Lent WEEK 2: February 26-March 3 - RESPONSE TO LOVE

WEEK 2:

RESPONSE TO LOVE

February 26-March 3 / Weekly Fast: Television and Movies

Reading

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” LUKE 7:36–50

Supplemental Passages to Consider Throughout the Week

Romans 6:1-14, Romans 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Galatians 5:16-24

 

Lord Jesus,

Give me a deeper repentance, 

a horror of sin, 

a dread of its approach;

Help me chastely to flee it, 

and jealously to resolve that my heart 

shall be thine alone.

Give me a deeper trust, 

that I may lose myself to find myself in thee, 

the ground of my rest, 

the spring of my being.

Give me a deeper knowledge of thyself 

as Saviour, Master, Lord, and King.

Give me a deeper power in private prayer, 

more sweetness in thy Word, 

more steadfast grip on its truth.

Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, 

and let me not seek moral virtue apart from thee.

Plough deep in me, great Lord, 

Heavenly Husbandman, 

that my being may be a tilled field, 

the roots of grace spreading far and wide, 

until thou alone art seen in me, 

thy beauty golden like summer harvest, 

thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no Master but thee, 

no law but thy will, 

no delight but thyself, 

no wealth but that thou givest, 

no good but that thou blesses, 

no peace but that thou bestowest.

I am nothing but that thou makest me,

I have nothing but that I receive from thee,

I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.

Quarry me deep, dear Lord, 

and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

PRAYER FROM “THE VALLEY OF VISION”

This is taken from the Seasons of Lent Guide from The Village Church.

 

Lent WEEK 1: February 19-25 - TEMPTATION

WEEK 1: TEMPTATION

February 19-25 / Weekly Fast: Food

Reading

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ” And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” And when the devil had ended every temptation,he departed from him until an opportune time. LUKE 4:1–13

Supplemental Passages to Consider Throughout the Week

Hebrews 2:14-18, Hebrews 4:14-16, 1 Corinthians 10:6-13, James 1:12-15

 

Searcher of Hearts,

It is a good day to me when thou givest me a glimpse of myself;

Sin is my greatest evil, 

but thou art my greatest good;

I have cause to loathe myself, 

and not to seek self-honour, 

for no one desires to commend his dunghill.

My country, family, church 

fare worse because of my sins, 

for sinners bring judgment in thinking sins are small, 

or that God is not angry with them.

Let me not take other good men as my example, 

and think I am good because I am like them,

For all good men are not so good as thou desirest, 

are not always consistent,

do not always follow holiness,

do not feel good in sore affliction.

Show me how to know when a thing is evil 

which I think is right and good, 

how to know when what is lawful 

comes from an evil principle, 

such as desire for reputation or wealth by usury.

Give me grace to recall my needs, 

my lack of knowing thy will in Scripture, 

of wisdom to guide others, 

of daily repentance, want of which keeps thee at bay, 

of the spirit of prayer, having words without love 

of zeal for thy glory, seeking my own ends, 

of joy in thee and thy will, 

of love to others.

And let me not lay my pipe 

too short of the fountain, 

never touching the eternal spring, 

never drawing down water from above.

PRAYER FROM “THE VALLEY OF VISION"

This is taken from the Seasons of Lent Guide from The Village Church.

 

 

Lent 2012

About Lent

Lent is about the gospel. It is a time to narrow the focus of the Church to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, to turn from our sin and trust in His atoning work. The season of Lent lasts approximately 40 days, excluding Sundays, between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Originally a preparation period for those desiring to be baptized, Lent eventually became embedded into Christian tradition as a season for the Church to symbolically follow Christ into the wilderness. It is a time for fasting and self-denial, though not for denial itself. It is a period to empty ourselves of lesser things so that we might be filled with the greater things of the gospel. Whereas Advent is a season of ever-increasing light awaiting the incarnation of Christ, Lent is a season of ever-decreasing light approaching the cross. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Easter Sunday. It is marked by periods of fasting and feasting. Each week, participants traditionally fast during the week and feast on Sundays. This pattern continues throughout the season as the Church journeys toward the Holy Week commencing on Palm Sunday. The final period of Lent is often referred to as the Triduum, beginning Maundy Thursday and continuing through Easter Sunday.

The Plan

My plan is to follow along with a lent guide that The Village Church is doing as my church does not follow any sort of liturgical calendar. I was originally going to fast social media for 40 days but the more I looked at the lent guide & the different weekly fast's & thought about how to include my family I started to think how much we all would have to sacrifice & die to self by following this guide. I encourage you to dig in with your local church for the Lenten season or if they do not do anything join me as I walk through this guide. I will be posting each week of the guide on the blog here & you can always download it.

Weekly Fast Schedule

• Week 1: Food
• Week 2: Television and Movies
• Week 3: Social Networking and Internet
• Week 4: Caffeine and Sweets
• Week 5: Radio and Music
• Week 6: Shopping for Non-Essentials
• Week 7: Sleep

Resources

• Lent Guide
• Seasons of Lent from The Village Church
• Free Lent Worship Songs from Bobby Gilles 
• Valley Of Vision Puritan Prayers

Parts of this are taken from the Seasons of Lent Guide from The Village Church.

 

 

TAKE BABY STEPS - Keys To Spending Time With God From Paul Miller

When it comes to spending time with God, take baby steps. Don’t set impossible goals and then collapse. If you can remember a time in your life when you had a great half hour of prayer, don’t make that your standard. Start slowly. Take a baby step of five minutes.

There is no one way to do this. Some people pray on their way to work. My one caution is that it is tough to be intimate when you are multitasking. It would weaken a marriage if talking to your spouse in the car was the only time you communicated. It will do the same to your relationship with God.

Here are seven simple suggestions for how you can spend time with your Father in the morning: 

• Get to bed. What you do in the evening will shape your morning. The Hebrew notion of a day as the evening and morning (see Genesis 1) helps you plan for prayer. If you want to pray in the morning, then plan your evening so you don’t stay up too late. The evening and themorning are connected. 
• Get up. Praying in bed is wonderful. In fact, the more you pray out of bed, the more you’ll pray in bed. But you’ll never develop a morning prayer time in bed. Some of my richest prayer times are at night. I’ll wake up praying. But those prayer times only began to emerge because I got out of bed to pray. 
• Get awake. Maybe you need to make a pot of coffee first or take a shower. 
• Get a quiet place. Maybe a room, a chair, or a place with a view. Or maybe you do better going for a walk. Make sure that no one can interrupt you. 
• Get comfortable. Don’t feel like you have to pray on your knees. For years I was hindered from praying because I found it so uncomfortable to pray on my knees. 
• Get going. Start with just five minutes. Start with a small goal that you can attain rather than something heroic. You’ll quickly find that the time will fly. 
• Keep going. Consistency is more important than length. If you pray five minutes every day, then the length of time will slowly grow. You’ll look up and discover that twenty minutes have gone by. You’ll enjoy being with God. Jesus is so concerned about hanging in there with prayer that he tells “his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1, NIV). 

Regardless of how or when you pray, if you give God the space, he will touch your soul. God knows you are exhausted, but at the same time he longs to be part of your life. A feast awaits.

Miller, Paul (2009-05-15). A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World (Kindle Locations 742-757). NavPress. Kindle Edition.

 

Jelly-Fish Christianity - J.C. Ryle

J. C. Ryle saw a failure of doctrinal nerve — an unmanly failure. Dislike of dogma, he wrote,

is an epidemic which is just now doing great harm, and especially among young people. . . . It produces what I must venture to call . . . a “jelly-fish” Christianity . . . a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power. . . . Alas! It is a type of much of the religion of this day, of which the leading principle is, “no dogma, no distinct tenets, no positive doctrine.”

We have hundreds of “jellyfish” clergyman, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. They have no definite opinions . . . they are so afraid of “extreme views” that they have no views of all.

We have thousands of “jellyfish” sermons preached every year, sermons without an edge, or a point, or corner, smooth as billiard balls, awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint. . .

And worst of all, we have myriads of “jellyfish” worshipers—respectable Church-gone people, who have no distinct and definite views about any point in theology. They cannot discern things that differ, any more than colorblind people can distinguish colors. . . . They are “tossed to and fro, like children, by every wind of doctrine”; . . . ever ready for new things, because they have no firm grasp on the old.

-J. C. Ryle, Principles for Churchmen (London: William Hunt, 8 1084), 97–98. Quoted in J. I. Packer, Faithfulness and Holiness, 72–73.

This aversion to doctrine was the root cause of the church’s maladies, and the remedy was a manly affirmation of what he called “sharply cut doctrines” recovered from the Reformation and the Puritans and the giants of the eighteenth century in England.

This is an excerpt taken from John Piper's biographical sketch of J.C. Ryle. You can read the whole thing here.