Day 28 of Lent :: Divine Interdependence

“I’m telling you this straight.
The Son can’t independently do a thing,
only what he sees the Father doing.
What the Father does, the Son does.”

John 5:19

Prayer requires that we stand in God’s presence with open hands, naked and vulnerable, proclaiming to ourselves and to others that without God we can do nothing. This is difficult in a climate where the predominant counsel is, “Do your best and God will do the rest.” We have turned prayer into a last resort to be used only when all our own resources are depleted. Then even the Lord has become the victim of our impatience. Discipleship does not mean to use God when we can no longer function ourselves. On the contrary, it means to recognize that we can do nothing at all, but that God can do everything through us.

Reflection: God, it truly frightens me to recognize that I am totally dependent on You. I know that my life is not my own, though I arrogantly act as if I am in control. On the contrary, it is You who determines my destiny. Ease my worries over my dependency on You, soften my impatience with Your plans for me, and help me to acknowledge that You can do all things through me.

Action: Place a bowl of water on the dining room table or somewhere else accessible. Before or after meals, or when entering or leaving the premises, each member of the household can dip a hand in the water in memory of his or her baptism in Christ.*

*Judy Bauer, Lent and Easter, 78-79

Day 27 of Lent :: Overcoming Fear

“Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.”

John 3:2

“Nicodemus admired Jesus but was afraid to lose the respect of his own colleagues,” writes Nouwen in his book, The Road to Daybreak. He adds the following reflection from his own life:

"I am becoming more and more aware of the importance of looking at these fearful sympathizers because that is the group I find myself mostly gravitating toward. I love Jesus but want to hold on to my own friends even when they do not lead me closer to Jesus. I love Jesus but want to hold on to my own independence even when that independence brings me no real freedom…I love Jesus but do not want to give up my writing plans, travel plans, and speaking plans, even when these plans are often more to my glory than to the glory of God."*

So I am like Nicodemus, who came by night, said safe things about Jesus to his colleagues, and expressed his guilt by bringing to the grave more myrrh and aloes (John 19:39) than needed or desired.

Prayer: God, help me to evaluate my motivations and actions in the light of Your purposes and not be held sway by the advice of friends and opinion makers. Let me look to You rather than to others for guidance, for in setting that priority I learn to renounce my own will and keep peace with You.

Reflection: Make a list of those things and people who most influence you; for example, friends, family, media, public opinion, and so on. Weed out one of those influences that are most unhealthy. In addition, during this Lent make it a point to stand up for one unpopular, but morally sound, point of view.

*Henri Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey, 147-148.

Day 26 of Lent :: Generous God

“Only one act of pure love, unsullied by any taint of ulterior motive has ever been performed in the history of the world, namely the self-giving of God in Christ on the cross of undeserving sinners. That is why, if we are looking for a definition of love, we should look not in a dictionary, but at Calvary.” John R. Stott

Reflect: Spend a few minutes quieting your heart before God.

Think of the word “passion.” It means “unfailing commitment” and is synonymous with words like ardor, fire, fervor. See Jesus with an ardent, fervent, fiery commitment to go to the Cross.

Worship Him.

Perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish,
but have eternal life.

Reflection: Meditate on the truth of this, trying to grasp it as if you have never heard the words before.

Prayer: Write out a prayer of thanksgiving based on this verse.

Day 25 or Lent :: ReThinking the Cross

“Without Gethsemane, there would have been no Golgotha.
The blood and water that flowed from His wounds on the cross
were preceded by bloody sweat that poured from His pores
as He suffered the agony of a death more painful than
the physical death on the cross, the death of the will.”
Michael Card

At least three times in the past, Jesus had described his final fate to uncomprehending disciples, speaking with great urgency:

“And He began to teach them that
the Son of Man must suffer many things.”
Mark 8:31

Reflection: How do you think you might have felt upon hearing these things?

On one occasion Peter was so distraught, he took Jesus aside and insisted He not talk that way. Jesus rebuked Peter, then turned to the crowd and admonished them:

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
Mark 8:33-34

Reflection: Read Jesus’ response again aloud. Hear Him speaking these words to you as if you were the only one left with Him that day. What is He saying about your own life? What will it mean for you to accompany Him on the rest of this painful journey?

Respond in prayer to the challenge Jesus gives here. Write it out in your prayer journal.

A Prayer
Dearest Redeemer, even now you lead the way to your execution. Will I follow as you take up Your Cross? Your strength sobers me, and I wonder how you prepared for this moment. I look at your determination to obey and weak excuses die on my lips. I want to walk with you still, though I wonder how close I can stay as you move to your death. If I turn back, remind me of this moment when you set your face like flint to the stormy seas that awaited you.*

*Tricia McCary Rhodes in Contemplating the Cross, 25

Day 24 of Lent :: Raising the Cup

“Organized religion has domesticated the crucified Lord of glory,

turned him into a tame theological symbol. Theological symbols do

not sweat blood in the night.”*

Brennan Manning

Be still and know that God is present both within you through His Spirit. Settle yourself for a few minutes with this thought. Welcome Him in your own words. Read and/or sing the following old hymn as a prayer, preparing your heart to contemplate the Cross of Christ today.

O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done?

Charles Wesley, 1742

O Love divine, what hast thou done!
The immortal God hath died for me!
The Father’s co-eternal Son
bore all my sins upon the tree.
Th’immortal God for me hath died:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
Is crucified for me and you,
to bring us rebels back to God.
Believe, believe the record true,
ye all are bought with Jesus’ blood.
Pardon for all flows from His side:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
Behold Him, all ye that pass by,
the bleeding Prince of life and peace!
Come, sinners, see your Savior die,
and say, “Was ever grief like His?”
Come, feel with me His blood applied:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

“Get up, let us be going,
behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand.”

Matthew 26:46

Reflection: What do you think went through Jesus’ mind as he spoke the words; “Arise let us be going, the one who betrays me is at hand”?

What emotions might he have been experiencing as he prepared for his own arrest?

What kinds of thoughts do you think filled his mind? Spend a few minutes considering these things.

Prayer: Dearest Savior, I find myself wanting to run from your struggle. I’d rather see you fighting battles on my behalf, waging war against demonic armies. Maybe I’m afraid of what I’ll see if I look too close at the cup you cried out against. Oh God, immerse my callous heart in the dark waters of Gethsemane. Weaken me with the weight of my unworthiness, and perhaps I will glimpse my own soul in that vile and putrid cup. May I cry out in desperation as you did: “Abba . . . Father . . .”*

Prayer: Dearest Savior, I find myself wanting to run from your struggle. I’d rather see you fighting battles on my behalf, waging war against demonic armies. Maybe I’m afraid of what I’ll see if I look too close at the cup you cried out against. Oh God, immerse my callous heart in the dark waters of Gethsemane. Weaken me with the weight of my unworthiness, and perhaps I will glimpse my own soul in that vile and putrid cup. May I cry out in desperation as you did: “Abba . . . Father . . .”*


*Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus, 35
*Prayer by Tricia McCary Rhodes in Contemplating the Cross, 16, 25

Day 23 of Lent :: Abandonment

“Not my will,
but yours be done.”

Luke 22:42

In the Gospel of Luke, we have a unique picture of the humanity of Christ being put to the test. Would he endeavor to follow the path of humanity toward self-preservation or would he lay down his own desires for those of God. “Father,” Jesus prayed, “If you are willing, take this cup from me…” We don’t know how long Jesus wrestled with this single prayer – an hour, two, perhaps the better part of the night. This wasn’t some flippant prayer of piety, it was ultimately a prayer of abandonment. It was a prayer of surrender to the “will” of the Father. “The test,” wrote Oswald Chambers, “is to believe that God knows what He is after.”* And, not only that, but that what He is indeed “after” is significantly better than any thing we could "hope or imagine. "

Prayer:

I abandon myself into Your hands;
do with me what You will.
Whatever You do, I thank You;
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only Your will be done in me
and in all Your creatures.
I ask no more than this, my Lord.
Into Your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to You all the love of my heart,
for I love You, Lord,
and so need to give myself into Your hands,
without reserve and with boundless confidence.
For You are my Father. Amen.
by Charles de Foucauld

Action:

Lent is a time when we remind ourselves that God’s will is perfect. It’s a time that we surrender again our will and declare, “Your will be done!” Today, reaffirm your commitment to follow God, wherever He may lead you.

I live each day to kill death;

I die each day to beget life,

And in this dying unto death,

I die a thousand times and

Am reborn another thousand

through that love.*

Julia Esquivel

---

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, 218.

Julia Esquivel, Threatened with Resurrection: Prayers and Poems from an Exiled Guatemalan, 67.

Fasting Focus :: Fourth Week of Lent

Fourth Week of Lent
Abandonment

Food and Meals
Jesus is the ultimate example of what it looks like to abandon our will to the will of the Father. Abandonment always requires surrender. So, this week we will physically be engaging abandonment and surrender by fasting food.

Pick either a type of food (like meat or carbs or even “solids”) and fast from them for the week. Or alternately, pick a meal (like breakfast or lunch) to skip on a daily basis. If you skip meals, spend that time you would have spent preparing and eating food in doing something like prayer, reading Scripture or serving others. Perhaps take these blocks of time and find a way to bless someone, even if it’s just time spent listening to them.

Keep journal entries of what it’s like to go hungry, even if it’s just for one meal. What has it been like to begin to assert some mastery over your body these past two weeks?

How does your body/mind respond to that?

If you forgo a whole category of food, consider:

• What is it like to deny a craving? Is it easy or hard?
• How does that craving grow the more you deny it?
• Does it eventually become easier? Why?
  

For more resources on fasting: Basics, Purpose of, Frequently Asked Questions & Guidelines, Biblical Examples, Types of Fasting.