We are half way through our journey – way to go for hanging in there! My hope is that we are becoming more dependent on God as a result of our journey and that the habits we are creating during Lent will continue to be part of our everyday lives long after our celebration of Easter.
“Christianity promises to make men free; it never promises to make them independent.”
William Ralph Inge (1860-1964)
We live in a culture that strives for independence, but we are designed by God to be doubly dependent. First directly upon God, and second, indirectly upon God through the people He brings into our lives – our family, friends, neighbors and church. I think we’re much more likely to thrive in our Lenten Journey (and all of life) when we remember we are not alone. Instead of boasting in our self-sufficiency, let’s accept our vulnerability, ask for help, and enjoy the freedom that comes with dependence.
I look up to the mountains – does my help come from there?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!
Psalm 121:1-1
Daily Scriptures:
Jeremiah 7:23-28
23 But I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. 24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. 25 From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. 26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.’ 27 “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. 28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, 9 where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did.
Luke 11:14-23
14 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15 But some of them said, “By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” 16 Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. 17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. 21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. 23 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.
Lenten Prayers:
Father,
make our love grow each day
as we approach the celebration of Easter.
We are at the half-way point in our Lenten journey today.
There is so much yet to discover, to examine, to heal, and to renew.
We can sense the ways that God is working in us.
Throughout each day we continue asking for your presence in our lives and we keep giving you thanks for what you are accomplishing.
Intercessions:
Christ our Lord came among us as the light of the world,
that we might walk in His light, and not in the darkness of death.
Let us praise Him and cry out to Him:
Let your word be a lamp to guide us.
God of mercy, help us today to grow in your likeness,
– that we who have sinned may experience your grace.
Let your word be a lamp to guide us,
– that we may live the truth and grow always in your love.
Touch our hearts to seek your friendship more and more,
– and to know you more deeply each and every day.
Closing Prayer:
Loving God,
I hear your invitation, “Come back to me”
and I am filled with such a longing to return to you.
Show me the way to return.
May your Spirit guide me and strengthen my faith.
I ask to feel your love in my life today.Amen.
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