Lenten Reading, Saturday, April 3

Lent Reading: Alive in Christ. Ephesians 2:1-10



And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Lenten Reading, Friday, April 2

Lent Reading: The death of Jesus. John 19:16-42



So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

 There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS."

 Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek.

 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews'; but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'"

 Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.

 So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be"; this was to fulfill the Scripture: "THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS."

 Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"

 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, "I am thirsty."

 A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.

 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

 So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him;

 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.

 For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN."

 And again another Scripture says, "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED."

 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body.

 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight.

 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

 Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Lenten Reading, Thursday, April 1

Lent Reading: Great Love of God. Psalm 57:7-11



My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;

         I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!

    Awake, my glory!

         Awake, harp and lyre!

         I will awaken the dawn.

    I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples;

         I will sing praises to You among the nations.

    For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens

         And Your truth to the clouds.

    Be exalted above the heavens, O God;

         Let Your glory be above all the earth.

Lenten Reading, Wednesday, March 31

Lent Reading: Riches of God's Grace. Ephesians 1:3-14



Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight

 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him

 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him

 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Lenten Reading, Tuesday, March 30

Lent Reading: Eagerly wait. 1 Corinthians 1:4-9



I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,  that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,

 even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,

 so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

 who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Lenten Reading, Monday, March 29

Lent Reading: Power of His Resurrection Philippians 3:7-11



But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Lenten Reading, Saturday, March 27

Lent reading: Lives to intercede. Hebrews 7:22-28

[S]o much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.  The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing,

 but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.

 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;

 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

 For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

Lenten Reading, Friday, March 26

Lent reading: Wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 For it is written,

         "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,

         AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE."

 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,

 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,

 so that no man may boast before God.

 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

Lenten Reading, Thursday, March 25

Lent reading: Radiance of God’s glory. Hebrews 1:3-13

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

 For to which of the angels did He ever say,

         "YOU ARE MY SON,

         TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU"?

         And again,

         "I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM

         AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME"?

 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says,

         "AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM."

 And of the angels He says,

         "WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS,

         AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE."

 But of the Son He says,

         "YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,

         AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.

    "YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;

         THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU

         WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS."

 And,

         "YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH,

         AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;

     THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN;

         AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT,

     AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP;

         LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED

         BUT YOU ARE THE SAME,

         AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END."

 But to which of the angels has He ever said,

         "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,

         UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES

         A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET"?

Lenten Reading, Wednesday, March 24

Lent reading: Image of the invisible God. Colossians 1:15-22

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.

 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

 For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,

 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--

Lenten Reading, Tuesday, March 23

Lent reading: Man of sorrows. Isaiah 53:1-7

Who has believed our message?

         And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

    For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,

         And like a root out of parched ground;

         He has no stately form or majesty

         That we should look upon Him,

         Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

    He was despised and forsaken of men,

         A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

         And like one from whom men hide their face

         He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

    Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

         And our sorrows He carried;

         Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

         Smitten of God, and afflicted.

    But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

         He was crushed for our iniquities;

         The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,

         And by His scourging we are healed.

    All of us like sheep have gone astray,

         Each of us has turned to his own way;

         But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all

         To fall on Him.

    He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

         Yet He did not open His mouth;

         Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,

         And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,

         So He did not open His mouth.

Lenten Reading, Monday, March 22

Lent reading: Very nature of God. Philippians 2:5-11

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Lenten Reading, Saturday, March 20

Lent Reading: Healing on the Sabbath. Luke 13:10-17

And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

 And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.

 When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness."

 And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God.

 But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, "There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day."

 But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?

 "And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

 As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

Lenten Reading, Friday, March 19

Lent Reading: Faith of the centurion. Matthew 8:5-13

And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him,

 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented."

 Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."

 But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

 "For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it."

 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

 "I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;

 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

 And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed that very moment.

Lenten Reading, Thursday, March 18

Lent Reading: Do you want to get well? John 5:1-14

After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.

 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]

 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?"

 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me."

 Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."

 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.

 So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet."

 But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your pallet and walk.'"

 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk'?"

 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.

 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you."

Lenten Reading, Wednesday, March 17

Lent reading: "Unless the Lord..." Psalm 94:17-19

If the LORD had not been my help,

         My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.

    I$f I should say, "My foot has slipped,"

         Your lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up.

    When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,

         Your consolations delight my soul.

Lenten Reading, Tuesday, March 16

Lent Reading: Healing the blind and mute. Matthew 9:27-33

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

 When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."

 Then He touched their eyes, saying, "It shall be done to you according to your faith."

 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: "See that no one knows about this!"

 But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.

 As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him.

 After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."

Lenten Reading, Monday, March 15

Lent Reading: "Someone touched me." Luke 8:40-48

And as Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him.

 And there came a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue; and he fell at Jesus' feet, and began to implore Him to come to his house;

 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him.

 And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone,

 came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.

 And Jesus said, "Who is the one who touched Me?" And while they were all denying it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You."

 But Jesus said, "Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me."

 When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed.

 And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."

Lenten Reading, Saturday, March 13

Lent Reading: Enter that rest. Hebrews 4:1-11

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.  For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,

         "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,

         THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,"

         although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS";

 and again in this passage, "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST."

 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,

 He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,

         "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

         DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS."

 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.

 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

Lenten Reading, Friday, March 12

Lent Reading: Better is one day. Psalm 84

How lovely are Your dwelling places,

         O LORD of hosts!

    My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD;

         My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

    The bird also has found a house,

         And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,

         Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts,

         My King and my God.

    How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!

         They are ever praising You. Selah.

    How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,

         In whose heart are the highways to Zion!

    Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring;

         The early rain also covers it with blessings.

    They go from strength to strength,

         Every one of them appears before God in Zion.

    O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;

         Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.

    Behold our shield, O God,

         And look upon the face of Your anointed.

    For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.

         I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God

         Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

    For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

         The LORD gives grace and glory;

         No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

    O LORD of hosts,

         How blessed is the man who trusts in You!