Failing Lent: Lent Fasting and Prayer Is Not a Pass/Fail Test

"But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail." Luke 2:32a

Most of us learned to walk by falling down. Nobody looked at a toddler taking their first

steps, watched them tumble, and said, "Well, that's it. Walking just isn't for you." Falling was part of learning. Lent works the same way.

We are only a week or so into the Lenten season and maybe you have already "failed." You ate the thing you gave up. You scrolled the app you promised to delete. You skipped the prayer time you committed to.

Before Lent even starts we turn it into a willpower contest — you know going into the Ash Wednesday service you're fortifying your brain for the long journey ahead. But that framing misses the whole point. God is not grading your fasting. The Ten Commandments do not include a rule about giving up chocolate or social media. But that doesn't mean it isn't important. Especially during Lent, fasting and prayer will sharpen your attention toward God.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:17-18, "But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen." The focus was never on the performance. It was always on the posture of the heart toward the Father.

Why Lent Fasting and Prayer Must Go Together

Here is where a lot of us go wrong with fasting: we take something away without adding anything. You remove the food, the habit, the distraction — and you're just left with a void and a craving. That void needs to be filled with something. Prayer. Scripture. Serving someone else. Fasting without those things is just a diet.

When you give in to whatever you gave up, the worst thing you can do is let shame convince you to quit entirely. That defeated feeling is not from God. Romans 8:1 reminds us, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Condemnation is not a spiritual discipline. It's a trap.

And here is the most encouraging thing of all: Jesus has already prayed for you by name. In Luke 22:32, He told Simon Peter, "I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail." He was not praying for Peter's perfect attendance record. He was praying for Peter's faith to hold. The same is true for you.

So if you've stumbled in Lent, get back up. You haven't failed the season. You're just learning to walk.

Daily Practice

Today, draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper. Write on the left-hand side what you are removing this Lent. On the right-hand side write what you are replacing it with. Fold it in half. Keep the right side up. If you haven't identified a replacement yet — a prayer time, a Scripture reading, an act of service — do that now. Then ask God to make the "hard" of this season fruitful rather than discouraging.