Devotional

Stayed on Him: An 8-day Holy Week Reflection

Written for Selah Publications

For this project:

Conducted research and Scriptural analysis of Gospel passages related to Holy Week.
Gathered research and organized into a comprehensive outline to submit for approval.
Collaborated with Selah Publications team to edit and refine outline.
Upon approval, expounded outline into written content - 500-700 words per page, 8 pages in total.
Wrote an introduction and summary of Lent/Holy Week to accompany the daily devotions.
Submitted first draft for approval.
Applied edits and submitted second draft for approval.
Refined final draft in collaboration with the Selah team.

An Excerpt from the Introduction:

Introduction

Welcome to Stayed on Him: An 8-day journey through Holy Week. We are excited to walk through this week together alongside our Savior as He enters Jerusalem proclaiming the Kingdom of God. As we journey through each day, may the Lord renew our hearts and minds, awakening us once again to His call of repentance and the hope of His resurrection. May this sacred week lead us back to a mind stayed on Him, steady and anchored amid a restless world.

What is Lent?

Before we can fully understand the significance of Holy Week, we must first explore the meaning of the Lenten season and its role in the life of the Believer. Lent is a time-honored tradition passed down through church history as a period of time focused on repentance and humble reflection. It falls into the church calendar as one of the key seasons in the liturgical year, others including Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time. For 40 days - beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Saturday - believers spend time fasting and reflecting on their sin in preparation for Christ’s salvific work at Easter. This is designed as a time to refocus our hearts and minds on His salvation in light of our brokenness.

Throughout church history, Lent was specifically a time for new believers to prepare for their new life with God, culminating in their baptism on Easter. It was a season for recent converts to reflect on their life before Christ and prepare for their future life in Christ. This intention is much the same for every believer. In his book on Lent, Esau McCaulley says that Lent is a season that “involve[s] a turning toward God with intention and reflection on the past.”1 Many see this simply as a season to fast a vice and learn from the sacrifice. But God has so much more in store for this 40-day period! The point of fasting during the Lenten season is not just to learn self-control, but to provide space for humble reflection on our sin and need of a Savior. Repentance and meditation on the grace of God are key focal points. While it is a time of solemn reflection, this solemnity leads us to the wondrous reality of the cross.

What is Holy Week?

Holy Week is an eight-day period leading up to Easter Sunday, when Jesus travels throughout Jerusalem proclaiming the kingdom of God. Historically, this week was the original time allotted for Lent, which has since expanded to the forty-day period we observe today. Today, Holy Week arrives at the culmination of that forty-day period in which believers spent time fasting and reflecting on their sin, repentance, and hope of redemption. By intentionally walking through these final days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, we are given a glimpse into His final thoughts and message to believers that centers on repentance and the coming Kingdom of God.

As we walk though this week together, we will focus specifically on the theme of rest. We will consider how the sinfulness of humanity disrupts restful spaces and how Jesus restores what has been unsettled — revealing brokenness, extending grace, and preparing the way for His redemptive work on the cross. In a restless and disordered world, Holy Week steadies our gaze. It becomes a quiet invitation that calls us back to a mind stayed on Him — the only place where lasting rest is found.

An Excerpt from Day 2 of the Devotional:

Day Two: Jesus Cleanses the Temple

He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” / Matt. 21:13

Read Matthew 21:12-17 and Mark 11:15-18

Following his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Savior walks into a sacred space, expectant of refuge, but instead met with the shouts of merchants and jangle of exchanged coins. The temple — a sacred space of worship designed to draw people into peaceful rest and adoration — has been disrupted by the clamor of commercialism. It is no longer a place of respite for God’s people but has instead become a bustling hub of human greed.

In response to this violation of such a sacred space, Jesus acts out in righteous anger. Tables are flipped and money-lenders are disrupted as He reorders what had become disordered by selfishness and avarice. After overturning the marketplace, Jesus restores the temple back to its proper use by beginning to teach and heal the people. He reminds them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? (Mark 11:17) In His teaching, He admonishes them to return back to the temple’s original purpose of worship and prayer — to recenter their attention and affection on hearing the voice of God.

We know from Scripture that our Father delights in speaking to us (Jeremiah 33:3) and that we have been given the ever-present Spirit of God to dwell within us (Rom. 8:9-11). Paul tells us that we have now become the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:15-17). Yet, how quickly are we overcome by the noise of our modern world? In our hyper-connected society, we are bombarded daily by notifications, news alerts, bargain sales, and other fast-paced demands. This ongoing cacophony of noise so easily impedes on time and space that was originally designated for worship and prayer. How often are our intentions for a day of Sabbath rest interrupted by such demands? Or a morning quiet time derailed by a post notification from our favorite influencer?

Jesus purified the temple to draw the people back to the quietness of God’s presence. He calls us to do the same. The Lenten season is a time to reflect and clear distractions from our life as we redirect our focus on the work of Christ. This work made it possible for the Spirit to dwell within us and speak to us as temples of God’s presence set apart to bring glory to His name.

Pause & Reflect

What distractions in your life are keeping you from an awareness of God’s presence?
How is the Lord calling you back to worship and prayer in this season of Lent?

Reflection in Action

Spend some time in quiet meditation — even just 5 minutes makes a difference!
- Tip: Try out the Lectio 365 app for daily guided meditations through Scripture.

Next time you go to church, try turning your phone off and leaving it at home or in the car during the service. Pay attention to how this affects your retention of the message.

Moment of Worship: Here I Am to Worship by The Worship Initiative, Shane & Shane

Originally Published as a daily email campaign from Selah Publications.