THE FRUIT OF REFLECTION (Lenten13)
Not ever being part of a church that follows a Liturgical program, I have never been exposed to what Lent means, so this Lenten period has been an exciting journey for me thus far as well. I do trust my Lenten blogs have been a blessing and encouragement to you, I would sure appreciate some more feedback and comments to assist me in their development.
The three key words and recommendations that seen to be the basis of these special periods of time in the church calendar are:
REFLECTION
The church fathers felt that God’s people needed to be reminded (constantly) of important spiritual truths especially those that relate to the death & resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the coming of the Holy Spirit as they all so relate to life of the Believer..
REPENTANCE
Our reflection on the many important truths we see at this time of Lent, would for most if not all of us cause the Holy Spirit to spotlight areas in our life that we need to face up too, and make decisions to see that there are positive changes that need to take place in our lives. Many of us when we think about the word REPENT think of tears and regret and sorry for falling short of God’s standard and requirements for our life, but REPENTANCE MEAN CHANGE:
- A change of mind
- A change of attitude
- A change of affection
- A change of direction
FASTING
When the Holy Spirit convicts us, we need to be determined that we want to see change take place. Fasting does not always means going without food for a period of time each day, or not eating a particular type of food for a time, so many of us when we think about Lent we think of people who give up say chocolate or some other treat for the time. A young man I have the privilege of Mentoring, has decided to fast from social media, I am not sure it is 100% of the time, or restricting the time, as he felt this was an area that had become a problem to him. Fasting will indicate our desire and determination we want to see change.
In most of the past 12 blogs I have majored on some aspect of truth we need to reflect upon during this time, but the end result should cause us to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and REPENT, and if we are serious that we want to see change take place in our lives we need to consider if needed some form of FASTING, that may be the key to breaking the problem or habit that we have recognised in our lives.
We can be so busy each day, with our employment, our family and other responsibilities, and especially busy working for the Lord, that we don’t realise we are not working with Him.
I will continue to major on aspects for us to consider reflecting upon, but let us not forget, there is often the need for REPENTANCE & FASTING too.
