LENTEN JOURNEY FRUIT

We have now concluded our Lenten Journey (which included Holy Week), I trust it has been a life changing experience for you. I want to thank the Lord for the 48 messages (blogs) he put in my heart to assist us in our Lenten Journey. It has been a new experience for me, as I have never been part of a church that follows a Liturgical calendar.

I sought to remind you that there are a number of things that Believers are encouraged to do during Lent, they are:

REFLECTION

Especially on the Word of God, and the death & resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ..

CONFESSION & REPENTANCE.

In our reflection we ask the Lord to search our hearts  Psalm 139:13-14 NLT Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends You,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

FASTING

Not only from food, but giving up certain things so that we can give more quality time in  our seeking of the Lord at this time.

DOING ACTS OF MERCY

Letting the Holy Spirit lay people on our hearts, and for us to pray and ask the Lord  how we can bless them and minister to them.

I trust there have been some visible conscious changes in your life as a result of you doing these things.

THESE FOUR THINGS SHOULD BE PART OF OUR LIFE EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR (NOT JUST DURING LENT).

I trust this period of time has caused you to put some more discipline in your life, to make these things permanent practices in your life.

THAT WE ARE LEARNING MORE AND MORE TO REFLECT AND MEDITATE ON GOD’S WORD.

THAT WE ARE DEVELOPING A SPIRIT OF REPENTANCE, AND A DESIRE TO CLEAR OUR HEARTS OF ANY KNOWN SIN

Basilea Schlink a Lutheran nun described Repentance as the “Joy filled Life”

THAT FASTING BECOMES PART OF OUR  REGULAR LIFESTYLE.

THAT WE WILL THINK OF “OTHERS” MORE

A PERSONAL TESTIMONY

I want to say that during this time, the Lord has so often quickened His Word to my spirit, and blest me so much.

More and more, I am wanting to “turn around” and change to be more like Jesus, I want to refuse to listen to my sinful nature, and reject the bias to sin that is in all of us.

I have become ever more conscious of the need for greater discipline in my life, and as Paul says in 1 Cor:9:27 KJV But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

I am seeking to think of “others” more.

Especially, I want to say, I have experienced so many personal answers to prayer, the Lord has been so good to me.

So, as a result of our Lenten Journey, I trust we all can GIVE THANKS WITH A GRATEFUL HEART, that we are developing a greater ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE and want to testify more and more of the goodness of God in our lives.

So, let us make a decision and commitment today that the practices we have developed during our Lenten Journey will NOT be forgotten, but are indelibly printed in our heart and that by the grace of God WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.

SO WITH GOD’S HELP WE WILL CONTINUE TO WALK IN RESURRECTION LIFE