Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 26, 2023 — Morning
By Laine Thomas
Opening My Ears
Read: Hosea 12:6 NIV
“But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.”
Read: Micah 7:7 NIV
“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”
Prayer is a challenging daily practice in my life. I turn to it when I need something but I don’t often just listen in prayer for what God has to say to me. Instead, I try to determine my own path and pray just to make sure He’s on board with the direction I’ve already planned on heading.
These forty days are a chance to refocus away from the world and grow spiritually. It’s a time to make our hearts and minds ready for God. Sacrificing something we enjoy becomes an opportunity to fill that missing piece with Him. Because talking it out in prayer is how I try to manage things, instead I’m giving my words to God. I’m spending this Lenten season in prayer. I’m planning to give my time to the Lord. I’m not looking for answers to my prayers. Instead, I want to remind myself that I’m not meant to conquer this world alone. I’m using this Lent to listen to Him and let His words and intention guide me. My house will be quieter this season, but my ears and heart will be open for all He has to tell me.
Sacrifice and spiritual growth can come in many forms and this Lenten season, I hope we all find our way closer to God and are reminded of our need for him minute by minute in our lives. It’s never easy to change our habits, to reset, and we are blessed for this reminder to work on it every year knowing that our God will hear us.
Prayer
Lord, I pray for every person sacrificing comforts, serving you, and giving a bit of themselves this season in order to refocus our faith and grow closer to You. Hear their hearts and minds this season and let them hear you in return. Thank You for the promise you give us that our sins are forgiven and there is life after death. It sustains us on the hardest days. Guide us in Your will always. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.
