“It doesn’t matter how you wake up; it matters how you leave for the day,” says Dr. Mark Jones. Since we are in COVID times, we might change that to, “it matters how we interact with others as we begin our day.”
We live in strange times. How do we enter into the day when we have a crisis of unkindness, a crisis of verbal abuse, a crisis of constantly feeling offended, and a crisis of unapologetic defiance? We are in desperate need of a culture shift, and that shift has to begin with our own hearts. Perhaps this Valentine’s Day, we can offer up our own hearts for a make-over!
Recently I heard the excellent MorePrayer podcast interview with Dr. Mark Jones from Portland, Oregon. The MorePrayer Podcast is an initiative of PrayerPDX, a movement that seeks to resource, equip and engage the universal church in united, sustained prayer for spiritual awakening.
Jones has a book called Unscripted which describes a more intimate, authentic, relationship with God through a 40 Day Worship Challenge. While the book is entitled worship challenge, the challenge could also be called a surrender challenge, as he invites us to surrender our hearts to God’s heart. For the first 15 minutes of every day, as a minimum, not as a ceiling, we are invited to surrender our personal will to the will of Jesus. The worship challenge describes, “all you will need is a Bible, a journal, worship music, and maybe a cup of coffee, and you will be on your way to a profound new level of spiritual fulfillment.” The surrender challenge can go to an even deeper level of intimacy with God.
You might be asking, “How do I know God’s heart?” We can only know God’s heart by hanging out with God, therefore, the first 15 minutes of every day are offered to God. This means not reaching for our phones, or Facebook, or e-mail for the first awakening moments, but rather it requires us to turn our gaze to God, and the good soil of the Bible.
Jones has an acronym that empowers us in how to use this time: FOCUS
Fix our gaze on Jesus.
Open our hearts.
Connect our spirit.
Usher in God’s presence.
Start the flow.
It is a beautiful acronym, but we all know the process will not be as easy to implement as the acronym is to say. Jones knows that we need roots to grow in good soil, therefore this 40 day challenge needs to have 5 roots which are surrender, trust, humility, faith, and thanksgiving.
What would it look like for us to try this challenge? Lent is coming, maybe this would be a great Lenten practice. After all, if we really want the culture to change, if we really desire a change from the verbal assault and unkindness that is facing our culture it has to begin with each of us as individuals in each of our hearts.
I’ve begun my 40 day surrender challenge, how about you? How do you want to prepare for each day?
For those trying to authentically follow Jesus. 