This is a season of reflection; a time of repentance, preparation, prayer and fasting. An opportunity to focus our sights on true discipleship and becoming who God created us to be in the midst of being our most real and authentic selves.

As you begin this journey of prayer and seeking a deeper relationship with God, you may be uncertain as to where you to begin. Praying this prayer wherever you are in this journey of faith is never a bad place to start.

Lord,

Here and now, I confess my sins and failures to You and I am heartfully sorry for having sinned against You.

Grant me the strength to seek and accept Your forgiveness.

Lord Jesus, on the cross on Calvary, You poured Yourself  out completely for me and I claim that wonderful and indescribable gift of salvation.

Lord, create a clean heart in me.

Transform me and renew me in every way; mind, body and spirit.

Be the Lord of my life and guide me in Your ways everlasting.

I consecrate myself to You Lord and ask that You use me according to Your Holy Will.

I pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen

 As we begin the process of self-reflection for the next 40 days,  we see a new opportunity of changing direction through prayer, fasting and acting upon what God reveals to us. In Old Testament times, grieving was displayed by rending their garments or physically tearing their robes and wearing sack cloth and ashes. All were used as avisible sign of loss, mourning and despair. In the book of Job, Job was so dispondant over his affliction that he covered himself in ashes because of what he thought he may have done that brought about God's righteous anger and judgment. "I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6). 'Daniel turned to God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting, in sack cloth and ashes' (Daniel 9:3)

This means that Lent is more than just a season...

It's a time to get real and come clean with God. 

When Moses was shepherding the flocks following his exile from Egypt he looked up on the mountain of God and saw a burning bush. Climbing the forbidden slopes he found the bush that  was ablaze and yet was not consumed. Thats when he heard God speak to him and the first thing he was told was that the gound that he was standing on was holy. This is what we need this day , a Holy space that we must take off our shoes because of the presence of the Lord God is present. God reads our thoughts and He knows our hearts and He longs to be with us if we make room for Him in our lives. Today make "Holy Ground" and use it as the starting point of your journey. Begin with consecrating yourself and Holy area that you will use each day. 

Consecration, prayer, fasting, ashes and attitude; all of these are the first step of your journey into the wild places of your heart. By doing these fundamental things we make room for God to work on us, in us and through us.

Today the sign of ashes on our forehead is an outward acknowledgment of the need for an inward conversion and an outward and upward focus.

Today we commit ourselves to the process of allowing the Holy Spirit to convict us. A journey that begins in the dim light of today and goes into the emotional and spiritual blackness of Good Friday. Like Jesus, we will be tested on these forty days, beginning today and ending on Palm Sunday. When we come down from the high places in life that we have ascended, we can be healed and nourished by the Holy Spirit in the valley by the still waters. As long as we hold onto our sin and cling to it, there is nothing we are willing to let God do for us in our lives. But when we allow ourselves to be undone, God's healing grace takes over.  

Read: Daniel 9:1-22,  Matthew 6:1-13, Exodus 3