Ignatius of Antioch: Fish Hooks

Fasting Day 14 of 40 | Third Thursday of Lent

“After His suffering, He presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.’” Acts 1:3

After His resurrection, Jesus proved that His suffering defeated death by appearing to many over forty days. He also announced that His life inaugurated the kingdom of God. But it did not take long for people to start doubting. Early in the second century, Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of John the apostle of Jesus, wrote this in To the Magnesians.

“I want to protect you from being snagged by the fish hooks of worthless ideas. You should be fully convinced of the birth and suffering and resurrection that occurred in the time of the governor Pontius Pilate. These things were truly and certainly done by Jesus Christ, our hope. From this hope may none of you ever turn away.”

Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35-c.107) in To the Magnesians 11.1 in The Apostolic Fathers I, ed. by Bart D. Ehrman (LCL 24; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003).

Watch out for fish hooks of worthless ideas! The world is filled with them. They pull us away from Jesus, who is only idea worth making the object of our hope. Where do you place your hope? The world tells us to put it in money. Part of the reason we practice giving during Lent is to demonstrate where we place our hope.

Jesus, help me grow in giving and keep my hope in You. Amen.

Take time to assess your giving this past year. Make a list. Some do this to prepare to pay taxes. Sit with the Holy Spirit and your list. Ask how might you grow your giving during Lent and after to make known the kingdom of God to the world? And to keep your hope in Jesus.

Fasting Day 13 of 40 | Third Wednesday of Lent

“Your clothes did not wear out, and your feet did not swell during these forty years.” Deuteronomy 8:4

During the time of testing in the wilderness God sustained His people with manna and their clothing and shoes did not wear out.

Dallas Willard comments on this in The Divine Conspiracy. He writes. “It is significant that not only were needs for food in the desert met by the direct action of God, but also needs for clothing and shoes. The Israelites wore the same shoes and clothing, continuously renewed by God, for forty years (Deut. 8:4). That was a fundamental part of the training they received in kingdom living.”

Dallas Willard (1935-2013) in The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998) p. 197.

That’s what Lent is for: training for kingdom living. We block forty days to give, pray, and fast so God can teach us things for life after Lent.

Think about our need for training. The world fills us with fear of the future. This limits our giving. We struggle to find solitude to have space for prayer. And the world tells us to appease our desires, which is the opposite of fasting. All the world offers leaves us unsatisfied and needy. But like He sustained His people for forty years, when we give, pray, and fast over forty days, He trains us to trust in His faithful care.

God, teach me to trust you to sustain and satisfy me. Amen.

As we start week three of Lent, think about which of the three disciplines you find it most hard to practice in Lent. Ask God for help. And talk to a trusted person and ask how they make practice that discipline to learn.

Fasting Day 12 of 40 | Second Tuesday of Lent

“Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” 2 Kings 8:9

Hazael arrives with an extraordinary display – forty camel loads of wares – for Elisha, but he lacked ordinary morals. While the prophet proclaimed the king would recover, he also wept because he saw how Hazael would murder Ben-Hadad and do great harm to God’s people.

Some might appear generous and even participate in Lent but lack morals on the inside. In Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton speaks about this.

“Men (I felt) might fast forty days for the sake of hearing a blackbird sing. Men might go through fire to find a cowslip. Yet these lovers of beauty could not even keep sober for the blackbird. They would not go through common Christian marriage by way of recompense to the cowslip. Surely one might pay for extraordinary joy in ordinary morals.”

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) in Orthodoxy (Grand Rapids: CCEL), p. 37.

In plain terms, while people may do grand things to experience rare beauty, true appreciation of good things in life calls for ordinary morals. In this case, virtues like sobriety and commitment.

Lent is an inward journey that develops morals within us. Let us sweep extraordinary displays from our lives and welcome ordinary morals.

God, develop ordinary morals in me on this Lenten journey. Amen.

Is there any part of your life where what appears on the outside is not the same as on the inside? Ponder in solitude. Ask God to work there.

Fasting Day 11 of 40 | Second Monday of Lent

“Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4

God can do a lot in forty days. Jonah never dreamed that God could transform the hearts of the 120,000 people in the notoriously wicked capital of the Assyrian empire. These people could not “tell their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11). He underestimated God’s strength!

In Story of a Soul, Thérèse of Lisieux wrote about her forty days of fasting. “God granted me, last year, the consolation of observing the fast during Lent in all its rigor. Never had I felt so strong.”13

The paradox of the Christian journey Is that strength is found in surrender, in weakness, and in fasting. With thirty days of fasting left, I pray you observe it with rigor because the gain is unfathomable. When you fast, pray, and give with rigor during Lent, you get God in abundance. With Him comes discernment you never dreamed, peace amid peril, confidence to face any crisis, wisdom for your work, and help that multiplies hope. And that’s only the beginning.

Jonah ran the other way when God tapped him for his task. And God used a fish to get him to the right place. What does God want you to do? Don’t flee. Surrender Trust Him to give you incalculable strength.

God, exchange my surrender with your strength during Lent. Amen.

Journal on this: What does God want you to do that would only be possible with His strength at work in you?

Feast Day 2 of 7 | Second Sunday of Lent

Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 2 Corinthians 11:24

Clement served as the first Bishop of Rome. Tertullian reports that the apostle Peter ordained him to service. Scholars call him the first of the Apostolic Fathers. Think of the Apostolic Fathers as the leading disciples of the first disciples. Today we learn about endurance from his first letter to the Corinthians, dated to 95 or 96. He was martyred in 99, by Emperor Trajan who had him tied to an anchor and thrown into the Black Sea.

“Through jealousy and strife Paul showed the way to the prize of endurance; seven times he was in bonds, he was exiled, he was stoned, he was a herald both in the East and in the West, he gained the noble fame of his faith, he taught righteousness to all the world, and when he had reached the limits of the West he gave his testimony before the rulers, and thus passed from the world and was taken up into the Holy Place — the greatest example of endurance.”

Clement of Rome (c. 35-99) in 1 Clement 10:5-7.

Notice that forty and seven appear in Paul’s example of endurance. Forty equates to a time of testing. Imagine the pain of getting the skin ripped off your back for Jesus Christ. Seven implies perfection and links to the number of times he was in bonds. If Paul or Clement could endure trials and even martyrdom to make Jesus Christ known, what can you endure?

Jesus Christ, help me endure all things to make You known. Amen.

With no risk, there is no reward! As you celebrate knowing Christ today, ponder what risks God wants you to take to make Jesus Christ known.

After my recent trip to China, I had a zoom meeting last night with three influential workers, my Chinese translator from USA, and two administrators from Kairos University.

We will make educational pathways available to persecuted workers in hard places. The president of Kairos, a long time friend, messaged me during the meeting, “Are you willing to go there multiple times to get this going.”

I prayed a simple prayer of surrender to the Father and heard “yes” in reply. So I messaged, “Yes, I am willing.”

And I am excited for my wife, Jenni. God has whispered to her to return to Ukraine for the fourth time during the war to teach again at the seminary in Lviv in April. I praise God for her willingness to risk for Jesus Christ.

What risks does God want you to take to make Jesus Christ known? It does not have to appear as going to a dangerous place. What if you risked by giving so generously you will have to trust Him to sustain you?

Fasting Day 10 of 40 | Second Saturday of Lent

“The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.” Deuteronomy 2:7

The foundation for our giving, prayer, and fasting in Lent is the Word of God. Polycarp, urged the church in Philippi to return to the Word in a time when many pursued vanity and false doctrines. I think He would say the same to us today as materialism and heresy abound.

In Letter to the Philippians, Polycarp of Smyrna writes. “Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning; “watching unto prayer,” and persevering in fasting; beseeching in our supplications the all-seeing God to “not lead us into temptation.” As the Lord has said: “The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69-155) in Letter to the Philippians 7:2, trans. By David Robert Palmer (2022 edition).

Why return to the Word, watch in prayer, and persevere in fasting? In this way, we lack nothing. In prayer and fasting we stand firm in what the Word teaches us. With these disciplines we strengthen our spirit.

Jesus, keep me from vanity and heresy as I return to the Word. Amen.

What is your discipline for Scripture reading? Did you know you can read most chapters in the Word of God in seven minutes. Try seven minutes of Scripture reading – one chapter – per day. Ask someone to join you. Hold each other accountable. Consider reading the same books and talking about what you learn and how the Word helps you.

Fasting Day 9 of 40 | Second Friday of Lent

“So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years. Judges 5:31

Many Scriptures report peace for forty years like this one proclaimed by Deborah. The timeframe points to a season of calm and blessing from God for His people. Want this in your life this Lent?

In Practical Mysticism, Evelyn Underhill points the way. “Eternity is with us, inviting our contemplation perpetually, but we are too frightened, lazy, and suspicious to respond: too arrogant to still our thought, and let divine sensation have its way. It needs industry and goodwill if we would make that transition: for the process involves a veritable spring cleaning of the soul, a turning-out and rearrangement of our mental furniture, a wide opening of closed windows, that the notes of the wild birds beyond our garden may come to us fully charged with wonder and freshness, and drown with their music the noise of the gramophone within. Those who do this, discover that they have lived in a stuffy world, whilst their inheritance was a world of morning-glory; where every titmouse is a celestial messenger, and every thrusting bud is charged with the full significance of life.”

Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) in Practical Mysticism (Minneapolis: Global Grey, 2025), p. 8.

Do you live in a stuffy world? Is it time for spring cleaning in your soul. Want more for your life? The path to peace starts with prayer.

Christ, show me what to sweep out of my soul this Lent. Amen.

Contemplate all Christ has done for you for seven minutes then journal.

Ane thanks for your prayers for me yesterday. The Paster’s conference went great. What a joy to speak on “Generosity in the Economy of God in 1 Timothy, Ephesians, and Your Church or Ministry.”

I’d describe them as responsive to take the biblical and practicl remarks to spread it to others.

So much of my teaching and training is worldwide. What a blessing to be treated as a prophet with honor in my own country, my own city.

Fasting Day 8 of 40 | Second Thursday of Lent

He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. 1 Kings 7:38

Did you know 1 Kings 7:1 says it took 13 years for Solomon to build his palace? In Scripture, 13 implies drifting from God. And 40 appears with the number of baths he had. If we look at Solomon’s story, while God gave him wisdom and riches, the vanity led to a divided heart.

In The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis writes. “This is the greatest wisdom—to seek the kingdom of heaven through contempt of the world. It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride. It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come. It is vanity to wish for long life and to care little about a well-spent life. It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come. It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ) excerpt from Chapter 1, “Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 5.

To grow in giving this Lent, commune with God in prayer to ask what areas you might wrongly pursue vanity in your heart. Why do we drift toward vanity? It happens when we cherish the gifts of God over God.

God, save me from cherishing Your gifts over You. Amen.

Fasting, prayer, and giving are linked in Lent and in life. To seek God’s kingdom, how might God want you to have contempt of the world.

I am speaking at a pastor’s conference in Denver today on “Generosity in the Economy of God in 1 Timothy, Ephesians, and Your Church or Ministry.” I aim to equip them to abandon the economy of this world thinking which leads to a scarcity mindset, and instead to adopt economy of God thinking which gives us a sufficiency mindset.

I appreciate your prayers. Thanks.

Fasting Day 7 of 40 | Second Wednesday of Lent

At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. Deuteronomy 9:11

God produces good things in us through fasting. Moses got the stone tablets after 40 days. Notice the blessings others have received.

In his First Homily on Fasting, Basil of Caesarea writes, “It was fasting and prayer which gave Samuel to Hannah. Fasting brought forth Samson. Fasting begets prophets, strengthens strong men. Fasting makes lawgivers wise, is the soul’s safeguard, the body’s trusty comrade, the armor of the champion, the training of the athlete.”

Basil of Caesarea (330-379) in his “First Homily on Fasting” (Grand Rapids: CCEL), p. 107.

Notice two things about fasting. First, it’s for everyone. Basil mentions a range of people to remind us that it’s for both women and men, for prophets, lawgivers, athletes, and everyone else. Second, it requires surrender. Each person goes without something good and trusts God for something better by surrendering everything to God.

So, what are you hoping for this Lent? Maybe you want a baby? Peace in a time of war? Wisdom in a season of transition? Discernment for the future? Or something else? What might God have in store for you? There’s only one way to find out. Persevere in fasting. And as we enter week two of Lent, strengthen your prayer life. Start by adding this prayer to your fasting: the Surrender Novena. Pray it 10 times a day.

Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything. Amen.

Journal about any thoughts or feelings you have when pray this prayer.

The door to a generous life in the kingdom is opened with fasting (setting aside our desires) and prayer (attuning to God and what He desires).

If you have adopted the practice of fasting and surrender in prayer, pause to pray for others just engaging these disciplines for the first time this Lent.

Pray with me that God shows up in power and works in their lives. Before they can grow in generosity, God must transform them into surrendered conduits.

Fasting Day 6 of 40 | First Tuesday of Lent

And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. Genesis 7:12

Imagine it pouring for forty days and nights. Noah and his family must have wrestled with fear. As the saying goes, “When it rains it pours!” When difficulties mount, we can feel fearful. It’s common to feel this way during Lent. The evil one throws things at us. He wants us to fear.

In Dialogue, Catherine teaches us how conquer fear. “They remained barred in from fear, because the soul always fears until she arrives at true love. But when they had persevered in fasting and in humble and continual prayer, until they had received the abundance of the Holy Spirit, they lost their fear and followed and preached Christ crucified. So also, the soul, who wishes to arrive at this perfection, after she has risen from the guilt of mortal sin, recognizing it for what it is, begins to weep from fear of the penalty, whence she rises to the consideration of My mercy, in which contemplation, she finds her own pleasure and profit. This is an imperfect state, and I, in order to develop perfection in the soul, after the forty days, withdraw Myself from time to time.”

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) in Dialogue (Grand Rapids: CCEL), p. 93.

Growing in our walk with God links to arriving at true love. Though you face many difficulties, persevere in fasting and prayer. These disciplines will transform you as you do them. And you find true love.

God, deliver me from both difficulties and fear. I will persevere in fasting and prayer to experience your peace and true love. Amen.

Sit with God. Think of your heart as a home with rooms. Fast to empty the rooms. Pray for Spirit to fill each one. Fear goes. True love grows.