OzThoughts Wednesday 4th March 2009.

OzThoughts Wednesday 4th March 2009.

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Although I was brought up in a Christian home and church, the season of Lent was something that “other churches” did. It has only been in the last ten or so years that I have come to some understanding of what it means for other Christians.

Here is one definition which I found on the internet:

“This is the season of penitence and fasting which is roughly the forty days before Easter and was first observed in the early church as a time in which those preparing for baptism might be instructed in the faith. Today Christians use it as a time for some sort of spiritual development. This can take many forms such as prayer and fasting, self-denial, spiritual reading or some other discipline such as attending a Lent Course. Lent is often associated with Jesus’ retreat into the desert as a preparation for his ministry”

Lent is the season of penitence… It’s a time of being penitent; a time of feeling of regret or remorse for doing wrong or sinning.

David was confronted by his own sin. He records his penitence in Psalm 51. He realizes that while he is a sinner, forgiveness depends on God’s generous love, grace and mercy. David can confess his sin but only God can deal with it.

Psalm 51:1-9 (The Message)
1-3 Generous in love—God, give grace!
Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I've been;
my sins are staring me down.

4-6 You're the One I've violated, and you've seen
it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
whatever you decide about me is fair.
I've been out of step with you for a long time,
in the wrong since before I was born.
What you're after is truth from the inside out.
Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean,
scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don't look too close for blemishes,
give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don't throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I'll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I'll let loose with your praise.

…………………

Kneeling in penitence I make my prayer,
Owning my weaknesses and my despair;
Failure I cannot hide,
Broken my selfish pride,
Pardon thou dost provide,
Pardon declare.

Nothing can I achieve, nothing attain;
He that without thee builds, labors in vain;
Shatter my own design,
Shaping a plan divine,
Come to this heart of mine,
Saviour, again.

Though few the gifts I have that thou canst use,
Make thy demands on me; I'll not refuse;
Take all there is of me,
Take what I hope to be;
Thy way at last I see,
Thy way I choose.
Author: John Gowans
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 605



[ In preparation for Easter read a Christian book during Lent which is now. ]


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