Lent 2014 - Lenten Journey To The Cross: Remembering Jesus - Week One

March 10, 2014

Good Monday Morning To You!

I hope this note finds you well and excited about beginning our Lenten Journey to the Cross: Remembering Jesus. I am excited that so many of you have decided to join us as we explore the power of the disciplines practiced by Jesus. Hopefully by now, you have prayerfully considered what you will abstain from and what you will adopt. It has been uplifting and encouraging reading all the responses from those of you who have shared. We can pray for and support one another in our commitments along the way.

Richard Foster, a renowned Christian theologian and author best known for his groundbreaking book, Celebration of Discipline wrote in 1978, "Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people."1 These words are still true for us today. The many challenges we face in our personal, professional and spiritual lives require us to live, think and act from a deeper place. So as we endeavor to answer the call to go deeper, we look to the life of Jesus Christ as our guide and example. Scripture says, "And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness." (Col 2:6-7) With this goal in mind, Let's Grow!

The first discipline found in the life of Christ we will explore during this first week is SURRENDER! I know, I know. If you are anything like me, just hearing the word makes you slightly defensive. The notion of giving up control to someone else; to stop resisting and fighting and allowing something/someone else to influence and control you is not a happy notion. But there is power in surrendering our lives to God. Jesus lived a surrendered life. He was totally and completely consumed with doing, saying and being all that God, the Father desired. When speaking of his life's purpose, he says "For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will". (John 6:38)

As you read and meditate on the daily verses for this week, ask God through the Holy Spirit to show you those things and areas of your life where you may need to surrender or surrender fully. Maybe it's the need to be right or understood. Maybe it's in the area of finances. Maybe it's the desire to control outcomes or certain hopes and dreams of our future. Maybe you need to answer a call or surrender to a direction in life, career and ministry that feels uncomfortable and unsure. We all have something and maybe even someone that we need to surrender to God. Let's hear what the word has to say to us about the power of surrender this week and believe God to speak to us in powerful and transformative ways.

Monday - Mark 8:34-37
Tuesday - Galatians 2:20
Wednesday - Philippians 3:5-8
Thursday - John 8:28-29
Friday - Luke 22:39-43
Saturday - Luke 1:26-39
Sunday (Worship)

You may already have your own method of verse study but I will share one that I have found helpful for devotional study. It is simply, READ, REFLECT and RESPOND. Reading is of course the easiest part. Reflect, is where we ask ourselves the tough questions, "How does this verse speak to my life today? What truth can I draw on for my situation? What is God saying to me through this verse?" There are many reflection questions, choose the one you find most beneficial. Last, the word has no effect if we don't respond to it. So in light of this verse, decide what can you do today to make this verse come alive in your life.

I look forward to studying this week with you! Remember God is with us every step of the way. So, this week go on, wave the white flag and SURRENDER! God has great things in store for us!

Let's Grow!

Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor

1Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline--The Path to Spiritual Growth. New York, NY: Harper San Francisco, 1988. Print.