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RSSA Mind SET on the SPIRIT poduce LIFE!
Day 1: Matt 1-7
Day 2: Matt 8-12
Day 3: Matt 13-18
Day 4: Matt 19-24
Day 5: Matt 25-28
Day 6: Mark 1-6
Day 7: Mark 7-11
Day 8: Mark 12-16
Day 9: Luke 1-4
Day 10: Luke 5-9
Day 11: Luke 10-13
Day 12: Luke 14-19
Day 13: Luke 20-24
Day 14: John 1-5
Day 15: John 6-9
Day 16: John 10-14
Day 17: John 15-19
Day 18: John 20- Acts 4
Day 19: Acts 5-9
Day 20: Acts 10- 15
Day 21: Acts 16-20
Day 22: Acts 21-26
Day 23: Acts 27- Rom 4
Day 24: Rom 5-10
Day 25: Rom 11- 1 Cor 1
Day 26: 1 Cor 2-9
Day 27: 1 Cor 10-15
Day 28: 1 Cor 16- 2 Cor 9
Day 29: 2 Cor 10- Gal 4
Day 30: Gal 5- Phil 1
Day 31: Phil 2- 1 Thess 2
Day 32: 1 Thess 3- 1 Tim 5
Day 33: 1 Tim 6- Heb 1
Day 34: Heb 2-10
Day 35: Heb 11- James 5
Day 36: 1 Pet 1- 1 John 1
Day 37: 1 John 2- Jude 1
Day 38: Rev 1-7
Day 39: Rev 8-15
Day 40 Rev 16-22
Hosting God Bible Reading Plan
Hosting God 40 Days Lifestyle Challenge
Hosting God 40 Day Lifestyle Challenge
Tell the Nations strongly believes that Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses on behalf of us, His New Testament church. We believe that we are not made righteous by adhering to the works of the law, but through the grace of God. (Rom 3:21-26). We also believe that His grace is the supernatural empowerment to live holy and that grace is not an excuse to sin, on the contrary, grace now makes a sinless life possible for us. This challenge is not to do ‘works’ but to act as a catalyst toward a holy/dedicated lifestyle made possible by the grace of God. The focus of this challenge is live in such a way that we can optimally host the presence of God.
John 1:32-33 And John bore record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and He abode on Him. And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water, that One said to me, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon Him, He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I saw and bore record that this is the Son of God.
Jesus set the stage for a whole new season. In the Old Testament the Spirit of God only came upon people to perform a certain function with powerful results. Jesus, on the other hand, came to show that it can now be a lifestyle. “The Spirit descending, and REMAINING upon Him”. Jesus’ life and ministry is a model for how it would be for us when we receive the same promise:
John 14:16,17 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you.
It is not about a life of feeling or emotion, but about going beyond feeling and emotion. To live a life in tune with Holy Spirit that dwells with you.
The promise for us as believers is that we will have the Spirit of God in us as believers. That He will NEVER leave us. The sad fact is that He does not always rest upon us. Remember: He is in me for my sake, but upon me for your sake.
Act 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…”
Bill Johnson uses the example of a dove that comes and sits on your shoulder. Imagine a real dove lands on your shoulder. How will you walk go about your daily tasks if you do not want it to fly away? Carefully? Every step move you make will be made with the dove in mind as the main focus of every movement. The key – The dove must stay…..
WE ARE CALLED TO CARRY THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
1Co 6:19, 20 Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, You were bought with a price [purchased with a [b] preciousness and paid for, [c] made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.
We HOST His presence, we Host God!!
Here two vital scriptures before we move on to the challenge:
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…
1Th 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit.
Sometimes when we look at the scripture we think in terms of the working of the Holy Spirit and not stopping His works. But I want you to forget about the gifts of the Holy Spirit for a moment and focus for a moment on the dove, the person of Holy Spirit, that what he experiences and feels as a result of your thoughts, words and actions…
To not grieve the Holy Spirit is about the issue of sin: in thought attitude and action. The word grief means: to cause sorrow or distress. It describes the sorrow that Holy Spirit experiences as a result of something that we do or allow in our lives. It is about accommodating the character of Holy Spirit.
Do not quench the Spirit goes about our co-operation with the flow of Holy Spirit. Quench means: to stop the flow, to extinguish, to put out. It is about our fire and passion in our walk with Holy Spirit. To lose your fire or passion for God will always affect the flow of God’s power through you.
So this is the heart of this lifestyle challenge – TO SET YOUR LIFE WITH HOLY SPRIT IN MIND!
We are going to focus our lives in these 40 days to physically and practically do everything (biblically) in order to accommodate more of the Spirit of God in our lives.
The Challenge:
To set God’s Word and fellowship with Him 1st!
We are going to read through the New Testament during these 40 days. (You will receive a reading plan). The life of Christ, the acts and the letters to the church is focused on a lifestyle focused on God.
It will take you an average of 40minutes a day to read through the New Testament in 40 days.
Get yourself a diary and write what you feel God is sharing with you. It is things that God shares with you to use when you pray.
Your diary will help you meditate on God and His Word and keep your mind set on Him (Ps 1:2 …but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.).
Set aside a minimum of 1.5 to 2 hours a day for bible reading, journaling and prayer. If need be you can divide your time into separate portions of time throughout the day (not always the ideal but sometimes the only way).
Make sure you spend time praying in your Heavenly language that you received at the baptism with the Holy Spirit! Get into the habit of praying in your Heavenly language when you have nothing else to do – it includes times when you shower, stand in queues, cutting the grass, work etc. You will be surprised how it helps you to focus on God and you will see how Holy Spirit will later remind to prayer in your heavenly language.
Create a Holy Spirit friendly environment:
Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world…
One of the goals of the media is to conform us to their way of thinking and acting, so in these 40 days they will not get their way.
In this 40 days block any form of medias that is not Holy Spirit friendly: Leave that television for the next 40 days.
Forget about the gossip of “7de Laan’ and change your radio from Ofm to ‘Radio Jesus’ – This is your worship cd’s or a few old sermon cd’s.
Go through old prophecies or get a good Spirit filled book for you to read.
To make it clear, no TV, social networks, chat rooms, commercial radio, newspapers, PlayStation, TV games for this time. You set yourself apart only for Holy Spirit.
I will also send a list of prayers covering various subjects to anyone interested.
One of the most effective ways to become sensitive to the presence of God is through fasting, we will fast every Wednesday during the 40 day challenge. This is only a 12 hour fast, from 6am to 6pm. This will also only be a food fast meaning that will be able to take in your normal liquids.
Personalise and pray the two Ephesian prayers over yourself: Eph 1:17-23 & Eph 3:16-21.
Ask Holy Spirit every morning what He plans for the day and that He makes you sensitive for His agenda. Be very sensitive the coming 40 days to be obedient to the voice of Holy Spirit, even in the smallest detail. Write in your diary what you feel Holy Spirit is saying to you, also the things you know you were not obedient in. This is a very good and important time to get to know Holy Spirit the person better.
Reminders:
Get reminders for yourself to constantly remind you that you host Holy Spirit. Some examples are to make Post It notes and place them all over in the house, set a reminder every 10mions on your phone, wear your watch on the wrong arm etc.
Purposefully make yourself available to serve others in any way. A Holy life is not about living an exclusive life, but a dedicated life. Holy spirit cannot mean much to people if we withdraw ourselves from others. He wants us to get involved in other people’s lives so that He can minister unto them.
Develop a dependence on Holy Spirit:
Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Joh 15:5 I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Joh 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do. For whatever things He does, these also the Son does likewise.
Jesus fulfilled the will of His Father through a life of dependence and obedience toward the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God). In the same way we need to come to the realisation that we can do nothing without Holy Spirit!
Get yourself an accountability partner with who you can talk about the ups and down of the 40 days.
