40-days of Lent begins on February 22 (Ash Wednesday). Please consider fasting something particular and/or reading a 40-day Bible plan and/or praying for the unchurched as we head towards Good Friday and Easter weekend.
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Day 12 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – Mark 12: 41-44
God doesn’t judge us based on the amount of money we offer, He sees our hearts. Offering is an act of faith, and God wants us to really trust in Him and offer not just our money but ourselves completely to him. Faith without action is nothing. Let’s ask God to strengthen our faith and thank Him for providing everything we need. And listen to what he wants you to offer today.
Day 11 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – Matthew 23:1-39
Jesus teaches the people to examine their hearts when serving God and reminds them not to be like the Pharisses who only focus on the laws Christians “should follow” instead of having a real Christian heart. Let us give ourselves a heart check to make sure it is clean inside, and then the outside will also be clean!
Day 10 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – Matthew 22:34-46
1. Jesus wants us to love God and love people. These two commandments are the roots of everything that the Law and the prophet are about. If we follow these two commandments everything else comes with it.
2. People try to stump Jesus through a logical argument. However Jesus states that everything that great leaders, such as David, did, were all pointing to Him.
Day 9 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – Luke 20:27-40
Some Jews who did not believe in the resurrection told Jesus of what they were told by Moses, hoping to “stump him”: that should a man die, his brother must care for his widow and her offspring. And so, a brother had lost his wife and she was taken care of subsequently by his 6 brothers, all who died and left no child behind. Jesus replied that in the next life, marriage nor child bearing will not… take place as it does in the current world. These Jews had failed to comprehend that the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Moses is the God of the living and that there will only be angels and no death post-resurrection. Despite having been complacent beforehand, they acknowledged and trusted Jesus after, even fearing his omniscience.
Day 8 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – Luke 20:9-26
In verses 9-16 Jesus tells the parable of the tenants. In this parable a man plants a vineyard and rents it out to some farmers. After a while, the man sends his servants for some fruit from the vineyard three times, and three times his servants are beaten and sent away. Finally the man sends his son, but the tenants are threatened by him and kill him in order to gain his inheritance, the vineyard. Jesus says that the owner will come, kill the tenants/farmers, and give the vineyard to others. Afterwards in verses 19-29, the teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest Jesus for they thought Jesus had spoken the parable against them. Many times, God wants to see “fruit” or change in our hearts, but we reject God, try to find ways to avoid his plan, and do things our own way. Like the priests, we look for holes in God’s plan. Let us not be like the priests who looked for ways to undermine Jesus when the felt that their way of life was threatened. Rather, let us allow God to change our hearts so that we may bear fruit for Him.
Day 7 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – Matthew 22:1-14
God invites all of us to a wedding banquet (which is being compared to heaven in this parable) by sending out his servants. There are those who are already invited (the Jews), but who reject it because they are busy following things of this world like money, fame, pleasures, etc. But God is gracious and continues to extend His invitation to them. But there are others who do not even know the “couple getting married” (the Gentiles), yet are still invited to come. And in the end, on judgment day, we will come before the Lord. But not everyone invited can stay; Only those who believe that Jesus is the Savior who rescues us from eternal separation from God. The others will be tied hand and feet and thrown out “into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. So let us not harden our hearts, so that we may enjoy the banquet to its fullest.
Day 6 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – Mark 12:1-12
In verses 1 to 5, Jesus uses a parable to describe how the owner of the vineyard sends his servants to the vineyard to collect the fruit of the vineyard, but the tenants of the vineyard beat down the servants the owner sent. In this parable, the owner of the vineyard represents God, the servants are the prophets God sent, and the tenants are the unfaithful Israelites. Despite how many prophets God sent, the Israelites never listened to God. In verses 6 to 8, the owner sends his own son, who represents Jesus, who ultimately gets killed by the tenants.
In verse 9, it says “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others”. Through this passage, we can see that God was willing to send his own son down to Earth, but the people still rejected Jesus. Through the blood of Christ, we are able to partake in the gift of salvation, and His love for us is something that we need to be mindful of always.
Day 5 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – Matthew 21:23-32
In verses 23-27, the priests and elders of the church try to question Jesus’ authority, but instead He traps them by asking them in return where John gets his authority. From this passage, it is evident these leaders of the church refuse to see who Jesus is, that the authority He has is given to him by the Lord. As a result, they cannot join in the work God is doing through Jesus.
In verses 28-31, Jesus gives a parable that shows how actions speak louder than words. In contrast to the leaders of the church, prostitutes and tax collectors could see John’s righteousness because they were not blinded by their own authority. Because of their humble positions in society, they were able to realize the glory promised by the Kingdom of God. And because our God is so good and full of grace, He shares the glory of His Kingdom with us, as well.
Day 4 (Lent Bible reading plan) – Mark 11:12-26
Jesus curses a fig tree; later on Peter sees the fig tree and can see that the fig tree has withered away. Jesus then goes to encourage us to have faith in our prayers. And when we pray he says to forgive those that have wronged us. Like the temple of God, Jesus took the time to teach the cleansing of the temple; ridding all things that are not righteous in the temple. People had made the house of God into a place to sell and market, and not the house of prayer that it was meant to be. I was reminded of how God calls our bodies as temples of God. Just like Jesus had rid of the the unrighteous in the temple of God, we should also rid our bodies of what is not good. One of which is bitterness. If there is unforgiven things in our hearts, there leaves no room for God to minister. That is why Jesus encourages us to pray to forgive those in our hearts, that we may drive out the unnecessary things in the temple of God, our hearts. And reclaim that place as a house of prayer and as a house of prayer having full faith that our prayers will be heard and answered in Kairos timing.
Day 3 (Lent Bible reading plan) – John 12:12-19
While the crowds of Jerusalem are shouting their praises to welcome Jesus as King, the Pharisees are beside themselves as they watch with frustration. Despite all their efforts to sabotage His ministry, in exasperation they admit that “the whole world has gone after Him”. As we shout and sing hosanna to our humble King this Lent season, let us remember that no matter how hard the Enemy tries, Christ will not yield on His plan of salvation, and that He is calling us to join Him in His work of bringing the whole world to Himself.
Day 2 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – John 12:1-11
Here in this passage Jesus was anointed with perfume by Mary. John writes that it would have cost Mary a year’s worth of wages to buy this perfume. It probably took Mary her whole life to save up that kind of money, so in a sense, when Mary anointed Jesus with this perfume, she was giving Jesus her all. Just as Mary did, let’s give Jesus our all, our everything; in our worship, in our service, in our offering, in everything. Because He’s worthy of our all and because He gave us His all on the cross.
Day 1 (Lent Bible Reading Plan) – Matt 21:1-11
Jesus is the King of Kings and yet he enters Jerusalem riding on a plain and ordinary donkey. God says that He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. During this season, let us remember to live in humility before God and men and receive the grace through Jesus that we need everyday!
