Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. Matt. 4:1-2

• Noah spent forty days in the ark before the rainbow appeared. Gen. 7:12
• Moses spent forty days on the mountain with God before delivering God’s message. Ex. 24:18
• Goliath mocked the Israelites for forty days before God used David to turn the tables. I Sam. 17:16
• Elijah spent forty days on the road looking for direction from God and God provided it. Deut. 9:9
• Jonah issued God’s forty-day challenge to repent and Ninevah and they came through. Jon. 3:4
• After His crucifixion Jesus spent forty days with the disciples getting them ready to advance His kingdom without His physical presence. Acts. 1:3

Lord, I don’t want Lent to be a religious observance but a time to seek, repent, sacrifice and prepare for whatever You want to do next.

I have cared for you since you were born.Yes, I carried you before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. Is. 46: 3b-4

We are more than just blips on God’s radar. He knows each of our names, our personalities, and our stories. He knows our hopes and concerns right now this minute. If you’ve made it this far it’s because He carried you. He can carry you now.

Lord, carry me along.

All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. I Cor.12:26-27

Our accomplishments and our failed attempts are impacted by the efforts and influences of many people. Might as well learn to share both credit and blame. Might as well allow others into the process of healing and problem-solving and get involved in the lives of others. Life itself is a group effort. To some extent we belong up in each other’s business.

Lord, help me remember that it’s not all about me.

I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. Jn. 5:24

Jesus did not come to eliminate need in the world but to eliminate insufficiency. No matter how much we have, most of us get this nagging sense that it is not enough.  So we buy more, drink more, eat more, make more friends, add more activities, seek greater influence, get buff and beautiful in order to fill that sense of insufficiency. Jesus is always enough.

Satisfying and sufficient Lord, what I supply is never enough. Feed me.

The LORD helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads.  Ps. 145:14

Anvils don’t just fall in cartoons. The worst is when the shadow of the weight hits before the weight itself. You know the load is coming, it slams down and flattens you, then, having been rendered two-dimensional, you struggle to get up under its weight and end up bent over and reeling around with an anvil on your back.  No matter how heavy the anvil, how deep the crater it’s pushed you into, how flat it’s left you, God is there to shift the load away from you and breath dimension back into your life.

The LORD helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads. Ps. 145:14

You sent abundant rain, O God, to refresh the weary land.  Ps. 68:9

Rain during a period of drought is unconditionally welcome. Some people are so happy to see rain that they go out and dance in it. Welcome the rain of the Spirit with open arms and no umbrella, too. God’s presence  soaks into dusty souls. His Word hydrates shriveled spirits. Worship and praise draw His living water in through the roots and allow faith to deepen and hope to bloom.

Lord, rain down.

The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. Prov. 11:25

In of our earliest lessons in generosity we learn to say ”you come, too,”  “you go first,” or “share mine.” Including and sharing are acts of social generosity. Generosity can be five minutes of uninterrupted listening. Generosity can mean sharing credit or letting someone into your traffic lane. The generous invite and show up even when it might be boring or awkward. People who are socially generous communicate to others that they are valuable.

Lord, help me to be generous in every aspect of my life.

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:39 (ESV)

If Jesus can speak the forces of nature into tranquility, He can speak peace, still, and calm into the turmoil that rocks our worlds. He whispers those words into our ears and hearts. We breathe them in and out as He speaks them. Peace. Still. Calm.

Lord, rebuke the waves. Bring peace, still, and calm to our hearts.

For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son…Jn. 3:16

God wrote us a love letter. He started writing it before the world began. It took thousands of years to compose. His own Son had to die to deliver it. It boils down to five beautiful letters:

G – R – A – C – E

Lord, carve G R A C E into my heart. Carve it big and deep so that Your love letters are visible in me.

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love. I Cor. 16:13-14

Christ loved with fierce, unfailing, faithful love without compromising the truths of God. He kept offering the truth with love to those who embraced Him and to those who walked away, to those who asked challenging questions and to those who broke His commandments. He still does. If we can’t take stand with love there is no point in taking one without love because the uncompromising truth is His love.

Lord, help me do everything, absolutely everything, with love.

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Rom. 12:10

Flowers, candy, cards, or gifts are just one way to express love. Love is also expressed through words, actions, and time. When we give one of those awkward sideways hugs, when we do someone else’s chore, when we change a schedule to have coffee, when we just call to say “I love you,” or better still “I love _______ about you!” we speak the language of love. There are a million ways to say, “you matter to me.”

Lord, inspire me to  show genuine affection and expressions of love every single day.

The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. Luke 8:14

We can squirrel around reacting so quickly and impulsively  to the barrage of information, requests, and people we encounter that there is not time to filter or prioritize. We can develop a sort of spiritual ADD in which Christ cannot be central because we’re too distracted. Spiritual maturity requires maintaining focus on one thing, Jesus, and leaving the nuts where they are.

Lord, keep me from going into squirrel mode when distractions pop up.

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.  James 1:5-6a

When we seek God’s wisdom in decision-making we have to be open-ended. Presenting Him with a list of pros and cons is like asking God a multiple choice question. God is a higher level thinker and creative problem solver. He’s into essay questions.

Lord, out of everything I do know and everything I haven’t even considered, show me what to do.

Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Matt. 10:16 ESV

The point of Christianity is not the be the top of the food chain. Certain traits of wolves and serpents are not worth cultivating. The challenge is to be knowledgeable without being cynical and to be fearless without being foolhardy. We survive at Christ’s expense. No one else should be sacrificed. Coming at life from a position of vulnerability leaves us with no option but Jesus’ way and no hope but His kingdom.

Lord, I don’t want to be a wolf or a serpent, just a wiser sheep.

Think about what I am saying. The Lord will help you understand all these things. 2 Tim. 2:7

If we seek to know God deeply we need to be brave enough to ask ”What is true?” not “How can I prove I’m right?”  We need to be honest enough to seek Him with fully engaged hearts and minds. Thinking, analyzing, and questioning are not threats to faith. Faith has its’ basis in the pursuit of truth and the truth should stand up to scrutiny.

Lord, help me seek truth fearlessly. Give me clarity and understanding.

It [the kingdom of God] is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches. Luke 13:19

The Kingdom within us starts small, sometimes with a group of two or three. Just like everything that makes a tree is already contained in that little seed, God’s kingdom is expressed in each little gathering of Christ’s followers. The effect of growth is that we can stretch out our branches to provide refuge to the needy, the weary and the wanderers.

Lord, help all the mustard seeds in your kingdom to push up through the ground, lift arms toward you and become places for souls to nest.

For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” Heb. 13:5b-6

Every day spouses and children, bosses and co-workers, government officials and business executives make decisions that directly or indirectly affect our lives. We can inherit problems from generations before us. Microscopic organisms might invade our bodies. In the grand scheme of things we can’t control much except who and what we fear.

Present, Powerful, Provider and Comforter, help me to fear not.

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Col. 3:13

If there were a chart of spiritual elements offense would be uranium and forgiveness would be helium. Offense or guilt is an incredibly heavy and toxic burden to carry around. Humans reel under the heaviness yet stagger through life under its weight. Forgiveness weighs almost nothing. It has the power to lift the one who forgives and the one who is forgiven right off the ground.

Lord, help me carry only what the forgiven and forgiving person is supposed to carry.

For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. Rom. 10:4

Feeling guilty or condemned is not part of God’s plan for redemption. Those feelings come from our own baggage or from the enemy’s plan to accuse and deceive.  Our true moral guilt is a condition, not a compliance issue. It is settled at the cross of Christ. Basically the process is: I’m sorry, I’m forgiven, move forward without the guilt.

Lord, I am grateful for pure, beautiful grace.

Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. Gal. 6:4

Better than the next guy can still be pretty bad. Quality is measured by objective standards of excellence and productivity. God set the standard impossibly high for divine purposes. But when human beings set standards it’s a mistake to set unattainable expectations. It’s also a mistake to promote mediocrity. Being the one who sets the standards is a huge responsibility.

Lord, help me set standards that make a job well done an attainable achievement.