Lent 2026

Each week we will look at a different discipline in spiritual training elements. They are biblical practices that are designed to draw us closer to God, strengthen our faith, and teach our spirit a deeper truth. As part of this journey, we will offer a prescription for you to engage with the exercise of that week. Feel free to take it and make it your own. This is NOT about perfection but intention. Don’t feel bad or punish yourself if you fall short, forget, or choose to stop. These aren’t to be prison sentences or made to feel like punishment. They are training tools to enhance your walk with the LORD. While the emphasis for each week will be separate, we encourage you to incorporate all of the practices in your life on a recurring and ongoing basis. No rules, just relationship enrichment with God, the Father, who loves you and wants to be known by you.

If you don’t understand something or have questions along the way, please reach out to a Pastor or your Life Group leader. This is NOT a solo journey and we don’t want you to feel alone in it.

FASTING

Description: To go without something (most often food) for a designated and extended period of time. To feel hungry, the desire, and struggle with discomfort of the lack. To make an intentional effort to focus your heart and mind on the LORD and seek GOD for something specific (i.e. overcoming a struggle, battling the enemy, breaking addiction, deeper faith, gaining understanding, pursuing clarity, bringing healing, etc)

Intention: To deny the body what it wants so the spirit can get what it needs.

Jesus shared with his disciples that certain demons could only be driven out through prayer and fasting (Matt 17:21 – some versions do not have this verse)

This much I long for God. (I want God as much as – and more than – I want the thing I have given up.)

Application: 

Fast one or two meals every day this week. 

Fast from sunrise to sunset every day this week.

Fast a set number of days during the week. 

All Guidestone is encouraged to engage for this 30 Hours: Tuesday, Feb 24 at 1230pm to Wednesday, Feb 25 at 630pm. We will break the fast with a celebration meal that night at church. 

PRAYER

Description: To communicate with the LORD. At its core, prayer is simply talking with God and the Bible records so many different variations and moments of prayer. There are prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of repentance, prayers of pain, sorrow, and lament. There are prayers of petition in which the individual asks God for something grand, something different, or something specific. There are prayers with joy and prayers with tears. 

Jesus teaches his disciples to pray with what we know as the LORD’s prayer (Matt 6:9-13) and gives a few explicit words about what it should or shouldn’t be. It is NOT to be a bunch of words spoken out loud to be heard by others or sound spiritual. It IS to be genuine and true.

Intention: To align our hearts with the heart of God. To  

Application: Commit to start your day with 5, 10, 15 or more minutes of prayer before ANYTHING else.

Pray these types of prayers and seek God for a response: 

Search me, 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)

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you. (Psalm 25:4-5)

God, Who would you have me share your love with today? 

Open my eyes to see them and the opportunity you provide. 

Give me the words to share and the wisdom to speak or listen. 

All Guidestone is encouraged to pray at 9a, 12p, and 6p. Daniel 6:10 and Psalm 55:17 speak of these three times a day that people would pray. So, we will set reminders, encourage one another, and stop what we are doing to pray at these times. You’re of course not limited to only them.

SILENCE/SOLITUDE

Description: Jesus often “withdrew” to a “solitary place” for prayer (Matt 14:13, Luke 5:16). In a world of constant contact and endless clutter, our spirit is often suffocating from the inability to breathe deeply. This may be the hardest of all the challenges because of our full schedules, bloated calendars, and time restraints. But it may also be one of the most important ones. When Elijah was running from Jezebel, he was hiding in a cave on the mountain and the LORD told Elijah that He was about to pass by. There was a violent wind, then an earthquake, followed by a fire and God was NOT in any of it. But then, a gentle whisper came, lovingly and softly speaking to Elijah who was afraid. In order to hear a quiet voice the extra noise has to be eliminated and the chaos has to be removed. 

Intention: To hear from God. To block out the noise. To remove the input, stimulus, and chaos of the world. To get alone with God.

Application: Find some time to be alone, every day or a big chunk one day. No cell phone, no music, no public space with people all around, no people watching, no tv, no talking. If you can’t find complete solitude, do your best, but 100% not talking for a time. 

All Guidestone is encouraged to find 30 minutes to 1 hour of complete isolation. Remove yourself from the rest of the world for just a moment by withdrawing to a solitary place. Get alone with God, and get alone with your thoughts. 

SCRIPTURE

Description: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) 

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11

The WORD of God holds the power to create life. It is no small detail that as God spoke He brought forth all creation. In the letters and words, stories and people, poems and particulars of the bible that have sold and been circulated more than and have lasted longer than any other literary work. It is where we learn about God and get to know God. We learn about ourselves and what God has for us. 

Intention: To grow in our knowledge and understanding of the character and nature of God and what God says about us. To fill our minds with divine revelation and the very heart of the Creator. 

Application: For this we are going to spend time being immersed in the word of God. People of the Old Testament would listen to the scriptures be read for hours and Jesus taught us how to let the holy text inform our decisions and navigate our temptations. The only way we grow here is to spend time with it. 

Goal is to read, meditate, and respond to the word of God for at least 15 minutes per day. Pick a passage of scripture from any book of the bible and read it, re-read it, then read it again. Ask God to speak to you and reveal His truth He has for you through these words. You can pick a new section every day or choose to revisit the same passage as the day before (until the Holy Spirit speaks to you in it). 

All Guidestone is encouraged to read in the books of 1 & 2 Corinthians for their reading selections. 

GIVING

Description: From the beginning, God created man with an innate structure to give. God is a giving God. For God loved the world so much He GAVE His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16). God is generous beyond comprehension and even gives people what they ask for if it wasn’t the original plan. (1 Samuel 8). And there is no shortage of conversation throughout the entirety of scripture that calls us to give to those in need and do not only care for oneself. 

Intention: Giving selflessly isn’t natural. Watch kids play together for 5 minutes and you’ll hear someone speak out, “THAT’s MINE!” So, it requires unlearning that fallen part of our sinful nature. 

Application: Giving a with to God is expected from God so we’re not talking about that. This is to be some kind of sacrificial giving that is beyond what is regular. Simply pray, ask God to show you who, how, and what to give, then be open and ready to receive that prompting and direction. 

The second greatest commandment is like the first, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This means we should love others in the ways we love ourselves (food, clothes, shelter, treats, health, etc). Tithing is 10% of income per biblical standard. Try giving an additional 10% this week to someone in need. Remember to seek God first for whom should receive it. Then trust God to provide. 

All Guidestone is encouraged to choose to give one of each this week outside of the regular or something that is already done. Give time (service), talent (something you are good at or get paid for), and treasure (finances). 

CONFESSION

Description: This is an admission of guilt, it is humbling one’s self to let God or others know you were wrong, you made a mistake, you’ve hurt someone, or you caused a problem. We confess to God but we also confess to others. 

Confess to others – 1 John 1:9

Confess to others – James 5:16

Intention: To make things right. We can’t earn God’s grace and don’t deserve God’s mercy, but God provides a way for us to live in perfect peace with Him, the perfect and Holy God. 

Application: Start by asking God if there is “any offensive way” in you (Psalm 139:23-24) and as anything comes to mind write it down. Put pen to paper anything you feel you need to confess to God. Once your heart feels clear, tell God sorry for those things – attitudes, words, actions, motives, bitterness, unforgiveness, etc – and then tear it up and throw it away. Physically destroying it and discarding it will display the way in which your heavenly Father forgives and cleanses you (Psalm 103:12 and Micah 7:19). 

All Guidestone is encouraged to make a confession to a trusted friend or confidant. Even if you don’t have any dark secrets to shed light on, tell them something that you would like to improve or do better with. Bring someone else in a struggle or a weak spot so it loses strength in its grip on you and you gain power over it (even just a little) by shining light on it.