Just-Do-It instructions for solo listeners
Freedom Season, March 24 - May 8, 2024
The "Just-Do-It" method is a way of listening to the Spirit of Jesus as you read the Bible or have a device read it to you. The solo version lets you try this method out on your own. You can decide later whether to use the group version in addition or instead.
In either version (solo or group) you are listening to God's Spirit for your personal "Just-Do-It" items. These are specific things the Spirit puts into you to do as your personal assignments in God's "public awareness campaign". As you do them, you bring some of the glorious future Messianic Era into the present.
Instructions for the solo method are built into the four 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 instructions are 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" items that God's Spirit puts into you.
At first it may feel odd to think of yourself as part of God's public awareness campaign team, getting campaign assignments from the Spirit. When it starts to feel normal, you may not need the instructions any more. Just-Do-Its will become your new way of life, with or without these instructions.
The instructions are the same every week. Only the Scripture passage changes as shown in the list below.
If you are reading the Bible using these solo instructions 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 guide has 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
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 public awareness campaign 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 the next assignment one.
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 master-minding a campaign to connect, heal, and bless the world. Thanks for including me in it through Jesus and his Spirit. Speak to me today so I understand more about your campaign and fit into it better. I'm asking in the name of Jesus and for the sake of his campaign, Amen.
5. I am holding myself to these rules for solo use of the Just-Do-It method:
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I want a better world, and I am listening for my Just-Do-It assignment from God so I can help make the world better
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During this solo session I will stick to the Bible verses I'm reading and postpone all comparisons and commentaries until later
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My goal is to hear what God wants me to do this week, not satisfy my curiosity or bolster my own opinion
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I expect that at some point God will nudge me to mention the Just-DoIt method to others and to cheer them on if/when they try it; I'm open to that
GETTING INTO THE BIBLE
6. Prayer
Lord, I am coming to you to listen for your voice in the Bible, which is the story of your campaign and how to get involved in it. Through these verses today, show me more of what every campaign team member needs to know. In Jesus' name, Amen.
7. Find this week’s Scripture
Mar. 24-30. Luke 4.14-21. The "Freedom Declaration" of Jesus
Mar. 31-Apr. 6. Luke 13.10-17. Jesus sets a woman free from being crippled
Apr. 7-13. Matthew 21.6-14. Jesus is hailed as the Liberator
Apr. 14 -20. John 10.11-21. Jesus lays down his own freedom so others can be free
Apr. 20-27. Acts 2.22-32. Jesus is freed from death
Apr. 28-May 1 (Sun-Wed only). Hebrews 2.14-18. Jesus frees others from the fear of death
May 2-8. John 8.31-38. Obedience to the truth is liberating
8. 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.
9. Read the same Scripture, using a different translation. Then try to summarize it 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 exact or perfect.
10. Ask yourself, “What would I know or guess about God's public awareness campaign if these verses were all I had heard about it?”
YOUR PERSONAL ASSIGNMENT
You have done the warm-ups and used the Bible. Now listen for the Spirit.
11. Pray
Lord Jesus, I am at your service. I don't usually think of myself as an activist, so I'm depending on you to turn me into a freedom activist for your campaign. Please give me an assignment that will help others discover the freedom they can have because of your death and resurrection.
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 item on your device or write it down. Show God you are taking this seriously.
14. Pray
Thank you, Lord, for giving me my assignment for the week. Now please give me the courage, skill, and spiritual power I will need to complete my assignment. it will take to get it done. Please prepare the opportunity for me so that people get connected, healed, or blessed as I do my "Just-Do-It". Let my action be my small contribution to a better world because I listened to you today. In the name of Jesus, the spearhead of God's freedom campaign, 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.
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 he 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. Click here to see the group version.
FAQs
What is Freedom Season?
The third 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 Freedom Season, see "Freedom Tool Kit" under the "Resources" tab, 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 "public awareness campaign"?
See the "God's campaign" tab. God's public awareness campaign is a core idea in the Just-Do-It method because all our "Just-Do-Its" are part of it.
Does God really have a personal assignment for me this week?
Ask him. It's his campaign. 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 item?
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 you don't hear or sense any Just-Do-It assignment even though you are listening carefully?
If the suggestions in the note on item 12 do not help you, then your Just-Do-It 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.