Lenten Devotional Guide

Welcome, Lifehouse family.

Lent is not something our tradition has always emphasized. And yet, across church history, believers have set aside these forty days before Easter to slow down, repent, fast, and prepare their hearts for Resurrection Sunday. This season is not about earning grace. It is about remembering how deeply we need it. As we close our teaching series What Is Needed and begin Between Two Trees (our easter season teaching series), this journey will help us trace the story of Scripture — from the tree in Eden to the tree at Calvary — and examine our own hearts along the way. Each day will include Scripture, reflection, a historic Christian voice, and gentle fasting invitations. These are not rules. They are invitations. If you miss a day, simply return. If fasting feels unfamiliar, begin small. If conviction comes, remember: conviction is mercy drawing you home. May this season cultivate in us what God truly desires: A humble and contrite spirit.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Brian 

This is Lent is the historic forty-day season of preparation leading up to Easter Sunday (Resurrection Sunday). It begins on Ash Wednesday and culminates in Holy Week, ending at the empty tomb.

The forty days (not counting Sundays) mirror significant biblical seasons of testing and preparation:

• Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2)
• Moses’ 40 days on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28)
  
• Elijah’s 40-day journey to Horeb (1 Kings 19:8)
• Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–2)
  

From the earliest centuries of the Church, believers set aside this season for repentance, reflection, prayer, and preparation for Easter.

The Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) refers to the “forty days” (Greek: tessarakoste), indicating that by the 4th century the practice was already well established.

Lent is not about earning grace.

It is about preparing our hearts to receive it more deeply.
where the description goes.

Ash Wednesday begins the journey with a sober but hopeful reminder:

“For you were made from dust,
and to dust you will return.”
— Genesis 3:19 (NLT)

Throughout Scripture, ashes symbolize repentance and humility (Job 42:6; Daniel 9:3; Jonah 3:6).

While we have not practiced receiving ashes typically in our tradition, it's good to understand that receiving ashes (dabbed upon one's forehead) is not about ritual performance.
It is about embodied honesty.

We remember:

• We are mortal.
• We are sinful.
• We are dependent.
• We need mercy.
  

And the good news? God gives mercy freely.

Fasting has accompanied Lent since the early Church because fasting has always been part of biblical repentance and spiritual renewal.

Jesus assumed His followers would fast:

“When you fast…”
— Matthew 6:16 (NLT)

Notice He did not say if. Fasting is not about punishing the body. It is about training the heart.

John Wesley wrote:

“First, let it be done unto the Lord, with our eye singly fixed on Him. Let our intention herein be this, and this alone, to glorify our Father which is in heaven.” — John Wesley, Sermon 27: Upon Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse Seven (1748)

True fasting reorders our desires. It reminds us that we are sustained not merely by bread, but by God (Matthew 4:4).

Historically, fasting during Lent helped believers:

• Simplify life
• Create space for prayer
• Practice self-denial
• Stand in solidarity with Christ’s suffering
  
• Identify misplaced dependencies

The Heart Behind Fasting
The prophet Isaiah makes it clear:

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free…”
— Isaiah 58:6 (NLT)

Fasting is not about outward display. It is about inward transformation that produces outward mercy.

Augustine rightly observed:

“Do you wish your prayer to fly toward God? Make for it two wings: fasting and almsgiving.” — Augustine, Sermon 205

Lent teaches us that surrender creates space for love.

Each week of this devotional will include:

• A weekly fasting theme
• A suggested challenge (flexible, not legalistic)
• A Scripture anchor
• A reflective focus tied to Between Two Trees

You are not required to fast food if health prevents it.

You may fast:

• A meal
• Social media
• Noise
• Excess spending
• Entertainment
• Complaining
• Control
• Hurry

The goal is not deprivation.
The goal is attention.

Lenten Devotional Roadmap (7 Weeks)

WEEK 1 — Humility & Honest Repentance

• From self-defense to surrender
• Fast focus: Pride, self-justification, noise
• Tree movement: From grasping (Eden) to confession

WEEK 2 — Hunger & Dependence

• Learning what truly satisfies
• Fast focus: Food, comfort, convenience
• Tree movement: From appetite (Eden’s fruit) to obedience (Christ’s fasting)

WEEK 3 — Trust & Surrender

• Letting go of control
• Fast focus: Control, over-planning, anxiety habits
• Tree movement: From autonomy to “Not my will”

WEEK 4 — Mercy & Justice

• Isaiah 58 lived out
• Fast focus: Indifference, excess spending
• Tree movement: From self-centered living to outward love

WEEK 5 — Hidden Faithfulness

• Faithfulness in unseen places
• Fast focus: Performance spirituality
• Tree movement: From appearance to authenticity

WEEK 6 — Suffering & Solidarity

• Walking toward the cross
• Fast focus: Comfort, avoidance of discomfort
• Tree movement: From fleeing pain to embracing costly love

HOLY WEEK — Death & Resurrection Hope

• From Good Friday to Glory
• Fast focus: Reflection, silence, awe
• Tree movement: From the cross to the empty tomb