Are you fasting from anything during Lent?
Joel 2:12 (NIV)
“Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
“As our bodies grow weaker for lack of food during the season of fasting, so our souls may grow stronger … Thus, through abstaining from the fruits of the earth, may we bear more abundantly the fruits of your spirit.”
The Gelasian Sacramentary (500)
More bodily fasting, more spiritual fruit.
Good morning, Lord. Forgive me for “being too busy” to properly study Your Word. I grab snippets along the way–a short passage here, a single verse there. But feasting on Your Word, settling in for serious study and meditation doesn’t happen as often as it should.
You have all the time in the world for me. Grant me the self-discipline to spend quality time with You at my Bible study table. Fill me with the Bread of Life.
Jesus, the living Word, fasted for 40 days.
Luke 4:1-4 (ESV)
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.’”
The Bread of Life (John 6:35) gave up bread to give us eternal life.
Good morning, Lord. I look around me, I read the news, and I wonder if we’re living in the time You spoke of, a time of famine of hearing Your Word (Amos 8:11). The Bible is more available than ever–only a click away. I pray, O God, for a world-wide hunger and thirst for godliness and righteousness.
Draw people’s hearts to You, fill them with Your Spirit, transform them with Your Word.
Amos 8:11 (GW)
The days are going to come, declares the Almighty Lord, when I will send a famine throughout the land. It won’t be an ordinary famine or drought. Instead, there will be a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
Our grocery stores overflow with an abundance of food and drink. But I can’t help but wonder … are we in a season of famine and drought?
It’s time for a wake-up call: “Listen to the Word of the Lord, our lives depend on it!”
Good morning, Lord. Let me be honest: I chase after things that aren’t good for me. I eat too many sweets and not enough vegetables. I watch too much YouTube and exercise too little. I scroll endlessly through social media and rush through my Bible reading.
O Lord, in my heart I want to do what honors You. Give me the strength of will to do it!
Matthew 5:6 (AMP)
Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied.
I want to be nourished by your goodness, Lord. Let me crave righteousness as I do chocolate, thirst for right standing with You the way I desire a cold drink on a hot day. Fill me until I am completely satisfied! 
Good morning, Lord. Forgive me: first for thinking You should work according to my timeline, and also for getting angry with You when You don’t. I get impatient and want what I want right now. Teach me to wait with humility and faith. Your timing is perfect, this I know (for the Bible tells me so).
Romans 5:6 (NLT)
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
Divine intervention, at just the right time. It the reason for the Lenten season.
Good morning, Lord. Your Word is new every day. I discover new insight in familiar passages. Phrases leap from the page, and I think, “How did I not understand this before?” A passage I study early in the day applies to something that happens later.
I realize some bit of worldly wisdom I’ve always accepted doesn’t line up with the godly wisdom I just read. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for enlightening my mind, opening my heart and restoring my soul.
