Lent: a Journey to the Cross

Ash Wednesday is a day set aside by many churches for prayer, repentance, and fasting.  It is also the first day of Lent, a 40-day period that begins on Ash Wednesday, February 22, and culminates on Good Friday, April 6.

The observance of Lent offers us a great opportunity to deepen our commitment to Christ and grow in our relationship with God. During Lent believers step back from the busyness of life, turn off the noise, see through the superficiality, reflect on how we got here, and re-focus our attention on Christ and what He accomplished on the cross.

Many writers see the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness (Luke 4:1–12) as a model for what Lent is all about. During His wilderness experience Jesus prayed, fasted, and was tempted, but ultimately He emerged with power!

Throughout Lent, we can give ourselves to

  1. focused prayer,
  2. intentional fasting,
  3. personal repentance, and
  4. random acts of kindness (Isaiah 58:5–12).

And just as Jesus stepped out of His desert experience in the “power of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 4:14), we make ourselves available to be filled with and empowered by the same Holy Spirit. We also prepare ourselves to more fully experience the miracle and power of Jesus’ victorious resurrection on Easter Sunday!

As we withdraw from the business and busyness of life, Lent becomes a time to

  • Focus on all that Jesus accomplished on the cross. These devotionals, as well as our Sunday worship experiences, are designed to turn our attention toward the cross and make it a part of our lives.
  • Pursue God for the freedom and deliverance made available at the cross. Perhaps there are self-defeating, sinful habits that have held you in bondage for years. When Jesus stepped out of the wilderness, He stepped out with an announcement of “freedom for the captives” (Luke 4:18). The next forty days could represent a defining moment for you to believe God for complete healing and total freedom!  Your complete freedom really is possible!
  • Seek God for personal direction and guidance. Sometimes we can’t hear God simply because we don’t get quiet and still enough to listen. Lent is a season to “be still and know that [He] is God” (Psalm 46:10).
We really believe Lent can represent one of the most meaningful church-wide experiences in the short history of a2 Church, and a strategic opportunity for spiritual growth and breakthrough.

—Pastor Chris Goins, a2 Church