Day 18: Daniel 9:17-19
But now, our God, listen to your servant’s prayer and pleas for help. Shine your face on your ruined sanctuary, for your own sake, my Lord. Open your ears, my God, and listen! Open your eyes and look at our devastation. Look at the city called by your name! We pray our prayers for help to you, not because of any righteous acts of ours but because of your great compassion. My Lord, listen! My Lord, forgive! My Lord, pay attention and act! Don’t delay! My God, do all this for your own sake, because your city and your people are called by your name.
Week 4: Confession
Isaiah 6:5-7 says, “And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a part of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed, and your sin is blotted out.’” Confession is a big part of the season of Lent. If the goal of Lent is to reflect or meditate on our lives, a natural second goal is to recognize our sins both individually and collectively and to repent or say we are sorry for doing the wrong things or not doing right things. The regular act of confession, every Sunday as a group in church, and personally every time we pray, is a way of letting go of those sins or shortcomings, and to be in position to love God and everyone. Take time every day to count your blessings and your sins. Offer gratitude for the blessings and confess the sins to God so God can again wash us clean. Confess your sins this week and let the rest unfold!
A Path Through Lent is a daily devotional series that leads us from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday in preparation for Easter. Lent is a 40 day period before Easter that symbolizes the 40 days that Jesus was in the desert praying and fasting. (Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4). Watch for theses daily devotionals to orient your day and your week as we prepare for Resurrection Sunday!