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To Fast or Not to Fast: How to Prepare for Easter

by | Mar 16, 2022 | Gospel living, Lent

To Fast or Not to Fast: How to Prepare for Easter

It’s the first of March, and here on the Gulf Coast, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is being celebrated from Pensacola to Mobile (home of America’s first Mardi Gras) to New Orleans. What do lavish beads tossed from a float and little king babies hidden inside a cream cheese frosted pastry have to do with Easter, anyway? Here’s my little history lesson (as discovered from forty-five minutes of internet searching).

Mardi Gras originated in the early centuries AD, when pagan Romans celebrated a fertility god with debauchery and drunkenness. Early Christians decided to transform the raucous celebration and make it a day for feasting to mark the end of “ordinary time” after Christmas and the beginning of Lent, the season of fasting and repentance before the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The French first coined the term “Mardi Gras” (Fat Tuesday) as they ate up all of the eggs and milk they would be fasting from during Lent.

What is Lent, and should we observe it?

Lent, short for Lenten, comes to us from the Old English word for “Spring”: lenten, which meant “lengthen.” As the daylight lengthens, life springs into view, buds blooming and bright stalks shoving their way through the earth.

Read the rest of the article and discover good reasons and not-so-good reasons to fast. Click here.

A Prayer about Giving Thanks to Our God

by | Mar 15, 2022 | 40-Day Prayer, Daily Prayer, Lent

A Prayer about Giving Thanks to Our God

Loving Lord,

May we address you as this psalmist does:

Firmly, emphatically, declaring:

“You are my God,” 

not my children, my work, 

my dating life, my sports, my home, 

or any other thing on this earth 

that we sometimes serve and worship.

And oh, how thankful we are, 

with the psalmist, 

that you are our God, 

because you have rescued us 

“out of [our] distress and set [us] free” (Psalm 118:5). 

[Name some of the distress he rescued you out of.]

Because you sent your Son to us, we “extol” you—

we praise you, 

we talk about how great you are and how much we love you.

[Name some things you love about God.]

And then, like the psalmist, 

we turn to others and invite them into our praise:

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good…” 

because we know your praise 

was always intended to be sung in a chorus, not as a solo.

In Jesus’ steadfast name. Amen.

Read Psalm 118:1-29.

A Prayer about the Year of the Lord’s Favor

by | Mar 12, 2022 | 40-Day Prayer, Daily Prayer, Lent

A Prayer about the Year of the Lord’s Favor

Lord Jesus,

Yesterday we prayed about your merciful mission: 

to bind up hearts broken by sin and sorrow,

to free us from hearts imprisoned by sin and evil. 

Today, we continue to meditate on the jaw-dropping truth 

that you came to bring God’s “favor,” 

his immeasurable grace, 

his astounding mercy, 

his unfailing love. 

And while we don’t like to think 

about a “day of vengeance,” 

it is good to know that the day is coming 

when everything that is wrong will be made right, 

when all we mourn on this earth—

the injustices of racism and oppression and poverty, 

the cruel ravages of sickness and slavery 

and war and death, 

will come to an abrupt end. 

In that day, your year of favor will last forever. 

May we live and love in the light of that day.

In your merciful name. Amen. 

Read Isaiah 61:1-4; Luke 4:18-19; Romans 12:19-21.

A Prayer about True Liberty to Captives

by | Mar 11, 2022 | 40-Day Prayer, Daily Prayer, Lent

A Prayer about True Liberty to Captives

Lord Jesus, 

May we stop our scrolling for one minute 

to consider your merciful mission: 

When a bully taunts our child; 

when our child turns his heart away from you,

Our hearts break.

When trusted allies become enemies, 

when we act like enemies toward trusted allies,

Our hearts break.

[Add your own sentence or two about what breaks your heart.]

God sent you to bind up our broken hearts. Thank you.

When work consumes us; 

when we consume substances to numb us;

Our hearts are bound.

When pursuit of people’s approval drains us; 

when we cling too tightly to people to give us security,

Our hearts are bound.

[Name some ways your heart can be bound.]

God sent you to “proclaim liberty to the captives,” 

to open the prison “to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1). 

Lord, thank you for your mercy and grace. 

We are so glad you completed your mission.

Draw us to seek you with our whole hearts.

In your healing name. Amen. 

Read Isaiah 61:1-4.

A Prayer about Jesus’ Mission

by | Mar 10, 2022 | 40-Day Prayer, Daily Prayer, Lent

A Prayer about Jesus’ Mission

Lord Jesus,

Dazzle us again with this strange but good news:

You weren’t just a man who decided to go about preaching. 

You were “anointed,” set apart for a special mission, 

designated to be a different kind of king. 

You weren’t anointed 

by the board of your church or by a seminary. 

You were set apart for this mission 

by the other two members of the Holy Trinity: 

the Holy Spirit and the Holy God. 

Together, in trinitarian agreement, 

since the foundation of the world, 

you all planned this special mission:

You would come, as the only God-in-flesh, 

not to the rich and the rulers, 

but to the poor, the afflicted, and the broken-hearted. 

And you would bring “good news.” 

We are grateful for your mission 

and grateful to be the people for whom you came.

In your anointed name. Amen. 

Dear friends, stay tuned. Tomorrow, we’ll pray more about Isaiah 61 and that good news. Reminder: Be sure to sign up to receive your 40 days of Easter prep Scripture cards. They go along with the daily prayers I’m writing. You can print them as a poster or on business card paper and have individual cards. 

A Prayer about an Upside-Down Kingdom

by | Mar 9, 2022 | 40-Day Prayer, Daily Prayer, Lent

A Prayer about an Upside-Down Kingdom

Almighty King, 

We live in the Age of Exaltation, especially self-exaltation.

We need inversion therapy—

we need our ways of thinking and acting 

to be turned upside-down 

by the extraordinary news of the gospel. 

You say, 

“everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, 

but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

You sent your Son, the King of the Cosmos, 

to this “humus,” this earth, as a humble servant

to save us from our self-exaltation.

He “did not count equality with God 

a thing to be grasped but made himself nothing, 

taking the form of a servant. 

And being found in human form, 

he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, 

even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

By your grace, through Christ’s death and resurrection, 

raise us up to live in the humility of our now-exalted King.

In Jesus’ humble name. Amen.

Read Luke 18:9-17; Philippians 2:1-11.