It's been a while since I touched on the details of the 5MC (The 5 Minute Challenge) and some of you new to the site, might be wondering what in the world that even means. I try to stop once in a while to define it in case you want to play along...lets make today one of those moments!
The Lord revealed this to me a few years ago on Maui as I was working with the Lahaina Baptist Church youth and racking my brain on how to get them into God's Word daily. I thought, "what is the least amount of time I could ask them to read daily?" 30 min? Too long. 15 min? Too much. I settled on a very, very, realistic 5 minutes. The challenge has evolved as we've served in different places and the challenge was used again recently as we worked with the young adults at Village Church in Florida this summer.
Here's the challenge in a nutshell:
The goal...to spend time in God's Word EVERY day. I strongly recommend your 5MC time be first thing in the morning. Before you grab your phone, flip on the news, check your email, scroll Facebook or let the day's problems fill your mind, grab your Bible & fill your mind with the wisdom of God. We had a saying at youth camp this year, "before you go to your phone, go to the throne."...ha, love it! Before life and the problems of the world influence you, take time to spend with God and let Him be your influence!
To start, find a nice quiet place that is totally free of distractions. No radio, no phone, no tablet, no computer. Nothing that will ding, chime, or ring and claim your attention. Just you, silence and God. Next, start your 5MC with a short prayer asking God to bless your time in His Word. Ask Him to help you understand what you read on a deep, personal level. This is a critical step...the Holy Spirit will step in & help you process what you read if you simply ask. God's Word goes very deep, hence one of my favorite sayings, "we need God to understand God." Next set a timer or glance at a clock & read for 5 minutes. If you're just starting I recommend you start in the book of John. (4th book in the New Testament) When the 5 minutes is up STOP, don't keep reading! The goal is not to read for 60 minutes one day & none the next 4 days, but to shirk this cycle of inconsistency by simply reading for 5 minutes EVERY day. Mark your spot where you stopped, this is where you'll start tomorrow. After reading relax, take a few minutes to be quiet and simply listen to God speak to you about what you read. I prefer to journal and write about my 5MC and that's what you read everyday at The5mc.com. It's so fun to be able to go back after a few days or a few weeks and revisit the lessons God spoke into your life. I also recommend you try the 5MC with a partner for accountability. It serves 2 purposes. 1) accountability to help you on those days you feel you are too busy to fit it in & 2) someone to discuss the daily readings with.
So what exactly is the "challenge" you ask? It's not just to read everyday, it's to repeat this process for 30 days IN A ROW. No skipped or missed days. You'll notice a few things as you start. First, it will seem near impossible to find even 5 minutes in your schedule to do this. Things will pop up out of nowhere to challenge & hinder you. Satan doesn't want you spending time in God's word so watch him start throwing up cleverly placed obstacles & roadblocks. Secondly and the best part, as you start knocking off day after day in His Word, you will start to experience the rich blessing of hearing God speak to you. As His wisdom, truth and knowledge start permeating your heart, you will be changed. You will start seeing the world as He sees it, not as you see it.
This is my prayer for all of you, that you embrace the goodness & power of the God-breathed scriptures and make them an inseparable part of your daily routine.
"Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." 1 Peter 2:2
God Bless you and your time with Him in His Word daily!
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