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You can find the complete ENCOUNTERING GRACE resource for Lent 2026 here.
Reflections for Wednesdays in Lent
Ash Wednesday 18th February
Wednesday 25th February
Wednesday 4th March
Wednesday 11th March
Wednesday 18th March
Wednesday 25th March
Encountering Temptation
Take five deep breaths and check-in with how you are feeling in body, mind and spirit. Take five more deep breaths and ask God to abide with you this Lent, and especially in this time today you have set aside for devotions.
Throughout John 6, at the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus declares “I am the bread of life.” Sit gently with this idea for a few moments. And then give thanks repeating quietly, “You are the Bread of my Life”.
On Wednesdays, we linger with the wilderness story from Matthew 4.
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.
The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’
But he answered, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you”, and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”’
Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
- Imagine this wilderness scene with all five senses.
- How do these temptations build up momentum in the story?
- How might each temptation be about the kind of Messiah Jesus will become?
- This encounter happens in the wilderness. How does this shape the experience? Where would your encounter with temptation story be set?
- What do you make of the presence of the Spirit and the Devil in this story? What voices speak to you in the privacy of your own heart and mind?
- What decisions and situations are you encountering as the days of Lent progress?
You might like to say the Lord’s Prayer and use this collect:
Spirit of the desert, you drove Jesus to the edge of the world to seek your truth and find his calling: scour our hearts and awaken our hunger, so that freed from empty clinging we may serve only you and the Creator; through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the wilds. Amen
Close this time with a moment of quiet and stillness, recalling:
I am the bread of life
And then give thanks repeating quietly,
“You are the Bread of my Life”.