What Is Lent's Meaning and Purpose; is it Biblical?
Excerpt from Christianity.com-?
Christianity.com- Lent is meant to be a time of repentance. These 40 days are set aside to praise and worship the Lord; to read the Bible more, and to pray more often. Christians who observe Lent correctly anticipate deeper intimacy with the Lord.
Why is Lent 40 days?
The 40-day period of Lent is symbolic of significant biblical events, including:
Jesus' 40 days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11).
Moses spending 40 days on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28).
Elijah's 40-day journey to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).
The 40 days of rain during the Great Flood (Genesis 7:12).
The Israelites' 40 years of wandering in the desert (Numbers 14:33).
From Betty
When it comes to what the Word of God says about fasting- It always involve destroying yokes – Some things only come out through by fasting and prayer (Mark 9:17-29).
When it comes to the Lent season, the question should be who started this and is it biblically related? I encourage you to get history on whatever or whoever you follow. Make sure you are not doing it because someone else is doing it. Remember what the apostle Paul wrote: Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Examples of fasting for the wrong reason:
Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? (Isaiah 58:6-7).
To be seen of others to make them think you are so holy: “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly (Matthew 6:16-18).
The real reason for fasting is to break (destroy) yokes; seeking the Lord for guidance. Breaking yokes means to bring deliverance, this is not like fasting from certain things (TV, etc.) and after the fast is over you go back to doing the same thing. Question: Are the motives pure?
FYI- Strong's Concordance- fasting is to abstain from food (not eating).
His handmaiden, Betty A. Burnett ~ burnettministries.org
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