Lent 5: Walking with Jesus

Mar 17

Written By KC Underground

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Lent 2026, Week 5

Scripture Readings

Mark 8:34–37

Philippians 2:5–11

Opening Introduction

After slowing down, letting go, listening deeply, and facing ourselves honestly, Lent invites us to explore how we are embodying the ordinary rhythms of Jesus in our lives.

Following Jesus is learned over time. It is formed through repeated, most often unnoticed choices as we respond differently, move at a different pace, and take a different posture in the same spaces we already inhabit. Lent invites us to notice these places of daily formation and to pay attention to how Jesus is shaping our way of life from the inside out.

This week invites us to reflect on apprenticeship: learning to walk in the way of Jesus through steady faithfulness, practiced again and again in the ordinary stuff of life.

Reflection

Jesus speaks plainly about what it means to follow Him. To deny oneself, take up the cross, and walk His way is not a call to heroics, but to a particular pattern of life. It is a way that often feels counterintuitive, moving downward before it moves upward, relinquishing control rather than grasping for it.

Philippians 2 gives language to this pattern. Jesus does not cling to power or status. He releases them. He chooses humility, obedience, and love, entering fully into the human story for the sake of others. This is not simply something Jesus does for us; it is the way He teaches us to walk.

Resistance to this way often shows up in our reluctance to surrender control, or in our desire to protect ourselves, in our impatience with slowness, or in our preference for recognition over faithfulness. These moments are often subtle. They surface in conversations, decisions, conflicts, ambitions, and expectations we carry each day.

Lent invites us to notice these places without judgment over ourselves. We’re invited to bring them into the light. As apprentices of Jesus, we learn His way by choosing obedience when it costs us and love when it feels inconvenient.

This kind of formation unfolds slowly. It takes shape through ordinary faithfulness and repeated consent to Jesus’s way. And over time, it forms us into people who reflect His life in the world.

Consider

What does following Jesus look like in your everyday life right now?
Where do you feel resistance to Jesus’ way of humility, surrender, or obedience?
What small, faithful step might Jesus be inviting you to take this week?
How does walking with Jesus reshape how you understand success, power, or faithfulness?

Prayer Prompts

Use these prompts to guide your prayer this week:

Reflect on Philippians 2.
Read the passage slowly, paying attention to Jesus’s posture—His humility, His willingness to release power, His trust in the Father. Ask God to form in you the same mind and way of being that was in Christ, not through effort, but through grace.
Name resistance honestly.
Bring before God the places where His way feels costly, uncomfortable, or unclear. Notice where you resist surrender, where obedience feels inconvenient, or where humility feels risky. Name these places without self-judgment and ask God to meet you there.
Pray for grace to walk faithfully.
Ask God not for dramatic change or heroic faith, but for the grace to take the next faithful step. Pray for steadiness, patience, and trust in the slow work of becoming more like Jesus.
Pay attention to ordinary moments.
As you move through your day, notice moments where you are invited to respond differently—to listen longer, to choose love over self-protection, to slow your pace, or to release control. Offer these moments to God as places of apprenticeship.
Let fasting shape your walking.
As hunger, inconvenience, or discomfort arises, notice how it mirrors the cost of following Jesus. Instead of resisting it, invite Jesus to walk with you there. Let fasting remind you that formation happens through daily trust, not instant results.

Intercede (Corporate Prayer for the Network)

Pray that the Kansas City Underground would become a people who walk faithfully in the way of Jesus. Ask God to shape our networks, microchurches, and teams with humility, courage, and love. Pray that our shared life would reflect the downward way of Christ, marked by service, sacrifice, and trust in God’s leading.