Week 4 of Lent 2022: My God and MY FATHER

 

Lent 2022. Establishing a NEW PAGE in God

SCRIPTURE FOCUS: 1 Peter 1:3 NIV   Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.   Our Creator is both our GOD and our FATHER! On this fourth week of Lent, it is an opportunity for us to dig deeper into our relationship with the Creator.  From the very beginning of creation, God has been both GOD and PARENT.  The Creator is not looking to solely be revered-the Creator is offering us relationship. I believe that the Lenten season gives us an opportunity to not only value reverence of who God is as our Lord, but also who God is as our "Father".  By basic understanding, God is to be worshipped, followed, and reverenced.  Father is to be in communication and is a protector.  The beauty behind the Lenten season is we see the Creator move in both realms with Jesus.  Jesus is expected to move forward with the will of God for His life, and Jesus is assured that His Father will actually fulfill the promise of allowing Him to conquer death and the grave.   In this same way, God expects us to follow God's will for our lives. God expects us to actually do what God's word commands of us.  The Father is present to comfort us through the struggle.  These open lines of communication is what gives us the assurance that the Father will protect us no matter what comes along our journey.  CHALLENGE: Examine how you can better experience the Creator in relationship as God and Father.  It is not simply about showing up for church and offering a sacrifice.  This week, be intentional about the relationship.  Have you talked with the Father today? Have you thanked the Father for the protection that only a parent provides?

Week 3 of Lent 2022: A Living Hope

 

Lent 2022. Establishing a NEW PAGE in God

SCRIPTURE FOCUS: 1 Peter 1:3 NIV   Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.   First comes Mercy, then comes HOPE! On this third week of Lent, I want us to focus on these words:  a living HOPE!  Oftentimes, our hope does not live.  We say that we hope for something, but it takes too long to realize that something.  When this happens, our hope dies.  I mean we still have hope but are we believing in a living hope? I believe that the Lenten season gives us an opportunity for new birth into a living hope!  It is a spiritual reset for us.  Life has not been the easiest since the previous Lenten season, so let us choose better.  Let us choose to still believe in the hope that we profess.  Let us choose to still believe in the waymaking God that we pray to.  Let us choose to still believe that God is not done with our marriage, family, children, community, and world.  Our God still cares and issues an invitation (because of His great mercy) to believe again. HOPE is, simply put, "expectation".  What expectations do you have for your life?  What expectations are you depending on God alone to bring to pass?  CHALLENGE: Make a list of "hope" that has died and commit yourself to choose for it to "live again".  Daily ask God to give you the strength to walk "into a living hope" that God has gifted us already because of God's great mercy!

Lent 2022: Week 2, God's Great Mercy

 

Lent 2022. Establishing a NEW PAGE in God

SCRIPTURE FOCUS: 1 Peter 1:3 NIV   Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercyHe has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now that we have made it through our first week of this year's Lenten season, it is time for us to get to the real work.  Some of us may have breezed through the first week while others of us might have had a few setbacks, maybe even been a little lax with our commitment.  Ok, get up and hit reset!  It is time to get to work! On this second week of Lent, I want us to focus on these words:  In God's Great Mercy!  We are all beneficiaries of God's great mercy.  God's mercy is shown through God's compassionate forgiveness- it is actualized when we survive events that we never should have attended or are given opportunities for success that we did not fully deserve yet along appreciate.  God's mercy is new every single day of our lives!  Thank God! As we seek to establish a new page in God, let us spend this week intentionally mindful of God's Great Mercy!  Do you see it on your job or in your home?  Do you see it in your physical and even mental health?  Every time I become aware of God's Great Mercy it is truly an opportunity for me to establish a new page.  God is giving us another chance to "get it right"!   Since God extends us this compassionate forgiveness, I want to challenge us to use this week of our Lenten journey to do the same for someone else.   CHALLENGE: Identify a person or circumstance where you can imitate God's Great Mercy:  offer compassionate forgiveness, even when it is not sought.

Lent 2022: Establishing a New Page in God

 

Lent 2022. Establishing a NEW PAGE in God

By definition, to establish means "to institute (something) permanently by agreement".  This will be our working definition to guide the corporate goal of this year's Lenten Season:  A New Page! Whenever we seek to do something new, it is typically a challenge to keep it up.  How many of you are actually still faithful to that "New Year's Resolution" or that "new workout plan"?!  Let's face it.  New is hard work!  New takes commitment!  New requires an intentional agreement that is permanent.  It is my sincere prayer that this 15th year of my corporate Lenten devotion journey will be a monumental one- whether this is your first year with me as your devotional voice or this is your fifteenth year (thanks for growing with me).  So, let us agree to make this permanent change to move to a new page in God! SCRIPTURE FOCUS: 1 Peter 1:3 NIV Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The scripture focus reminds us that God has already given and gifted us with new birth into a living hope!  In other words, this new page in God is not simply a possibility.  We are destined to start over and receive the new mercies, new peace, new joy, new hope, and so much more!  It is our decision to seek these things intentionally and permanently.  Lent is not a fad, gimmick, or temporary diet!  Lent is prepping us for a NEW way of life!