation. But he did not hold his followers to a strict regime of fasting …” The same practitioner also notes that our scriptures include, “warnings about fasting for the wrong reasons or with the wrong attitude … Fasting is not for appearances. It does not make anyone pious or holy, and it does not earn points with God … Fasting is not a magical way to manipulate God into doing our will; it’s not a way to get God to be an accomplice to our plans. Neither is fasting a spiritual way to lose weight or control others. Fasting clears us out and opens us up to intentionally seeking God’s will and grace in a way that goes beyond normal habits of worship and prayer. While fasting, we are one on one with God, offering him the time and attentiveness we might otherwise be giving to eating, shopping or watching television.. Fasting is an opportunity to lay down an appetite—an appetite for food, for media, for shopping.” Full article: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/live-it-post/fasting-as-a-spiritual-discipline/
What might we be clearing away or letting go? What are we making room for? Fasting is ultimately an invitation to fill our time and lives and hearts and minds with life-affirming, holistic habits and choices. We are invited to grow. To become more human and more whole during this season. - Spiritual Practice Prompt: Consider fasting from technology today to create space for prayer and reflection.
Song:
- We Make Space by Melissa Helser: https://youtu.be/f3jsti63Q2E?si=BCo-AcVsBMjasFWH
- Space in my Heart by Maxi Priest: https://youtu.be/yciVNeEc27Q?si=mh2DCK3wag8ikCFJ
- Space in my Heart by Enrique Iglesias & Miranda Lambert: https://youtu.be/gU1e3DiWMxs?si=odw6u6Ml6UFnmxPv
Fasting is a call to a deeper spiritual life. – Richard Foster.
April 7th Daily Devotional