Proverbs 19:17//He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given.

I’m not a penny-pincher by nature. I like to buy things for my friends; I like going out for lunch. Being newly married and learning how to make two incomes equal rent and car payments, etc will turn a shoe fetish into a tight budget really quickly, however. You hear about how the little things add up, and it’s true, so I daily resist the temptation to veer off for coffee when I get to work early. The constant self-denial for the greater good was starting to get depressing so I decided to take $20 out of my next paycheck just for me. That’s when “Bob” called.

Yesterday, Timothy and I were at some friends’ house eating salads and carving mohawks. As we got ready to leave, they gave me $20. He said he had it and wanted to give it to someone, so he prayed. The Lord told him to give it to me, and that I’m just supposed to spend on me – not groceries, not stuff for the apartment, not our little family … just me.

I know Proverbs 19:17 pretty well because I run into it a lot. This was different, though. This was more than being repaid – this was knowing that the God of heaven and earth hears the silent cry of my heart … that He really is a Father who wants to give good gifts to his children.

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.

“From the gutters to the pulpits the ‘spirit of prostitution’ has breached our land. She has mocked the Armies of the Lord and has been killing the church with her seductive grasp. The church has been powerless against pornography because statistics show there is just as much pornography in the church as there is in the world and at times even more. Every arena of society has prostitued itslef for the American Dream and sometimes even in the name of the Lord or for religion. Where is our indignation? Where is the Church? Where is the moral outcry? We must charge at this giant with the voice of triumph. “You uncircumsized Philistine how dare you taunt the Armies of the Lord!” Giants fall when the righteous become indignant.”

That’s taken from a flier you can download here. Pure Life Revolution and The Cause USA are calling for a 21 Day Turn Off and Daniel fast starting this Saturday, May 27.

“We are calling for a nation wide 21 Day Turn Off, a 21 day vision fast (media – tv, radio, newspapers, magazines, video games, and surfing the web), and a Daniel fast, no meats and no sweets, targeting the ‘spirit of prostitution,’ the pornographic plague, the tolerance of immorality, for reformation, revolution and the ‘greatest awakening’ for America. This is a time of prayer and repentance on behalf of ourselves, the Church and our nation.”

JUMP ON BOARD! Is there not a cause? I dare you to remove yourself from the kingdom of Media for three weeks and really press into God. I mean really. Consider that up to now, nothing you’ve ever done has really impressed heaven; nothing you (or I) have ever prayed, sung, or written has caused a collective gasp to go up around the throne as the angels whisper about how radical we are for Christ. For three weeks I dare you to keep the TV off, avoid glossy print, and not log onto MySpace!

I’m debating about whether or not to post for these three weeks. On the one hand I certainly wouldn’t want to lead you into temptation, but on the other, if you bookmark me and Shut Down when you’re done you won’t expose yourself to any media. I’ll pray about it and let you know tomorrow.

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12)