Lent is a 40-day spiritual journey for purposes of reflection, repentance, and renewal as we approach Resurrection Sunday (Easter is March 31!). It has been observed since the fourth century AD/CE. The Lenten season is typically observed by Catholics and some mainline Protestant churches that follow a liturgical calendar.
Lent traditionally lasts forty days, modeled after Jesus Christ's forty day fast in the wilderness, and ends on Good Friday. This is also an opportunity to remember the atoning work of God at Calvary. Lent calls our hearts and minds to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is characterized as a time of prayer, confession, fasting, self-examination, alms-giving, and worship attendance.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday which is the day after Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). While Mardi Gras is a time of hedonistic indulgences, Ash Wednesday brings us to terms with our own finitude in the face of impending death.
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 4:7-10 NKJ)
12 Ways To Practice Lent
Take a spiritual inventory/self-examination.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24 NIV)
Deny yourself something that you enjoy (fasting/abstinence).
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 16:24-25 ESV)
Become an advocate for justice.
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17 NIV)
Grieve and confess your sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10 NIV)
Recognize your mortality.
This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? (Ecclesiastes 5:16 ESV)
Identify your brokenness in anticipation of healing/wholeness.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3 ESV)
Sacrifice - Give more than usual.
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:7-8 ESV)
Practice simplicity.
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJ)
Rethink your priorities.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33 ESV)
Practice forgiveness.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)
Serve your community.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. (1 Peter 4:10 NIV)
Embrace contentment.
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. (1 Timothy 6:6-8 ESV)