A Relational Journey Through Lent
Enjoy this FREE Lent Devotional
Based on “God’s Love Letters to You” by Larry Crabb
Each day, you will have an opportunity to experience one of God’s 66 love letters to you and to consider deeply what He is requiring of you—usually something that feels like a loss, and what He is offering you- something that can only be love. This pattern of give and take is regularly experienced by the ones whose stories are recorded in the Bible and in many cases, we see their response- a wholehearted offering of lament.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
-Job 1:21b
Fill this out:
Each day’s engagement will offer the following:
Read a Love Letter
In this section you will read a short summary of the essence of God’s message in that particular book of the Bible. You may choose to read the entire book for your reflection, or you can simply read the passage suggested. You will sample how Larry grappled with the text, the questions he asked himself, and the questions he posed to God. We will use his example as our template during this journey, asking hard questions of ourselves and of God.
Look at Your Loss
In the Fall, we lost everything good. In this section we will daily consider the magnitude of this loss and how we are now daily required to die to ourselves and give up all to gain Him. And in the spirit of a typical Lenten experience, we will seek to purge and prune, grieve and mourn, surrender and sacrifice.
Remember His Love
Before the Fall ever happened, God had arranged for all that was lost to be made new—through Love. Each day we will look at the ways God constructed His redemptive plan to showcase His love and how He is using the circumstances of your life to manifest that very same love that is making you new.
Offer Your Lament
From Dan Allendar: To lament is to cry out to God with our doubts, our incriminations of him and others, to bring a complaint against him, thus creating the context for our surrender- the turning of our heart over to him, asking for mercy, and receiving his terms for restoration…
Sanctification is a lifetime process of surrendering as more and more intense conflicts with God and others expose and dissolve our urgent preoccupation with ourselves. A lament is the battle cry against God that paradoxically voices a heart of desire and ironic faith in his goodness…
Each day as you experience your loss and explore what love has done, you will have an opportunity to express your lament back to God. You can read Psalm 3, 6, 13, 28 or 142 to see examples of Lament.
Have a Conversation that Matters
Because God is a community of three persons, He uses conversation and relationship as a primary way to sanctify us. Each day we offer you a topic for conversation and would encourage you to engage that conversation with your spouse, around the dinner table with your family, with a spiritual friend, during your small group or with your spiritual director.
Take Time for a Sabbath Reflection
At the end of each week, we will pause in our journey, rest in the embrace of the Trinity, and reflect on what has happened during the past week. This will be a time to seal the work of God on your heart and on your countenance, ensuring that the journey takes you to good places of the heart and brings you into deeper communion with God, greater awareness of yourself, and growing relational holiness with others.
Share your Lent Story here:
If you were unable to have a conversation with someone significant in your life today, you can join a conversation with us at Larger Story. Join us on Facebook or Instagram, or share your story here. We will select stories from these submissions to feature on our “Stories” page in the near future. We hope to hear from you!