Happy Fasting!

It's upon us. Every time I consider this fast or this media issue in general I'm more impressed with how urgent it is, and how it weighs on the Lord's heart. This is not a light matter thrown together at the whim of a zealous preacher-man; this is a major offensive move on behalf of Christ's kingdom. Even at my home church the issue recently arose (before we found out about the 21 Day Turn Off) as a burden on the hearts of some of our leaders. All over this nation the Holy Spirit is revealing this wing of Satan's scheme to "steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10), and the saints are responding rightly.

So if you've never not looked at some sort of screen before, here are 10 ideas for the next 21 days:

1. Pray. It's hard, at first, to pray for more than two minutes, so if you've never done it before this probably doesn't look like a good idea. Prayer is kind of the point of the fast, though, so it should be your first alternative activity. You just have to force yourself to sit and do it the first few times, and then it gets easier. Pre-determine a time frame before you start (say 15 minutes if this is totally new to you) and increase it every day. If you run out of things to say, pray in the Spirit, thank Him for what you have, tell Him how much you like Him, and pray for specific good things for specific people you don't like. Get together with some friends and pray (Leviticus 26:8).

2. Read your Bible. And don't jump around or skim over things, really get into it. Get a devotional or Bible study book on a topic you're interested in.

3. Worship. You don't have to be at church to do this. Put on a worship CD in your bedroom and focus your heart on everything Jesus has done, is doing and will do.

4. Write a letter to grandparents who live out of town.

5. Get some people together and play four square.

6. Help clean up around the house (if you live with your parents still).

7. Go tell people in the mall your testimony.

8. Take someone out for coffee.

9. Go to the library/book store and get biographies on some of the following people: Smith Wigglesworth, Charles Finney, Maria Woodworth-Etter, John Alexander Dowie, John G. Lake, Amie Semple McPherson, and/or Watchman Nee.

10. Keep a journal of what these three weeks are like. What you do each day and how you feel about it. It may become the first study on MySpace withdrawal symptoms. It may be interesteing to see, three weeks from now, how your mood, energy levels, etc. change.