LENt: 40 dAyS Of pRayER & fAStiNG
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, David wrote:
“…I…humbled my soul with fasting…”
-Psalm 35:13
LENt: 40 dAyS Of pRayER & fAStiNG - 2024
LENT 2024
Protestant: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 14. March 31 is Easter Sunday.
Roman Catholic: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 14. March 31 is Easter Sunday.
Eastern Orthodox: Great Lent begins on Clean Monday, March 18. May 5 is Easter Sunday (Julian Calendar). ___________________________________________________________________
The Julian Calendar is named after Julius Caesar. Our contemporary Calendar is officially known as the Gregorian Calendar, and is named after Pope Gregory the Great).
Lent (always excepting Sundays, which are Feast Days celebrating Christ’s Resurrection), is a “partial fast” where Christians give up something for God as a spiritual discipline. Resisting cravings can be good practice for resisting temptations generally.
Jesus said, “When you fast…” (Matthew 6:17) and, “…but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.” (Matthew 9:15). Our Lord expected that His followers would fast after His Resurrection.
The Bible does not require any specific times or amounts of fasting. The Early Church fasted every Wednesday and Friday.
There are Medical reasons why some people should not Fast; your Doctor should be consulted before undertaking any Fasting.
fAStiNG, SELf-ExAMiNAtiON & REpENtANcE
Lent: 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting
Lent is a period of fasting and penitence (self-examination and repentance) during which observers have historically eaten sparingly.
The word Lent is a Teutonic word that means: “the spring season.” The 40-day length of the fast was established in the 4th Century.
tHE RESuRREctiON Of JESuS cHRiSt
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important event in the history of the world (and therefore also in Christianity!), making Easter the most important Holiday (Holy Day) celebrated by Christians.
The Christian Season of Lent can be used as a time to draw closer to God in preparation of this annual celebration.
It is a form of emulation of our Lord’s example in His 40-day Fast in the Wilderness (Deserts) of Judaea in preparation for his public ministry.
You can use the time to pray for your personal ministry, your family, or whatever you feel led to pray for.
One way to observe Lent is to “deny yourself” in some way regarding food and drink (a partial fast of eating less than usual, or temporarily giving up desserts, meat, a meal, or whatever you may choose) and to replace this with extra time devoted to prayer and Bible reading/study/memorization, or the reading of a Christian book (we have a selection of various subjects listed on our Recommended Books Pages (in our BOOK Category).
We have decided to follow the observance of the season of Lent as it was practiced by the early Celtic Christians.
As a partial fast for 40 Days before Easter; “skipping” Sundays, (Feast Days) which are not observed as fast days, or counted in the 40 Day total (in Celtic Lent observance).
LENtEN ObSERVANcE HAS VARiiEd
Lent: 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting
The Western Church follows the Celtic observance, while the Eastern observance is somewhat different.
In the Eastern Churches (Orthodox), where Saturdays and Sundays are both “relaxed” (regarding fasting) days, the period of Lent is the eight weeks before Easter.
Practices involving Fasting and other forms of self-denial vary in different Protestant Churches.
Historically, Celtic Christians tended to differ with the Roman Catholic Church on Church Calendar calculations, and lean toward that of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, but regarding Lent this was not the case.
However, the Celtic Church used the Orthodox Church calculations for the actual date of when Easter would be observed, and not Rome’s dating system.
The Early Church celebrated Easter on Passover, which occurred on the 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan, and therefore did not always fall on the first day of the week (Sunday).
Since every Sunday is a celebration of Christ’s Resurrection; because He arose on a Sunday, the first day of the week; the desire to celebrate Easter (“Christian Passover”) on a Sunday, seems to be what led to the adoption of new ways for determining the date of Easter each year.
The Book of Hebrews speaks of Christ as our Paschal, or Passover Lamb. The Gospel of John describes Him as:
“…the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”
Eastern Orthodoxy refers to Easter as Pascha, which is the Greek word for Passover.
Sunday was the day when the Early Church met at sunrise before going to work.
Remember that Sunday was just a regular day in the Roman Empire, including in Judaea, where Saturday was observed as the weekly Sabbath day of rest.
The Roman Catholic Church has relaxed its historical Canon Laws on fasting.
In February of 1966, Pope Paul VI issued an Apostolic Constitution, making fasting for Roman Catholics obligatory only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
AtHANASiuS WRitiNG AbOut LENt
In 331 A.D., Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt, urged upon his own Christian people the observance of 40 days of Fasting preliminary to (but not including) the stricter Fast of Holy Week (the week immediately preceding Easter), which was observed in that era.
In 339 A.D., Athanasius visited Rome and traveled throughout Europe. He wrote home to the Christians of Alexandria:
“…to the end that while all the world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not become a laughing-stock as the only people who do not fast, but take our pleasure in those days…”
-St. Athanasius (“Festal Letters”)
NOt A bibLicAl REquiREMENt
Lent: 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting
The Lenten Fast is not commanded, or even mentioned in the Bible.
Of course, it is the imitation of our Lord’s own 40-day Fast in the wilderness of Judea. -Mark 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13
The writings of Irenaeus imply that the entire week before Easter was a celebration of Christ’s Resurrection, with fasting being done only on Good Friday.
Irenaus was a student of Polycarp, who worked with and was appointed by the Apostle John as Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp had heard the Apostle John and some of the other Apostles preach and teach.
Irenaeus knew Polycarp. By 300 A.D., the week before Easter was an especially strict fast in addition to the 40 Day Lenten Fast preceding it.
We do not see this in Celtic Christian practice (where the week before Easter is part of the 40 Day Lenten period), and the Celtic observance eventually was to became the customary practice of the entire Christian Church.
After the Protestant Reformation, each Protestant Church made its own determination concerning Lenten observance, or non-observance.
By exactly what date we are not certain, but the Early Church had training instruction for those who became Christians, lasting for as long as 2-3 years.
Often the new Christians would be baptized on Easter, after first fasting for two or three days. This is the origin of Lenten fasting.
Contrast this with the Book of Acts, in which Philip baptized the Ethiopian Eunuch as soon as he believed.
In emulation of the Apostle Philip, when Lay Monk Preston was 20 years old, he led a young man to the Lord on a beach in Florida, praying with him to receive Christ.
Upon learning that the new Christian had never been baptized, Lay Monk Preston asked him if he desired to be, and learning that he did, immediately baptized him in the Atlantic Ocean!
New Christians would pray all night long, the night before Easter, and proclaim: “Christ is risen!” with the sun’s rising.
After Baptism, they would be given white robes to wear for a week.
This was symbolic of their new life in Christ, and began the custom of wearing new clothes on Easter.
The Resurrection of Christ was celebrated weekly every Sunday, and commemorated yearly on Passover (the word Easter is a Teutonic name for the season that only came to be used many centuries later).
Passover (today’s Easter) was celebrated by the earliest Christians on the 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan.
Jesus was understood to be our Paschal (Passover) Lamb whose sacrifice and shed blood is our redemption from the penalty of sin: the second death…eternal separation from God.
And that brings us back once more to the applicable scripture in the Word of God:
“One person esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let everyone be fully persuaded in their own mind.
The one that regards the day, regards it to the Lord, and the one that does not regard the day, to the Lord they do not regard it.
Those that eat, eat to the Lord, for they give God thanks; and those that do not eat, to the Lord they do not eat, and give God thanks.”
-Romans 14:5-6
LENTEN OBSERVANCE IN THE WESTERN CHURCH
Western Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Western Easter. Sundays are not counted, equaling 40 days.
Jesus withdrew into the wilderness for 40 days to fast and pray, before beginning His ministry (Matthew 4:1-11).
Observing Lent is our imitation of Christ in our own preparation for the celebration of Easter.
In the Roman Catholic Church, Lent ends on Holy Thursday, two days before Easter. _________________
LENTEN OBSERVANCE IN THE EASTERN CHURCH
In Eastern Orthodox Churches, this Season is known as Great Lent. The Lenten period is the eight weeks before Pascha (Easter).
Eastern Great Lent begins on Clean Monday, the seventh Monday (55 days) before Pascha (Easter), and ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday, using of course the Eastern (Julian Calendar) date for Easter.
The Lenten Fast is relaxed on the weekends in honor of the Sabbath (Saturday), and The Lord’s Day (Sunday: the day of Christ’s Resurrection).
The Great Lent is followed by Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, which are Feast Days, then the Lenten Fast resumes on Monday of Holy Week.
In the Eastern Church, Holy Week is a separate season from the Great Lent.
FASTING
Going without food shows our dependence on God, brings us closer to Him, and supercharges our prayers.
Jesus said:
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that shall proceed out of the mouth of God.'”
-Matthew 4:4
A Biblical “total fast” is water only.
When people in the Bible fasted, they would still drink water.
You should not go without water; this could do damage to your kidneys.
The Bible says of Jesus’ 40 day fast in the desert that: “afterward He hungered”; never that he was thirsty.
A “partial fast” can also be very effective.
Daniel observed a partial fast:
“In those days, I Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.
I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.”
-Daniel 10:2-3
At the end of this three-week time period, an Angel appeared to Daniel with the answer to his prayer.
A “partial” fast could be giving up anything for awhile.
Chocolate, desserts, meat, drinks other than water, replacing a meal with a glass of milk.
John Wesley felt all his Methodist Pastors should fast until 5 pm at least one day a week. _______________
Note: Before fasting, you should check with your Doctor.
Some persons should not fast: pregnant women, the sick, the elderly, those with certain Medical conditions like Diabetes, etc.
Persons in these situations can substitute by giving up something else.
For instance, on a “fast day,” you could give up an hour of television (or all television for that day); and replace it with extra Bible Reading and Prayer, or the reading of a Christian book (or listening to a Christian AudioBook or Audio Bible).
JOHN pipER (QuOtES):
“Whatever opposes prayer opposes the whole work of ministry.”
“The engagement of the heart in worship is the coming alive of the feelings and emotions and affections of the heart.
Where feelings for God are dead, worship is dead.”
__________
“All heroes are shadows of Christ.”
__________
“Desire that your life count for something great!
Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this!
Don’t coast through life without a passion.”
__________
“But whatever you do, find the God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it.
And you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life.”
__________
“Fight for us, O God, that we not drift numb and blind and foolish into vain and empty excitements.
Life is too short, too precious, too painful to waste on worldly bubbles that burst.”
__________
“The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God.
It’s a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God.”
__________
“Prayer gives us the significance of front-line forces, and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider, the one who gives the power gets the glory.
Thus prayer safeguards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need.”
__________
“The key to praying with power is to become the kind of persons who do not use God for our ends but are utterly devoted to being used for His ends.”
__________
“The strength of patience hangs on our capacity to believe that God is up to something good for us in all our delays and detours.”
__________
“If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.”
__________
“Suffering in the path of Christian obedience, with joy – because the steadfast love of the Lord is better than life (Psalm 63:3) – is the clearest display of the worth of God in our lives.”
__________
“The highest mental health is not liking myself, but being joyfully interested in everything but myself.”
__________
“Every good thing in the Christian life grows in the soil of humility. Without humility, every virtue and every grace withers.
That’s why Calvin said humility is first, second, and third in the Christian faith.”
__________
“Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth.”
___________________________
–John Piper, American Reformed Baptist Pastor (Author: “Desiring God” and “Don’t Waste Your Life”)
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