Lent

Lent has become one of the most meaningful times of year for me. It all started with one year purging 40 bags in 40 days of belongings in order to attach clutter and excess in my life.

My Lenten Story

Lent has become one of the most significant seasons for me spiritually.  For the last three years I have taken on spiritual disciplines that have made a rather significant shift in my discipleship.  It began with wanting to work on excess and clutter in my life.  I felt the need to purge and reorient my relationship to “stuff”.  I did so by setting aside 40 grocery sacks and then each day filling one and getting rid of it.  Some items went to the thrift shop at our church, some went in the trash, and some went directly to people I knew.

The next year I wrote 400 words each day that would be a blessing to others.  I started writing about prayer and 40 days later I was still writing on prayer.  I have shared that document with a number of people and excerpts have been used for more than one post.

Then, I prayed an hour a day.  That really reset my whole system. I found myself more focused, peaceful and able to sleep and concentrate.

Then the next year, I gave up my car for Lent.  I only drove when I had to transport other people.  I road my bicycle and used the bus on bad weather days.  I learned a lot of great lessons and improved my health.

In the ensuing years I did the following:

  • Led an online bible study mentoring program for three college students.
  • Had a special prayer time everyday in which I only praised God.
  • Read daily, ‘The Passion of Christ’ by Thomas A’ Kempis and made sketches of the crucifixion.
  • Completed 40 unfinished tasks that were silently zapping energy that I could give to God.
  • Sewed baby blankets for thirty minutes each night and prayed for the child and family that would receive it.
  • Honored  my wife for forty days by doing something every day that would reduce her stress or bring her joy.

This year, 2019, I am going to be crocheting beanies for cancer patiences and donating them through Knot of Love. I don’t know how to crochet, but I figure that’s what youtube is for. I let everyone know how it goes.

Last year I encouraged people to read the four gospels in forty days.

The 40 Day Gospel Challenge

Read through the four gospels in just forty days. This isn’t an overly burdensome challenge to take on. You only need to read two to three chapters of scripture a day. I am putting together an easy-to-follow reading schedule for you, plus some supplemental resources to help you have a more profitable time reading the gospels.

You will receive…

  • A daily reading chart so you know EXACTLY what to read to complete all four gospels in just 40 days.
  • Gospel “cheat sheets: (These are my personal intro and key themes notes from my own study of the gospels.
  • Encouraging emails with tips to help you along the way so you aren’t going it alone


Sign Up Now
 


Pure Praise
Want to ramp up the intimacy of your relationship with God–Try 40 days of praise. This is the 3 step model of praising God I discovered while reading Psalm 18 that transformed both my prayer life and my relationship with God.

Five Finger Prayer

An easy to remember five-fold pattern of interceding for others. This is also a great discipline to teach and do with kids to teach them how to prayer for others. This is one prayer model you will never forget because your own hand becomes mnemonic to remember all five pieces.

Matthew In Forty Days

This is a check list of readings that will bring you through the gospel of Matthew in 40 days, plus tips on how to succeed. This is a great way to start a daily discipline of reading if you aren’t already reading your Bible every day.

 

13 Other Lent Ideas

 

Below are links to PDF files of various disciplines I have offered in the past to my congregation. Feel free to reprint them for non-commercial usage. I would appreciate an acknowledgment that you got them from The Practical Disciple, but it’s not mandatory.

 

  • Confession–A prayer model for daily confession that will prompt you to reflect on aspects of your discipleship that you might otherwise overlook.
  •  Mark in 40 Days–Mark broken down into 40 readings, plus a prayer journaling format.
  •  Taming the Tongue–Three intentions to adopt to transform your tongue from a source of hurt to a fountain of joy.
  •  Luke in Forty Days–This is a check list of readings that will bring you through the Luke of gospel in 40 days, plus tips on how to succeed
  •  Forty bags in Forty days–This how I purged 40 bags of clutter from my life, with tips on how to get started.
  •  Forty days free of a media habit–If you are a television or internet addict, try this discipline to set you free
  •  Love Notes.–Write a short note of encouragement or thanks to 40 people in 40 days.
  •  Top 40 Bible Passages–This check list of 40 core bible passage takes you on a great tour of scripture.  Created by Rev. Glen McDonald for his book, The Disciple Making Church.
  •  Fast and Contribute–Consider fasting once a week or even a meal a week and giving the food to abate hunger in your community.
  •  Adopt-A-Shut-In (PDF) or Adopt-A-Shut-in (Word Doc)–These two handouts are copies of what we had for members in our church who were going to visit shut-ins weekly during Lent.  To read more about the project click here.  The files are identical except for their format.
  • John in 40 Days–This is a check list of readings that will bring you through the gospel of John in 40 days, plus tips on how to succeed.
  •  Faith P.E.G.S.–In the spring of 2009 I was inspired to take time everyday to Prayer, Encourage, Give and Study; hence, the acronym P.E.G.S.. You can read the original post about that by clicking here.  I found that a little work in each of these areas daily strengthened my faith and relationship to God tremendously.
  •  The Examen— The examen is a nearly 500 year old practice of reflection at the end of the day that originated with the monk, St. Ignatius.  This model of reflection gives you serious pause to consider where God was in your day and how you were response to God.  I find that practiced regularly this will make you much more conscious to actively looking for God in the day and being more faithfully responsive.

I am open to new ideas. If you have any suggestions drop them to me using the contact page.

Blessings from The Practical Disciple

11 thoughts on “Lent”

  1. Pingback: New Lenten Options Posted « The Practical Disciple

  2. Hi John, i cannot read your devo’s without having to use the arrow button to go way over to the right to finish one sentence and then go back over to the left to start the next sentence and keep using arrow to go back and forth. is this problem a setting on my computor? it love the practical disciple and the Lent material but it is hard and time consuming to read, just wondering if there is something i can do on this end.
    thanks for all you do,
    Betsy Tucker

  3. Thanks Betsy for both reporting the problem and your affirmation of the PD. I just sent out an email earlier today regarding the word wrap problem you are experiencing. You are not alone and I am trying to eliminate the problem. The problem seems related to certain browsers, so there may be a setting you can change, but if so, I am not aware of it. I am hoping to make adjustments that will prevent the issue regardless of your browser. I will also include in future posts a link at the bottom, so that you can leap to the post, if the formating still doesn’t appear properly. I actually adjusted some code today and am hoping that tomorrow’s post will be corrected.
    Thank you for your patience as I try to correct it. I am sure that it is quite annoying.
    Peace,
    John Arnold

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