Archives by: Gary Hoag

Fasting Day 5 of 40 | First Monday of Lent

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Matthew 4:2

What do you observe so far in Lent? The question relates to inclinations you may notice that you may need to renounce as Meister Eckhart notes.

“Christ fasted for forty days. Follow him this way, by observing whatever you are most inclined to or ready for: concentrate on that and observe yourself closely. Often it is more necessary for you freely to renounce that, than if you were to give up all food.”

Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328) in “How a Man Should Rest in Peace When Not Oppressed by Outward Distress Such as Christ and the Saints Often Endured; and How He Should Follow God” in The Complete Works of Meister Eckhart translated and edited by Maurice O’C Walshe (New York: Crossroad, 2009) 506.

Is there an inclination or sin that easily besets you that God wants to bring to your attention? If so, He wants you to surrender it to Him. Lent is about removing the things that clutter your connection to God.

Lean into your inclinations. These appear as your default settings. Perhaps you have a proclivity to reacting instead of responding? Maybe you feel a need to please those around you, rather than living only to please God? Or maybe you complain when you should be content?

Herein lies the task of Lent for us. Through fasting, prayer, and giving, we relearn how to live. We do this by renouncing deep-seated patterns.

Holy Spirit, help me see what I need to renounce this Lent. Amen.

By observing, we see how these habits control and define us. Renounce whatever the Spirit brings to your mind for your good and His glory

I also observe that today is my father’s birthday.

He’s 87. I thank God for how I have seen him walk humbly with an openness to relearn how to live from Jesus. Happy Birthday Dad. I love you. If the Lord wills, I will see you in May.

Feast Day 1 of 7 | First Sunday of Lent

Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done. Genesis 2:3

On this first feast day, we reflect on all God has done for us. Jan Van Ruysbroec guides us from The Spiritual Espousals. “When man with compassion and in pity for his own being looks upon himself, and on the good that God has done to him, and on his defects, then man’s heart must flow out to the mildness of God…This mild man also observes with compassion the bodily needs of all men: he serves them, he gives to them, he lends, he comforts each man according to his needs, according to his own ability and to discretion. By this mildness men are used to practice the seven works of mercy, the rich by their service and their possessions, the poor by good will and by just affection.”

Jan Van Ruysbroec (1293–1381) in The Spiritual Espousals (London: Faber and Faber, 1952) pp. 69-70.

God has been so mild and gentle toward us. This propels us during Lent to practice the seven works of mercy, a tradition through church history.

1. Feed the hungry: Providing food to those without.
2. Give drink to the thirsty: Offering water or drink.
3. Clothe the naked: Providing clothing to those in need.
4. Shelter the homeless: Welcoming strangers or travelers.
5. Visit the sick: Caring for those with illnesses.
6. Visit the imprisoned: Offering comfort to those in prison.
7. Bury the dead: Ensuring proper burial rites.

God, make me a mild person who practices all seven works. Amen.

Today is special. Break your fast to celebrate all God has done for you. Look at the seven. Identify areas to grow giving and service this Lent.

Fasting Day 4 of 40 | First Saturday of Lent

“Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god—which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty. Amos 5:25-27

“Imagine God’s people bringing sacrifices and offerings to God for forty years. Forty years! But God was not satisfied. He did not want anything from them. He wanted them. Good news! He wants us too.

Jeanne Guyon teaches us how to give ourselves to God in Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. “The only way to be perfect is to walk in the presence of God. The only way you can live in His presence in uninterrupted fellowship is by means of prayer… By withdrawing from outward objects, you will constantly draw nearer to God. The closer you are to God, the more you receive His nature. The more you receive His nature, the more you will draw upon His sustaining power.”

Whatever we think we need, we do well to let go of it in Lent. For many, the desire for control, money, security, and comfort are idols that God wants us to let go of. Why? When we hold on to them, we place our trust in them. He wants us to trust in Him instead and find life in His presence.

Jesus, I want to walk with You and live in Your presence. Amen.

Take a walk. Invite Jesus to join you in prayer. Be silent. Listen to what He has to say. Do this for forty minutes day during Lent. See what happens.

Fasting Day 3 of 40 | First Friday of Lent

At once the Spirit sent [Jesus] out into the wilderness, and He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. Mark 1:12-13a

Why did Jesus fast forty days. In The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, Richard Baxter teaches us say that Jesus did it because He was serious.

“God is in earnest with you; and why should you not be so with Him? In His commands, His threatenings, His promises, He means as He speaks. In His judgments He is serious. Was He not so when He drowned the world, when He consumed Sodom and Gomorrah, and when He scattered the Jews? Is it time, then, to trifle with God? Jesus Christ was serious in purchasing our redemption. In teaching, He neglected His meat and drink: in prayer, He continued all night: in doing good, His friends thought Him beside Himself: in suffering, He fasted forty days, was tempted, betrayed, spit upon, buffeted, crowned with thorns, sweat drops of blood, was crucified, pierced, died. There was no jesting in all this. And should we not be serious in seeking our own salvation?”

Baxter sketches the aim of Lent. We unlearn self-centered ways to become serious, surrendered people, willing to do whatever God asks of us. Notice that the Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness. That means it was God’s idea and Jesus did it to model the way for us.

Holy Spirit, teach me to get serious in the forty days of fasting. Amen.

Satan does not want you to get serious. How does he tempt you? Name the ways. Now follow the example of Jesus, resist temptation with the sword of the Spirit: Scripture. Ask the Father to deliver you.

Fasting Day 2 of 40 | First Thursday of Lent

Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments. Exodus 34:28

Medical blokes tell us fasting offers real health benefits. For example, it flips a metabolic switch that tells the body to burn fat instead of glucose. This results in improved health indicators. That’s great. But what if you fast this Lent for an even greater benefit – to make progress.

In the Way of Perfection, Teresa of Ávila offers this keen insight. “For this body of ours has one fault: the more you indulge it, the more things it discovers to be essential to it. It is extraordinary how it likes being indulged; and, if there is any reasonable pretext for indulgence, however little necessity for it there may be, the poor soul is taken in and prevented from making progress.” Think about it. Moses fasted for forty days and wrote the words of the covenant. Jesus fasted for forty days before His world-changing ministry started. Notice the progress!

Teresa tells us why to fast. The more we indulge, the more we become dependent on things that do not help us make progress. When we fast, we disconnect from these things and from the world. This positions us to connect to God who helps us make progress.

Jesus, us my fasting to help me disconnect from things that are not essential so I can connect with You. I want to make progress. Amen.

Get a journal for Lent. Today, make a list of things that do not help you make progress. Ask Jesus to help you learn to live without them.

Welcome to Lent.

You are reading a devotional I am writing this year and releasing next year in book form, if the Lord wills. Yes, the header photo is part of a Van Gogh painting which may appear on the cover. You will have to wait to see it. This book will be called “Forty and Seven: A Lenten Guidebook for God’s Church.”

I chose this title as most people do not even know that Lent has forty fasting days and seven feast days. The seventh seven or seventh feast day is Easter. That makes Easter Monday the day of Jubilee when we celebrate life after Lent as the resurrection changes everything. Enjoy!

Fasting Day 1 of 40 | Ash Wednesday

I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. Joshua 14:7-8

C.S. Lewis writes, “All my seven Narnian books, and my three science-fiction books, began with seeing pictures in my head. At first they were not a story, just pictures. They all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself, “Let’s try to make a story about it.” At first, I had very little idea how the story would go. But then suddenly Aslan came bounding into it. I think I had been having a good many dreams of lions about that time. Apart from that, I don’t know where the Lion came from or why He came. But once He was there, He pulled the whole story together and soon He pulled the other six Narnian stories in after Him.”

Bruce L. Edwards in “Patches of Godlight”: C.S. Lewis as Imaginative Writer in C. S. Lewis: Life, Works, and Legacy in 4 volumes (London: Bloomsbury, 2007).

I start this devotional with two sets pictures in my head: the scenes that forty or seven appear in Scriptures and in the lives of saints. Joshua was forty when he gave his report from the Promised Land. C.S. Lewis was forty when he penned the Chronicles of Narnia. Both helped people see what others could not see. Only as they reported and wrote, did God (or Aslan) show up and shape their future as wholehearted followers.

God, please show up for me and shape my future as I follow You.

Invite someone to journey through Lent with you. Be shaped together.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

“I worked with a particularly high-performing business unit whose leader was renowned for driving hope and sustained movement in his troops. He did it through a daily, fifteen-minute morning meeting to cast vision, give information, share stories of success, and infuse strategy, thus giving a daily dose of energy that kept it all moving. He used these short meetings to make sure everyone was aligned around the goal, to catch problems early, and to give his team a space in which to share lessons and acknowledge progress. This daily infusion of energy kept the team and the process moving. It’s worth noting that the meetings were short, and they didn’t require preparation, so they weren’t distractions from the real work of change; instead, they became moments to mark forward progress and even to celebrate those incremental steps in the right direction.”

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 93.

Today marks my last post from this book. If you want the PDF copy, reply to this email or download it here.

I chose this post as it provides a great transition to Lent which starts tomorrow. We build and maintain momentum in the primary disciplines of the Christian faith – in prayer, fasting, and giving – during Lent.

Since most people don’t realize Lent is 40 fasting days and 7 feast days, I will structure my next 47 posts featuring the significance of 40 and 7 in Scripture (to see why the early church picked those numbers) and build a Lent devotional one day at a time.

I will release it in published form for you to share with others next year entitled, Forty and Seven. I have not sorted the subtitle yet.

But today Cloud reminds us of the impact a small commitment over many days can have. You can imagine his high-performing business unit illustration. It reminds me of how I built GTP and how I pray they sustain momentum on my sabbatical.

But I picture this as Lent in each of our lives. We fast for 40 days, perhaps from choice foods like Daniel or from things that desire to control us like sweets, caffeine, alcohol, or other things.

Others will fast from technology, games, social media, or other practices that dominate their time. Regardless, I encourage you to choose a food as fasting in Scripture links to food.

We enjoy these items on the seven feast days leading up to Easter, the seventh of seven feast days. And hopefully we have been transformed in the process. We have built momentum to sustain life after Lent.

I pray this resonates with you. I pray you join me in observing Lent this year to fast to detach from the world, to pray to connect to God, and to give to play your role as a conduit of blessing to the world. That’s Lent. It starts tomorrow.

And for the record, today marks Fat Tuesday (or Shrove Tuesday) which is the day of indulgence before the fast. Enjoy, just don’t go overboard. Do it as a celebration to enter the journey of Lent.

The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. Proverbs 12:26

“Conversely, if someone desires change but is still hanging around people who work against that change, the risk is much greater. An addict must, for example, lose the phone numbers of his addict friends. A nonperformer must shun other nonperformers. In the same ways that we worry about whom our kids hang around with, we need to worry about it in the change process for adults as well. This is another good reason to prune the nonperformers out of a company, as other people “catch” the sickness. And it is a good reason for leaders to make sure that the people they are trying to develop spend a lot of time around high-performers.”

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 88.

Today’s post reads the opposite of yesterday. Yesterday we learned the healthy living is contagious. Today, we see that spending time with unhealthy people can cause us to catch the sickness.

So, like yesterday, I will ask you a question. Do you spend time with people who are not generous people? We might describe such people as materialistic, selfish, miserly, greedy, or worldly.

Stop for a moment and think about the people you spend time with. Do any of them demonstrate these traits. Again, make a list on a piece of paper or in your phone.

What would it look like to spend less time with those people this Lent. Again, Lent begins on 18 February 2026 (Ash Wednesday) to 5 April 2025 (Easter Sunday).

How would this shape your generosity? You become like the people you spend time with. Let’s go back to today’s Scripture. The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

Remember, in biblical terms, “righteous” means choosing God’s right path and “wicked” refers to those who do not choose God’s right pay. The people who spend time with influence us, toward generosity or away from it.

I am not telling you to isolate yourself from humans who may need to grow in this grace. I am merely inviting you to intentional social interaction this Lent for your growth.

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Proverbs 13:20

“Recent research has shown that a lot of what people desire in life, such as healthy lifestyles, is actually “contagious.” If they are surrounded by overweight people, for example, they have a much higher chance of being overweight. But if they are surrounded by people who are healthy, that is contagious as well. Their efforts are supported and not thwarted.”

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 87.

Do you spend time with generous people? Stop for a moment and think about the top 5 or 10 most generous people you know. Maybe make a list on a piece of paper or in your phone.

What would it look like to spend more time with those people this Lent. Lent begins on 18 February 2026 (Ash Wednesday) to 5 April 2025 (Easter Sunday).

If the people on your list live at a distance you can have a phone or video call with them. If they live close by you could arrange time together. How would this shape your generosity?

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 16:9-10

“I was talking to a wealthy friend one time about the ways that he invests his money, wondering how he made his investment decisions. What industries and businesses did he prefer, and so on? What he said applies to our discussion here. He told me that he does not invest in businesses, other than his own. When he said that, I disagreed, as I knew of several that he had invested in, and I said so. “Not true,” he said. “I did not invest in those businesses at all. I don’t know anything about those industries.

What I invested in was what I always invest in: the person. In all of those investments, I knew the leader and his or her team, their track record, and their character. That is what I was investing in, not the business. I would not have understood it if they had tried over and over to explain it. Surely I looked at it and tried to understand as best I could, but the real investment was in the people who were running it and whom I trusted.”

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 80-81.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.

As I finish reading this book before Lent and come upon this special day, this post seemed fitting. I want to start by thanking readers out there for the love they have show me, for the trust they have placed in me, and for the investments they have made in me. Thanks.

Now a comment to apply today’s Scripture and post to our lives.

Use whatever worldly wealthy you have to make friends for eternity. And invest in people with a track record that you can trust. Send them a message today that you love them and you believe in them. Send them a word of encouragement and a prayer of blessing.

Life is short. Invest in good people!

Today for Valentine’s Day I got Jenni some special gifts. And we are also doing a food tour in downtown Denver. We will taste Italian, Mexican, and more over three hours. Why do this? It’s an investment in our marriage. And Jenni is the best thing that ever happened to me next to Jesus.

Again, Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.