Tomorrow night at Fusion Wednesday Night Worship with the FUMC Student Ministries at FUMC Cleburne we are focusing on how we can best prepare for the period of 40 days where we focusing on drawing closer to God. It is a time in the church where we are recognizing the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness and was tempted by Satan but stayed committed to his call from God, his father.
I love this time of year. It is always a time where in my prayers I pray a very specific prayer.
Now the entire prayer is not so specific, but a part of it is.
“Create in me a clean heart God and put a new and faithful spirit within me. Wash me by your grace and fill me with your spirit.”
Everyday through lent I will be praying this without ceasing.
I think that is core truth of lent.
To actively draw near to God without ceasing, with every fiber in our being that we would seek and desire to be near God at all times. Lent teaches us that this seeking and this desire is what makes our lives abundant in Christ. Throughout my life I have gone to scripture to assist me in this abundant life, as we prepare for the lent season this year let us look to Psalm 51 to guide through Lent.
Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love!
Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
2 Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
purify me from my sin!
3 Because I know my wrongdoings,
my sin is always right in front of me.
4 I’ve sinned against you—you alone.
I’ve committed evil in your sight.
That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict,
completely correct when you issue your judgment.
5 Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.[a]
7 Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and celebration again;
let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
9 Hide your face from my sins;
wipe away all my guilty deeds!
10 Create a clean heart for me, God;
put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
11 Please don’t throw me out of your presence;
please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
12 Return the joy of your salvation to me
and sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
and sinners will come back to you.
14 Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation,
so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
16 You don’t want sacrifices.
If I gave an entirely burned offering,
you wouldn’t be pleased.
17 A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God.[b]
You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.
18 Do good things for Zion by your favor.
Rebuild Jerusalem’s walls.
19 Then you will again want sacrifices of righteousness—
entirely burned offerings and complete offerings.
Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.
I pray that during Lent we all pray that God would create in us a clean heart and that he would return the joy of His salvation and sustain us with a willing spirit.
We ask all this in Jesus.
Amen.