Facebook
Delicious
Google
Yahoo
Digg
StumbleUpon
Propeller
2010 Lent Messages
Love the people
Its really a nice message from Sharon I still remmber his efforts for the pepoles.
Shahnawaz
Hyderabad
Sanghar, Pakistan
Season of Lent
“And when He (Jesus) had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered” (Matthew 4:2 KJV)
Being
Christians, Season of Lent is a time of soul-searching and repentance for us.
Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time
for Easter, when the believers rededicated themselves and when converts were taught
and prepared for baptism. By observing these forty days of Lent through fasting,
Christians imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the
wilderness for forty days and forty nights. Though Jesus did not require that as
much as we the humans require it, because He is a perfect God and perfect man
but He observed these forty days and forty nights to prepare himself for his upcoming
ministry. We also see many other biblical references in Old and New Testaments which
teach us about the importance and effectiveness of fasting and praying in the lives
of nation, church and people of God. During this season our basic purpose of
observing it should be forgetting worldly desires and giving more and more time
to prayer, worship and study of Word with self evaluation that Am I ready for
the
Nowadays, all churches that have a continuous history
extending before AD 1500 observe Lent Season. The ancient Church that wrote,
collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent,
believing it to be a commandment from the apostles. During lent season fasting and praying are the vital
parts of its observance. As we see Acts: 13:3 and Acts 14:23 we learn the significance
of prayer and fasting within the early Church and apostles lives. Therefore I would say that fasting and praying
are the most powerful spiritual disciplines of all Christians’ lives. Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit
transforms our lives and guides us about becoming a good disciple of Christ. I believe
that our observance of lent or fasting should be purposeful, because
Christianity is not merely a regular practice of few disciplines of faith as we
see in many other religions of the world. Every practice of Christian faith is
meaningful and objective oriented. Consequently in our lives these practices
should not be nominal or purposeless.
Today, we are all afraid of at least something; like
hunger, shortage of food items, shortage of electricity, loss of security,
terrorism, loss of love, patience, care and concern among friends and families,
especially in times of recession and war. Therefore I would suggest that lets observe season of lent in true
letter and spirit because fasting and prayer can work on much grand scale than
we sometimes think. According to Scripture, personal experience and
observation, I am convinced that when God's people fast with a proper Biblical
motive, seeking God's face and His hand, with a broken, repentant, and contrite
spirit, He hears from heaven and heal our lives, our churches, our communities,
our nation and world. Fasting and prayer can bring a revival in the direction
of our nation, the nations of earth and the fulfillment of the Great Commission
in our lives, our church and in the universal church.
Have a blessed Season
of Lent.
Farrukh Sharon
Bhatti +
Farrukh Sharon Bhatti
,