50 Day Challenge Week 1

Thank you to the Men (and Women) who chose to join the 50 Day Challenge.  We had 58 Courageous Men who showed up with a desire to be challenged to grow spiritually.  This spiritual journey is designed to help Men grow in relationship with Christ and develop into the leader at home, work, church and in the community that God has created you to be.

(To the women that have accepted the challenge via text, email, or blog I am excited for you.  The wording will be specific to Men since it is designed for Men but you will have no trouble making it relevant to your life.)

There will be 50 Challenges in 50 days, ending October 30th.  Rather than give a different challenge everyday, there will be 6 or 7 challenges each week.  This allows you freedom to choose how to best meet each challenge in your life.  Each week will progressively become more difficult.  It will not be easy but it will be worth it.

Here are the Challenges for Week 1:

1.  Pray Daily
2.  Read God's Word Daily
3.  Listen to Christian music or podcasts Daily
4.  Attend Church EARLY with your Bible Weekly
5.  Reflect and discuss the sermon after church Weekly
6.  Take the Love Language Survey with your family @ www.5lovelanguages.com 

For some of you this may seem difficult.  That's okay.  You have to start somewhere and these are some basic foundational changes that will help you pursue God.  Others of you may already do this on a regular basis which is fantastic.  If that is you then find a way to crank it up a notch.  Again, the difficulty levels increase throughout the challenge.

Again, thank you for joining me on this journey.  I can't wait to see and hear what God does in our lives as we make it a priority to seek Him.  

Below are some strategies that may be helpful to you in successfully meeting these 6 challenges.

1.  Pray Daily - Ask God to reveal Himself to you in new ways.  Ask him to give you the passion and discipline to seek Him daily by praying and reading His Word.  Ask Him to heal your heart and make you new.  If you want to grow closer to God, the first step is talking to Him more frequently.

2.  Read God's Word Daily - There are so many options here.  For my personally, I start at the beginning of a Book of the Bible and read a chapter each day.  You may want to use a daily devotional, church bulletin, plan on the youversion.com Bible App, or another method.  Whatever you decide, make sure to dive into God's Word on a daily basis for guidance.

3.  Listen to Christian music or podcasts Daily - What do you think will help you grow in your relationship with Christ, listening to songs about sex, partying, and money or songs that are positive, uplifting, and bring glory to God?  Sports radio talking about the latest Johnny Manziel drama or a podcast offering you a new Godly perspective?  If you're in OKC try 90.9 or check out Air1.com.  Type in a Christian artist into Pandora like David Crowder or Chris Tomlin.  Check out iTunes for the most popular "Christian or Inspirational" Podcasts.  Ask a friend or google someone.  

  

4.  Attend church EARLY with your Bible Weekly - No matter where you go, if you are late you will typically be stressed.  Don't be stressed at church.  Also by being late you are saying with your time that Church is not a priority.  Lead your family by making sure everyone is able to get ready early and get to Church early so they understand its importance. 

5.  Reflect and discuss the sermon after church Weekly - If you only hear the sermon and choose not to discuss it once you leave church, very little growth or change will happen.  Make the effort to lead a discussion with your family or friends at lunch while it is fresh on your mind and/or another time throughout the week.  The more you talk about it, the more you think about it, and the more impact it will have on you and your family.

  

6.  Take the Love Language Survey @ www.5lovelanguages.com - Just go to the website and take the survey.  Have everyone in your family take it as well.  There is even one for kids.  It should take less than 10 minutes each.  We will use the results of this survey later in the challenge but it is helpful to know now.

Lets pray for one another as we go on this journey together.