Held by hope this Lent

To help individuals, congregations, and school and aged-care communities explore the hope that is found in Jesus Christ, Lutheran Tract Mission has prepared a free Lenten devotional entitled ‘Hope for Our Future’.

‘Hope for Our Future is available on Lutheran Tract Mission’s website at ltm.org.au/flipbk/lenten-2026 and can be downloaded, printed or used as a digital flipbook.

The Lenten season this year begins with Ash Wednesday on 18 February, and the devotional includes a reflection for each day through to Easter Sunday on 5 April. Each devotion features a short reflection, Bible reading and a prayer that shares God’s promises of a future guaranteed by Jesus’ actions on the cross. The back page is also editable, allowing congregations to add their Easter service times before printing and sharing the devotional with friends, family or their wider community.

Through the devotional readings, readers are invited to reflect on how God gave hope to his people in the Old Testament through the prophets and his promises. In the New Testament, God fulfilled many of these promises in his Son, Jesus.

Through the life of Jesus, we learn about his love for all people. Then, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can realise that all our hope in him has been fulfilled. Through Jesus, we have a future promised with our Heavenly Father that we will live with him for eternity. Our future and hopes are assured.

What do you hope for? In what do you put your hopes and dreams?

To ‘hope’ is to feel expectation or a desire for something to happen. It is not wishful thinking; it is an assurance for the future, a future that is guaranteed by God’s promises, even though we cannot see it. It involves a confident expectation rooted in God and has its foundation in Christ Jesus. It is more than optimism; it is a firm belief that God will fulfil all that he has said through his word – the Bible. This hope is an anchor amongst all the storms of life: ‘We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure’ (Hebrews 6:19).

Anne Hansen is Lutheran Tract Mission’s Development Officer.