Solo Guide
for Just-Do-It Users
Mercy Season, August 7 - October 2, 2025
The "Just-Do-It" method is a way of listening to the Spirit of Jesus through the Bible. Your goal is to receive your personal "Just-Do-It" assignments that the Spirit puts into you to do as your personal participation in God's "People of the Future" movement (POTF).
We can't tell you how you know that an assignment comes from the Spirit. You just know it, and different people know it by different means. But we can tell you that as you do your assignments, you bring some of the glorious future Messianic Era into the present. You discover life as a Person of the Future.
The Solo Guide lets you try this method out on your own. You can decide later whether to use the group method in addition or instead.
You do not need any training for the Just-Do-It method because all the instructions are built into the four italicized prayers you use as you go along. Preview these if you wish, or just jump in. See FAQs at the bottom if you need more detail.
The Guide is set up for one solo session per week, but the goal is to get used to reading the Bible or listening to a sermon this way, always on the alert for "Just-Do-It" assignments from God's Spirit.
At first it may feel odd to think of yourself as part of God's POTF movement, getting assignments from the Spirit. When it starts to feel normal, you may not need these written instructions any more. Just-Do-Its will become your new way of life, with or without written instructions.
The instructions are the same every week during Mercy Season. Only the Scripture passage changes as shown in the list below.
If you are reading the Bible using the Solo Guide daily instead of weekly, you may choose your own Scripture or follow the "Bible-in-a-Year" Guide that goes with the SYNC seasons. The yearly Guide has much longer readings than the weekly list below. You will read about 1 chapter per day if you use only the New Testament column of the Guide, or about 3.5 chapters per day if you also use the Old Testament column. Click here for "Bible-in-a-Year" Guide
Warm-up for receiving your "JUST-DO-IT" (steps 1-5)
1. Think of one thing you are thankful for today. Thank God for it.
2. Think of one challenge you are facing today. Hand it over to God, including any anxiety that goes with it. (1 Peter 5.7)
3. Remember or look up your last Just-Do-It assignment. Talk to God about it.
3A. If you completed your assignment: What did you do as you carried out the assignment? What did God do in you, with you, or for you? What did you learn about God's People of the Future movement by participating in this assignment?
3B. Didn't do your assignment yet? Ask God to forgive you for the delay and to empower you to get it done today. Leave this Just-Do-It session, and come back to it after you do the assignment you missed. God does not want to pile things onto you. So feel the joy of completing a job, then you will be ready to listen for your next assignment.
3C. Can't remember what your last Just-Do-It assignment was? Ask God to bring it to your mind. If he does, follow 3B above. If he doesn't, go ahead and listen for a new assignment to replace the lost one, but write down the new one somewhere so it won't be forgotten.
4. Prayer
Thank you, God, for creating a global "People of the Future" movement to connect, heal, and bless this hurting world. Thanks for including me in the movement through Jesus and his Spirit. Speak to me today so I understand the Messianic Future better and fit into it better as it arrives. Yes, Jesus, our Messiah, bring it on! Amen.
5. I am holding myself to these rules for solo use of the Just-Do-It method:
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I am gratefully and passionately listening to the Spirit of Jesus about my role in his movement. I'm expecting my next Just-Do-It assignment.
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My goal is to hear what God wants me to do, not satisfy my curiosity, bolster my own opinion, or pass a test on Bible knowledge.
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For right now I will stick to the Bible verses I'm reading and postpone all comparisons and commentaries until later
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I will follow through. "I'll run the course you lay out for me if you'll just show me how." Ps. 119.32.
Getting into the Bible (steps 6-10)
6A. Option: If you kept notes from your previous session of Bible reading, look back over those before you go on.
6B. Prayer
Lord, I am coming to you to listen for your voice in the Bible, which is the story of you growing your Community of the Willing, your People of the Future. Through these verses today, show me more of what I need to discover about this story and my role in it. In Jesus' name, Amen.
7. Find this week’s Scripture
Aug 7-13. Hebrews 9.1-15. The last "Day of Atonement" (Yom Kippur)
Aug 14-20. Romans 5.1-11. How mercy changes us
Aug 21-27. Isaiah 53.3-12. Jesus suffered what we deserved
Aug 28 - Sep 3. Luke 23.33-47. Jesus on the cross
Sep 4-10. Matthew 6.7-15. The "Mercy Prayer"
Sep 11-17. Psalm 103.1-12. The Lord's amazing mercy
Sep 18-24. Matthew 18.23-35. The parable of the unforgiving debtor.
Sep 25. (Thursday groups only) Luke 24.36-49. Spreading the message of mercy
Sep 26-Oct 2. Luke 10.25-37. Showing mercy to a victim
Note: Steps 8-12 may overlap as you do them. Sometimes you may be reading the Scripture (step 8A) and the Spirit already does step 10 or step 12. In those cases, follow the Spirit more strictly than the instructions.
8A. Read (or listen to) the Scripture. Then ask yourself, “What stood out to me?" It could be a main point or just something that jumped out at you.
8B. Option: Read the same Scripture in a different translation before going on to the next step.
9. Try to summarize what you read without looking back at your Bible. Pretend you are doing this to tell a friend about today's Bible verses. Your summary doesn't have to be complete or perfect.
10. Ask yourself, “What would I know or guess about God's POTF movement and strategy if these verses were all I had heard about it?”
Your Personal Assignment (steps 11-14)
You have done the warm-ups and used the Bible. Now listen for the Spirit. (OPTION: if the Spirit has already prompted you by putting a Just-Do-It item into you, skip to step 13.)
11. Pray
Lord Jesus, I am at your service. I'm listening for any errand of mercy you want me to run. Is it something in my everyday relationships and situations? Is it about my connection with others in the Community of the Willing? Is it about making Jesus look as merciful as he really is?
Please put my personal assignment for this day or this week into my mind now by the Holy Spirit, and make it clear enough that I don't miss it. Make your thoughts my thoughts and your will my will so I can just do it. Amen.
12. Allow time for the Spirit to speak to you. When you sense what your Just-Do-It assignment is, go to the next step.
Note: If you don't sense anything, read the Bible passage again; also remind yourself how you started the session with a point of thanksgiving, a point of challenge, and a review of your previous Just-Do-It assignment. See FAQs below for additional options if needed. Beware of making up your own idea instead of waiting for/listening for the Spirit's instruction.
13. Set a reminder about your new Just-Do-It assignment on your device or write it down. Show God you are taking this seriously.
14. Pray
Thank you, Lord, for giving me my next Just-Do-It assignment. Now please give me whatever courage, skill, and spiritual power I will need to get it done. Open the door for me, and load me with your mercy as I walk through it.
May someone be connected, healed, or blessed as I do what you are prompting me to do. No matter how it goes, may I learn whatever you want me to learn from the process of trusting you. In the name of Jesus, the embodiment of all mercy, I ask all these things. Please let them happen.
Don't forget your Just-Do-It.
Don't over-think it.
Don't avoid it.
Don't wait till you feel like it.
Just do it.
15. Option: Buddy system
To reinforce the solo version of the Just-Do-It process each week, you may opt to connect weekly with one or two friends who are also using these solo instructions. Face to face or virtually, tell each other the following four things:
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What you are thankful for
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A challenge you are facing
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How your Just-Do-It went last week
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What your Just-Do-It is for this week
You may also want to try the group version of the Just-Do-It method, but that requires a longer session similar to what you do on your own in the solo version, and that creates schedule challenges.
Stay open to the Spirit. If the Spirit steers you toward starting or joining a weekly group, just do it, but don't initiate a group just because you think it might be a good idea. Without the Spirit prompting you, a group will fizzle out, and everyone will feel like a failure.
But with the Spirit's prompting, all the participants get some benefits that the solo version cannot give them. God is in the connection business, and groups forge connections. See the Group Guide for details.
FAQs
What is Mercy Season?
The fifth of the seven seasons in the SYNC annual cycle.
You don't need to know the season or the cycle in order to use the Just-Do-It method, but if you use it for more than one SYNC season, you may notice that the solo instructions change slightly with the seasonal emphasis.
If you want more details about Mercy Season, see "Mercy Tool Kit" in the menu under "Resources", but don't get bogged down there. The main thing is listening to the Bible and the Spirit, not figuring out the SYNC structure from top to bottom.
What is God's People of the Future movement?
The POTF movement is the main part of God's campaign to bring more of his perfect future into this world's messed up present. The movement brings the future not by force but by being willing to let the Spirit of Jesus transform and unite us as "People of the Future."
Using the Just-Do-It process is one way of participating in the movement, but you can use it even before you actually join the movement. For more details see the "God's POTF Movement" in the menu.
Does God really have a personal assignment for me this week?
Ask him. It's his campaign and his movement. If he does have an assignment for you, you don't want to miss out on it.
Isn't it more authentic to pray in our own words than to read a prayer like the prayers in these instructions?
Usually it is. In this case, please use the written prayers long enough to get familiar with the Just-Do-It method. Without those prayers you may miss some of the key ingredients that give this method its power.
Why must I postpone my study of other Bible passages and resource books while seeking my Just-Do-It assignment?
When we start comparing verses, our brains often take over and our ears get blocked. We start figuring things out, studying things, and if we are not careful, we get so interested in our hypothetical questions that we forget to listen for what God is specifically assigning us to do right away.
There is a time and a place for comparing various Scriptures to develop our theological knowledge, but a Just-Do-It session is not it.
Where do I find another Bible translation?
One source (leaving this site) is biblegateway.com. It has a long pick list of translations. Two of the easiest ones are “The Message” and the “Good News Translation”.
What if I don't hear or sense any Just-Do-It assignment even though I am listening carefully?
If the suggestions in the note on item 12 do not help you, then your Just-Do-It assignment for this week is simply to stay alert until you get the guidance you did not get today. Sometimes the Spirit may create a particular situation during the week and you will realize that God is prompting you with a Just-Do-It opportunity. Besides watching for something like that, you may want to reread the same Scripture later and spend some more time praying and listening.
While you are waiting, remember that it is God's job to communicate our Just-Do-Its, not our job to figure them out. He's very good at communicating to each and every one of us because he knows how we are wired. He customizes his communication, and his timing is impeccable.