Lent Journey - 2016Sample

LENT IS FOR LONGING DAILY PRAYER REQUEST: Lord, rekindle my longing for you. DAILY THOUGHT: THE ECHO WITHIN Perhaps the most important thing we can say about our longing for God is that it is an echo within of God’s longing for us. There is in God’s heart a passionate longing for each one of us that nothing can take away. All our reaching out for God, all our hoping to know God, all our desires to be with God, all these things are there because of God’s longing to be in intimate friendship with us. Whenever we find ourselves wanting to start again with God, the place we begin is the awareness that the Spirit of God has been at work in our lives wooing us back into intimacy with God again. DAILY PRACTICE: Pray the daily prayer request. In your quiet time today, consider God’s longing for you. Think about it in these words from the Bible: “Long before God laid down the earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. What pleasure he took in planning this. He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved son” (Ephesians 1:4–5 The Message). Can you sense God’s longing? Share your response with God as these words touch your heart and mind.