47 Faith Focuses

Next Tuesday is Mardi Gras - the French words for Fat Tuesday, the day you're to feast before the fasting of Lent. Lent is the 40 days plus Sundays leading up to Easter. Some people throughout history have sacrificed something during these days - candy, smoking, social media, television, video games - to remember Christ's sacrifice. But I'm going to suggest a different method of celebrating.

If sacrifice is your preferred method of focusing of the Lord in the days leading up to Easter, go for it. Fast from whatever you feel is pulling you away from Him. But you can also proactively approach these days in efforts to improve yourself spiritually. I've listed 47 things that you can do, one each day, leading up to Easter Sunday. You don't necessarily have to do them in order (although the last seven do coincide with some events from the most important week in history). Perhaps these will revive your soul, encourage your spirit and grow the Kingdom in some God-glorifying way. Have fun! Praise His Name!

47 Faith Focuses during Lent (40 Day of Lent + 7 Sundays)

1) Read your Bible every day. Even if for a short while. Document over these next 47 days what the Lord teaches you through His Word.

2) Pray all throughout the day, as you wake up, mealtime, before bed, devotion time – even at restaurants if you’re out to supper. And ask the server how you can pray for them.

3) Do an anonymous random act of kindness in Christ’s name.

4) Write a thank you to someone for their service to Jesus.

5) Honor your parents in some way. Write them a love letter, do something in remembrance of them or in honor of them.

6) Give to a charity in Christ’s name.

7) Care for God’s Creation in some way – compost, plant a tree, start a garden, clean the streets.

8) Find reasons to edify others throughout the day.

9) Spend some time in study – read a Christian biography, take a new Bible study.

10) Podcast sermons to hear what others called by God are sharing.

11) Switch your radio to Christian music and see what change it makes in your life.

12) Journal your prayers. Write down when God give a specific answer to prayer.

13) Find a devotional that works for you: couples, women's, men's, family, beach, etc.

14) Ask the Lord to convict your heart in forgiveness. Ask for forgiveness from those around you that you have wronged. Forgive those who’ve wronged you.

15) Find a cause you are passionate about that involves helping the oppressed.

16) Clean out your closets and donate to a local Good Will, Salvation Army or thrift store.

17) When you grocery shop, pick up a few extra items for the food pantry.

18) Visit someone who is lonely, in the hospital or a nursing home.

19) Boldly speak to someone about Jesus Christ that you know could really use Him in their life.

20) Watch a Bible DVD or movie and have a discussion together about its accuracy, theme or message.

21) Sing praise songs to the Lord all day long.All. Day. Long.

22) Memorize Bible verses, or entire chapters of Scripture, like Psalm 23, the Sermon on the Mount, Romans 8, 1 Cor. 13, etc.

23) Avoid watching garbage on TV. Yes, that may mean turning it off completely. Remember, garbage in, garbage out.

24) Write out your faith story for future generations to read.

25) Ask the pastor: “What need does our church have that I can fill?”

26) Ponder the names of God and praise Him for the name that means the most to you today.

27) Take a good look in the mirror: What do you need to do to improve your body as a temple for the Lord?

28) Count your blessings. Write down everything you have to be thankful for.

29) Ponder God’s majesty by spending sometime tonight under the stars. Look for constellations in the sky, watch for shooting stars, check out the phase of the moon.

30) If your Bible is worn and filled with notes and highlights, considering getting a new one or different version and reading it with fresh eyes. If it’s not worn – open it up. The best kind of Bible is a well-read one.

31) Whatever task you face today, do it as if serving the Lord Himself, with joy, respect, grace, love and enthusiasm.

32) What has been the high of your day? Your low? What did God teach you through both of those things?

33) Take a spiritual gifts test. See what your strengths are and utilize them for God’s service.

34) Invite someone over for supper and learn more about them as brothers and sisters in Christ.

35) Be creative today! Make something, paint something, fix something, all for God’s glory and in His Name.

36) Go to the highest point in your town and look over the vastness of God’s creation. What new things do you see?

37) Look up the author and back story of one of the old hymns and sing it out, sing it out, sing it out!

38) Ask the Lord to nudge you about a particular person that may need to hear from you today and then act on it.

39) Go the whole day being “third.” Putting God first, then others, then yourself. Humbly let others go before you.

40) Read the story of the Exodus and participate in a Passover Meal. See how Christ took the place of the Passover lamb.

41) Check out Biblical maps to see where the patriarchs lived, where the 12 Tribes of Israel settled, how the Kingdom divided after Solomon, where the Israelites went during the Diaspora, what the Holy Lands looked like in Jesus time and what they look like today.

42) Do a spiritual inventory. Are you worshiping, reading the Word, studying, serving others. Put it away to be opened a year from now and see how you’ve grown spiritually.

43) When out to lunch – pay for someone else’s meal without them knowing. Tell the server to tell them it was done in Jesus’ name, but not that you did it.

44) Take communion today in remembrance of Him.

45) Read the story of Christ’s arrest, trial and crucifixion in all four gospels to get all their perspectives on this most important week in history.

46) Put together an Easter treat for a friend – flowers, balloons, candy and a Bible verse or devotion. Tell them how much Jesus loves them.

47) Dance before the Lord because Jesus Christ is risen today! This is a day of completely glorifying the Lord! Hallelujah, Amen.

 

I Have You Now

My coworker and friend at The River radio station, Hiawatha, was sharing an amazing story with me yesterday. She said she had a friend who was going in for heart surgery that did not believe in Jesus Christ. Right before he was to go under, a man in the operating room leaned down close to his face and said, "I have you now." Under anesthetic, he wrestled with this man during the entire surgery, until he finally called on the Name Above All Names, "Jesus!" When he did, he heard a voice say, "Leave him alone" and Satan went away. Yes, he believes he saw Satan in his operating room prior to his surgery and wrestled with him all during surgery. And when he awoke, this man asked Jesus Christ into his heart. I got the chills when she shared that story.

Hiawatha and I were discussing what an interesting method of evangelism that could be in hospitals. A person is going in for a major surgery, a man comes up prior to surgery and asks "Do you know Jesus?" If the person says yes, proceed to pray with them prior to surgery. If they say no, whisper menacingly "I have you now." It may just scare the hell out of them ... literally.

We had a laugh about this, but thinking about it later I wondered what reaction people would have. Because, let's face it, if they don't have Christ in their lives and their life is cut short, the truth of the matter is, Satan does have them. Because Christ told us "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me." John 14:6. There is no other way to the Father. Not good works, not being a good person, not any other religion. It is Christ and Christ alone. He died the most horrifying death for the very purpose of bringing us to the Father. To pay the ultimate price for the sins we've committed.

I remember another friend telling me about two men in the trenches during World War II. During heavy fire, one man asked the other if he believed in Jesus and Heaven. One said he did. The other said he didn't. As the barrage continued, the one who believed said, "One of us is wrong and one is right. I'm thinking in a few minutes we're both about to find out. I'm pretty confident about my beliefs. I hope you are confident about yours."

There is no doubt in my mind about Jesus Christ. Not one. I believe in Him. I love Him. I want everyone to know Him. And my heart aches for the ones who do not. French poet Charles Pierre Baudelaire wrote: "The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist." And yet he does. And he's a liar, constantly trying to convince the children of God that the Word isn't true.

If you knew you were being lied to, wouldn't you want to know?

The Word is the Truth. Christ, the Son of God, died for you so that you could be in Paradise with Him. And Satan since the beginning of time has been trying to pull you from Him. Who do you want to believe? The liar? Or the one who loved you so much He died for you?

Because let's face it, if you believe the liar, then he can in all confidence say .... "I have you now."

Clear Winner

The other day we were invited to play a card game with friends called Raupoly. Oh, you've never heard of it? Well, that's because our friend's uncle's wife's brother's friend's cousin's mother's someone-or-other made the game up. And it's a hoot. It's a combination of hearts, the bidding process of pinochle and poker. You need at least five people to play (six max). You all have chips and anti-up, bid for the free hand, bet on your poker hand (which I've learned I do not entirely comprehend - but sure had fun trying), then start laying down your cards with hopes of winning even more chips. There is very little strategy involved and little you can do to alter your hopes of earning more chips short of just paying attention.

Here's the interesting part. This group that was playing, we were not gambling with money. We were using chips without monetary backing. And it was an endless supply of chips. When you ran out of chips, all you had to do was turn to my sweet friend, Katelyn, who was maintaining the bank and say, "I'm out." She'd hand you ten more chips. I think I was out of chips at least three times, and others had similar experiences. It allowed us to play endlessly.

We sure had a lot of fun. I honestly don't know if there was even a winner. There were two folks with more chips than everyone else at the end, but remember we all ran out of chips periodically, so no one knows truly how much in debt they were before they accumulated all the chips they had. So anyone's win was truly meaningless.

Someone commented that in future we might want to set a limit to the number of chips we start with so there's a clear winner. Perhaps, but it certainly wouldn't be as fun. Because then we'd have folks run out of chips and they're out of the game. If you drop below five players, the game is over, and with the max number of players at six, that would happen pretty fast.

It did get me thinking about our government-supported programs and national debt, however, which at this writing is over $17 trillion. How fun it is to continue to spend, spend, spend when there's an endless supply of money. How easy it is to continue to take at someone else's expense, and never have to earn it. The problem is, in the real world, there isn't an endless supply and we do need to earn it. Not so that there's a clear "winner," but that so when you do succeed it really means something.

Raupoly is a fun game. Life on the other hand, isn't one. It's a journey, and a spiritual one at that. We learn from our successes and failures on this walk with and to the Lord. We will have times when it seems the bank has an endless supply, but more often then not, the purse strings will be taut. We are not guaranteed happiness nor excess. But we are guaranteed an abundant life in our belief in Christ (John 10:10). In that sense, there are - we are - clear winners.