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 Five (February 23, 2026)
Exodus 19:3-8
[The Lord told Moses to tell the Israelites,] “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Philippians 3:8-9
What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Romans 4:23-25
The words “it was credited to him” were written not for [Abraham] alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Galatians 3:23-35
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
John 5:39-40
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
Meditation
God asked something of his people he must have known they could never do. Surely he understood that the law he gave through Moses was too heavy for a sinful people to bear. And so, it would have come as no surprise to him that they inevitably failed. They began to look for their ultimate fulfillment not in him but in other things. This search led to confusion and pain. This sin distorted his image in them, making them imperfect and unhappy people. A perfectly holy and just God cannot simply lower his standards, lest he allow disfigurement into his heaven, causing it to become like the fallen world in which we now live. And so, for a very long time, there was a great divide, a separation between God and man, caused by the sin of those who could never achieve righteousness through their own efforts. But the God who works all things together for our good made something beautiful of their inescapable failure. When we could not keep ourselves sinless, the One who created everything provided an opportunity for everyone to become his, a way for all of us to meet his standards. And he made it simple (though we must not confuse simple with easy). In order for Jesus to begin the process of reforming God’s image in us, he had to be perfectly righteous, and he had to be one of us, suffering on the cross, experiencing all of the pain that sin brings in a few unbearable hours. And that is what he did.
Prayer
Holy Father, you are perfect and just in all your ways, and it is only in you that I can find life. Protect me from the subtle forms of idolatry that infiltrate my heart. Keep me from worshiping and serving anything other than you. You and you alone must occupy that center of my being. If it is not you, it is an idol that will lead me to frustration and despair. I am unspeakably grateful that when I do succumb to the sins of disobedience, your grace reaches further than my rebellion. Thank you for sending your Son to do what I could not do -- to keep the law and to die as a sinless sacrifice for my wayward thoughts, feelings and actions. Teach me to rest in your righteousness and pursue you above all else. In Christ’s holy name I pray. Amen.
Day Six (February 24, 2026)
Exodus 32:1, 6-7, 10a, 30-32
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.... Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.” The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin -- but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
Leviticus 9:7
Moses said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.” Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. And having sacrificed the sin offering, the burnt offering and the fellowship offering, he stepped down.
Lev. 9:22-24
Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
1 John 2:1-2
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father -- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Meditation
Even a cursory reading of the Bible shows that no one has ever been truly faithful to God. Everywhere you look you see people sinning, turning away from God and then crying out for mercy when they find themselves in trouble. God foreknew this and, in his mercy, built a solemn and precious day into the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement. On this day, the high priest would make sacrificial offerings for himself and for all the people. Once these rituals were complete, all the sins of all the Jewish people would be ceremonially transferred to a goat, and the goat released into the wilderness. The people would live another year, their sins removed from them. But what about us? We continue to turn away from God, day in and day out, our sin mounting higher and higher until it becomes too large to ignore. What shall we do? Is there some ritual or ceremony that can take our sins away? No, but we have a High Priest, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One himself, who lived a sinless life and died a sacrificial death, taking our sin upon himself and in exchange offering his righteousness to us. Thus is this High Priest also our atoning sacrifice; his blood shed once and for all renders all other sacrifice obsolete. Because of him, and him only, we are forgiven, free, clean and able to live -- not just for another year but for all eternity.
Prayer
Loving Lord, I thank you that you sent your Son into this world to be my High Priest. Thank you also for his sinless life that enabled him to make atonement for my sin and for the sins of the whole world. Thank you for his death, for the shedding of his blood that saves me and makes me holy in your sight. You have gone to such unimaginable lengths to display your love, grace and mercy to a largely disobedience and rebellious people -- including me. Had you given me justice, I would be alienated from you and suffering the consequences of your righteous judgment. But you have given me mercy, and you have shown me that mercy triumphs over judgment. I praise you for taking away my sin. Help me now to enjoy the peace of knowing that you have removed them from me through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
Day Seven (February 25, 2026)
Leviticus 16:15-16, 20-21
He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain… He shall sprinkle it …. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. When .Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites -- all their sins -- and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness ….
Psalm 103:9-12
He will not always accuse, now will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Hebrews 9:11-14
But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
1 Timothy 2:5-6a
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.
Meditation
For more than 1,000 years, the Jewish sacrificial system had been firmly in place, sometimes strictly followed, sometimes not at all adhered to. But the Jews well knew, there was only one way that the sins of people were paid for; it required loss of life (blood), and it required the ordinance of a priest. By Jesus’ time, the system had become terribly distorted. Two groups fought over how sacrifices should be made and where people could buy those sacrifices. This had to be displeasing to God. Prophecy said the Messiah would come at just the right time, and the time had come. God sent his Son into the world to be both priest and sacrifice, to be the final sacrifice, to put the priests permanently out of business. From the cross, Jesus the perfect Man and perfect high priest, prayed, “Father forgive them,” while offering a perfect sacrifice (his own spotless blood), and God raised Him from the dead to show his acceptance of this perfect sacrifice. Now, just as Jesus is the one who is our legal advocate while also paying the penalty for our crime, he is also, the one making the sacrifice for us and the sacrifice itself. No one could have done this but the God-man who had lived a sinless life, Jesus Christ. Today, Jesus is our only high priest, and we must never let anyone else (not a priest or a saint or our pastor) come between us and God. Now our heavenly, holy and human high priest is our assurance of eternal salvation.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you are our great high priest. Only you could administer the sacrifice necessary for the cleansing of my sins. I praise and bless your name for the unceasing magnitude of your love, shown most clearly in offering yourself as a sinless sacrifice on my behalf. You endured degradation, malice, betrayal, agony and death so that I, who would have no hope of ever being acceptable to you, could receive forgiveness and acceptance. I come to you in my uncleanness and corruption, humbly receiving the gift of life that I could never merit. Thank you that there are no preconditions or prerequisites required to achieve before coming to you. May I always be thankful for your glorious gift and recall the awful price you paid to make it possible. Teach me the dignity of offering myself to you in return, as a living sacrifice. In your holy name I pray. Amen.
Day Eight (February 26, 2026)
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
John 10:7, 9-10
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Colossians 3:1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Meditation
Jesus was very clear about why he had come into this world. It wasn’t to pass judgment. It wasn’t to congratulate good people who followed the rules. No, Jesus Christ came into the world to bring life, an abundant life that fills us to overflowing. This has always been God’s intention towards his people. God created us to experience a life of fulfillment and promise. It is his trademark to give us more than we need, to flood our lives with blessing. Sadly, God’s people have never been willing to fully cooperate with him in this endeavor. Instead, they have consistently chosen to walk a path of disobedience and rebellion, a path that leads to death. Thankfully, God was not content to leave us on that path, so he intervened, sending his Son to bear the curse for us so that it would be possible for us to get off the road that leads to destruction and onto the road that leads to life. Jesus now offers all those who will enter this new life through him not only an eternal life in terms of duration, but also in terms of quality. We can possess (or, rather, be possessed by) a forever life, in the presence of God, life characterized by green grass, water, rest and protection. But, lest we become obsessed with the blessings of Christ at the expense of the person of Christ, let us remember that he is not only the provider of this life, he is our life.
Prayer
God of grace and truth, you have revealed your will and your ways in your word. In its pages I discover truths I would never learn anywhere else. Thank you for this eternal life that is mine because of your divine intervention into my life. Grant me the grace to overcome the spiritual and moral inertia that keeps me from hearing your voice and walking in your paths. May I hide your word in my heart so that I will not succumb to temptation and sin, but be increasingly honoring to you. Give me the strength to set my mind and heart on things above, where Christ is, seated in the heavenly places. Allow me to find my life in you and be defined by your truth rather than the lies of this passing world system. I want to respond to you with unconditional commitment, knowing that I love you because you first loved me. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.
Day Nine (February 27, 2026)
Numbers 21:1-9
[Israel] traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
John 3:14-16
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 12:31-33
“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
Philippians 2:8-11
And being found in appearance as a man, [Christ Jesus] humbled himself be becoming obedient to death -- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Meditation
Buried deep inside the Book of Numbers is an obscure story about snakes and the strange way God went about saving his people from their poisonous bites. It seems to be yet another story about Israelites complaining against God and then suffering for it and God saving them…again. But this story is much more than that. This is actually a story about Jesus and about us. God could have taken the snakes away, but he chose not to. Why? Because he wanted the people to trust him; and gazing at that bronze serpent demonstrated that trust. Jesus was familiar with this story, so when Nicodemus came to him, failing to understand, Jesus clarified his role. All Nicodemus had to do was look at him, behold Jesus Christ when he, too, would be lifted up. This kind of looking is done with the heart, not as a one-time act of commitment, but as a continuous fixing of the eyes of our heart toward our Savior. This Jesus, on whom we fix our eyes, is, after all, the author and perfecter of our faith. By gazing at him we come to know him, and find ourselves transformed by him. Jesus did not come to take away our poisonous snakes. He came so we that could, by fixing our gaze on him, be healed from their venomous bite, made whole and healthy, set right again with God.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you are the lover and healer of my soul. My hope and my deliverance come from you and you alone. Give me the grace today to fix my eyes on you, to gaze at you in your glory. Keep me from the distractions of this world, for I know that as I concentrate on you and meditate on your words I will come to see you more clearly, know you more dearly and follow you more nearly. I give thanks for your mercy, patience and kindness and for your willingness to endure my times of wandering. Though you have warned me not to veer off the path of trust and obedience, I confess that fidelity is difficult. By the power of your Spirit, I pray that I would hold fast to you, not only in times of adversity, but also in times of ease. In your healing name I pray. Amen.
Day 10 (February 28, 2026)
Deuteronomy 17:14-15a
When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” .
1 Samuel 8:4-7
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”
John 19:14-15
It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
Matthew 27:27-29
Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.
Matthew 27:41-42
In the same way the chief priests, the teacher of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.”
Revelation 19:16
On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Matthew 6:10
[Y]our kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Meditation
When Moses and Joshua led Israel, God was their undisputed king, and the people met with victory and success. But when they settled in the Promised Land, peace and prosperity came, and soon they forgot their need for God (like so many of us do when things seem to be going well). What followed was tragic, but hardly surprising: everyone simply did what was right in their own eyes. When we reject God as our King, we inevitably repeat an age-old cycle of sin, discipline, repentance, restoration and sin again. God longs to be our one and only king, but we want a human to follow, so, sadly, God often gives us what we ask for. King after king after king failed to produce a people who could represent God’s kingdom virtues and values on earth. Some were better than others, but none were able to adequately rule the people of God after the manner of God. And none were able to accomplish God’s will for a king. Eventually, God had only one choice: He sent his own son into the world to deliver them from their enemies. He set a star in the eastern sky and dispatched an angel to herald the birth of one who would be “the King of the Jews.” He grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. He came in the form of a servant, and allowed those he came to rule to mock and ridicule him. But, as difficult as this is to imagine, it was through the bloodied, disfigured and crucified King that the will of the Father was finally accomplished and we are brought into victory and blessing.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you and you alone are worthy of being called “King.” You are exalted above all things I can conceive or even imagine. You rule all things from the microcosm to the macrocosm. Your wisdom is without limits, and your power knows no end. You are the Lamb who was slain and whose blood purchased for God people from every tribe and tongue and nation. You are worthy to receive power and riches and honor and glory. The kingdom of the world has become your kingdom, and you will reign in righteousness throughout all eternity. You are called Faithful and True. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. You are King of kings and Lord of lords. And I join my petition with the saints of old in praying, “Maranatha! Lord, come quickly!” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.