40 Days of Lent

Devotionals for Days One through Four

Lent began on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026, and concludes on Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026, leading to the celebration of Easter on April 5, 2026. Throughout these forty days, we will provide daily devotionals—including Scripture, meditation, and prayer—to help you walk more intentionally with Christ. May this sacred season deepen your hunger for God and your desire to be conformed to the image of His Son. These devotionals came from one of our many resources, Once a day, 40 Days to Easter. You can find this book on our website at www.kenboa.org. In the 40 days of Lent, Sundays are not included so there will no devotionals on these days.

Day One (February 18, 2026)

Genesis 3:17-19, 23-24

To Adam [the Lord God] said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Matthew 27:50-51a

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Colossians 2:13-14

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross

Hebrews 10:19-22

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Meditation

Since the day humans fell in the garden, people have lived with the knowledge that they are separated from their Creator. Jews in Jesus’ day knew this full well, and in case they forgot, there was the curtain -- the great, heavy, blue/purple curtain of twisted linen. Four inches thick and so strong the historian Josephus said that horses tied to either side of it pulling could not tear it in two, it separated two rooms in the tabernacle. Though the curtain was beautiful, its real purpose was not. It did not simply separate two rooms, it existed to bar entrance to God’s holy place. It sent a message about the separation between God and people, serving as a reminder that no one was to ever approach God, except in the limited ways he meticulously prescribed. The curtain represented a closed door, open only to the high priest, and to him only once each year. And the only way he could survive entrance to that holy place was by the sprinkling of blood. The curtain constantly reminded God’s people of their sin and the separation it brought between them and the One they longed for. The curtain, in one piece for so many years, communicated that God is holy and his people, in their sin, were not. As we enter this lenten season, we prepare our hearts to celebrate the day the curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom, from God to man. A true and perfect sacrifice having been provided, the curtain no longer served a purpose. We have a great High Priest, who enters the temple by the sacrifice of his own blood. Let us not remember his sacrifice lightly, but solemnly, yet in the freedom and joy provided the day the holy place was opened to us.

Prayer

Almighty Father, I rejoice in the revelation that you actually want to be with me and me with you. However, I acknowledge that I am unable to escape your judgment through my own righteousness. I cannot see how you could wish to have such intimacy with me as sinful as I am, but I see that the depths of your grace are far beyond my ability to comprehend. You have gone to such great lengths to provide an entrance into your presence. The sword of judgment that should have been held over me was broken on your Son and that has removed all barriers between us now. Teach me how to come before you during this season, with the proper mix of humility and confidence. Confessing my need and trusting in what you have done for me, I pray. Amen.

Day 2 (February 19, 2026)

Genesis 6:11-14, 17-22

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark -- you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.”

Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Hebrews 11:7

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

2 Peter 2:5

[God] did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others.

1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10

You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead -- Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Meditation

Two extraordinary days of judgment have come in the history of our world. On the first judgment day, God destroyed all people, save one, Noah (and his family). On the second of these extraordinary days, the opposite occurred: God judged one man, Jesus of Nazareth, as a sacrifice and a savior for everyone else. Noah was a righteous man. He had been faithful. But he was not sinless -- neither before or after his deliverance. We know that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. And God had to know that Noah had and would commit ugly sin. But God showed Noah magnificent favor. And that favor comes in the form of a promise, a unilateral covenant, a one-sided showing of kindness so characteristic of the God of the Bible. “You and your family will be saved as you enter the ark.” And now God makes a similar offer to us. We will be saved as we enter into Christ. Jesus saves us from judgment and wrath like the ark saved Noah. The sacrifice made on the day we will celebrate as “good Friday” was hideously painful, a cruel and demeaning punishment, the most wretched of deaths. But because of it, we and our families can be saved. Yes, it was such a high price as to be a permanent reminder of the One who saved Noah and the One who saves us. Our appreciation for that high price is demonstrated by an obedient response, a total surrender and a handing over of the entirety of our lives. Noah got into the ark in obedience to God. We get into Jesus by the same obedience. And, like Noah, we are saved.

Prayer

Gracious and merciful heavenly Father, you have made it clear that none of us can save ourselves. If union with you were possible through our own efforts, then your Son’s death was unnecessary. But it is obvious that, apart from him, no one is righteous; no one attains perfection, and no one can earn salvation. All of us fall short of your goodness and glory, and while it is true that some may live better lives than others, even the best of us cannot attain to the perfection required in order to have fellowship with you. Thank you that in your grace you send Jesus Christ. I believe that if I am in him I will be saved from the judgment to come. I believe in him today. I put my whole trust in him, and I ask that by your Spirit you would place me securely and safely in him. Amen.

Day 3 (February 20, 2026)

Genesis 11:1, 4-7

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

Acts 2:5-8, 11

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

Ephesians 4:3-6

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Revelation 5:9

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Revelation 7:9-10

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Meditation

The very first command God gave to men was to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28). Those who had known their own Creator face-to-face would spread the goodness of his community throughout the whole earth. Sadly, it was not long before humans had fouled the plan up, planted themselves a city and let their pride lead them to believe they could build a tower so high it would bring them fame. In direct disobedience to the One who had given them life and breath and all things, they began to build. Proverbs 29:23 says that “pride brings a person low.” And so these tower-builders were brought low and divided. And for centuries, this is how they lived, with a multiplicity of languages, which formed national barriers and constant strife, among all peoples. But the plan of God has always been to reverse the curse of sin, and though the work of this great reversal culminates on the cross, our first sight of it is at Pentecost, when language barriers were supernaturally removed, and those who had come together in Jerusalem to worship took the message of Jesus back home. It is ours, too, to spread the message of God’s goodness to those with whom we share a common language, whether of dialect or shared experience. And it is ours, too, to learn from the sin that brought this great curse, to avoid pride and, instead, lift high the name of the one whose life, death and resurrection brings us all back together again.

Prayer

Lord of boundless love, your plans are perfect and your goodness extends to all who wish to receive it. Though I often find your ways beyond my ability to comprehend, I confess that you have always been trustworthy in your dealings with me. The whole of human history appears as a series of our attempts to make a name for ourselves in our own strength, on our timetable and through out own efforts. Like the Tower of Babel, this always ends in confusion and division and chaos. But when you are invited into our lives, you turn our chaos into creative order. Grant me the wisdom to be more concerned with pleasing and obeying you and bringing honor to your name than I am about making a name for myself for nothing on earth could compare to the incomparable pleasure of hearing you say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” In Christ’s unifying name I pray. Amen.

Day Four (February 21, 2026)

Exodus 12:3, 5a, 6-7, 12-14

“Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect.... Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord -- a lasting ordinance.”

John 1:29

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Isaiah 53:7

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

1 Corinthians 5:7b-8

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Revelation 5:11-12

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

Meditation

God has been consistently clear: deliverance requires sacrifice; salvation comes through the shed blood of another. It was like that for Adam and Abraham, and it is like that for us as well. It certainly would have been an act of faith for those people in Egypt to believe the message from God and do as he asked. It must have been a long, dark night that first Passover, families huddling together and wondering if God would, indeed, pass them over. Imagine the celebration as their fear turned to relief and doubt became trust. Now roll the calendar ahead 1,500 years or so to Jesus celebrating the Passover with his closest friends. They ate the lamb and poured the wine, continuing the great traditions throughout the meal. And then Jesus took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). In other words, just as the sacrificial lamb delivered the children of Abraham in Egypt, now his blood would deliver his friends from the judgment of God. His death, which would occur at the same time as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the temple, was no accident. And his blood applied, as it were, over the doorways of our lives, now rescues us from death and delivers us into a new kingdom, a promised land flowing with milk and honey. Blood has been shed; now all that remains is for it to be applied as an act of faith and obedience.

Prayer

Father, I praise you for your goodness, your grace, your love. This inexpressible gift is beyond our ability to truly comprehend, but I thank you again for the imperishable and infinite gift of forgiveness through this price that was paid on my behalf. I believe the blood of the sinless One, the spotless Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world, including my sins. I pray that I would respond in faith and obedience, inviting you into more and more of my life. Thank you for freedom and the forgiveness of sins. Thank you for the ability to share an intimate relationship with you. Enable me to press on to a heart of gratitude and discipleship, that I might become conformed to the image of your Son, in whose name I pray. Amen.