Here’s a short update of what has been going on over since Christmas:

• I’ve watched A LOT of movies – I got into the habit of watching a film a day, sometimes I would get through three!
• I have discovered a website called tvgorge.com that allows you to watch TV programmes online after they have aired on TV.
• And on the back of these two HUGE distractions in my life I’ve given up film/TV for lent! My life was beginning to revolve around a TV screen and I didn’t like it. So I have taken a step back and decided to spend the time I would have been watching moving images to get stuff done and focus on God.
• I’ve begun another Bible in a year reading plan. The difference with this on though is it is on my Android phone so I can read my bible on the move!
• And finally I have taken in a temporary lodger! A friend of mine found himself unexpectedly without a place to stay so he is sleeping in my spare room until he can get a place sorted.

That’s pretty much where I am at. I’m hoping to find more time to blog but I do tweet a lot so you can follow what I am up to via the sidebar on this website or at www.twitter.com/adamwhite1421

I don’t want to go back to how I was where I would fill my spare time with watching films or TV shows. I would rather keep my film watching to a minimum and spend time with God instead.

I do want to look into running a film night at my church once a month but I need to understand what the format is going to be. I want it to be an open atmosphere where anyone can come and watch but I also want to bring God into it if I can.

I’m also going to watch my first film on Friday night (Phil is in London). I wonder what I am going to choose!!

• Money – £165 a year in fact!
• Time – I don’t go to the cinema as much as I used to and I have more important things that I should be doing
• Films aren’t on – The films I really want to see just aren’t on at our cinema: There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It makes more sense for me to rent them and watch them at home!
• DVDs – I have 100s of DVDs at home that I don’t have time to watch as it is!

I’m also taking a break from films for a while to spend more time with God and on more important things. We’ll have to see where I stand with film in my life after this.

This does of course mean no more film reviews for a while. Sorry!

Isn’t it funny how a lot of teaching about Jesus says he was born, died and rose again. Whatever happened to the 30 years when he walked on the Earth? A lot of people miss this part out but it is crucial to Christians to understand this fully. Jesus could have very easily have clicked his fingers and forgiven all our sins and yet he chose to die on that cross to show us the sacrifice and the cost. In the same way he walked on the Earth for 30 years to show us how it should be done!

But he didn’t do it alone. Jesus didn’t start his ministry until after a very significant moment: His baptism in water and the Holy Spirit. Until the Holy Spirit had come and rested on him he did not have what was required to do what needed to be done. I believe that as a normal man Jesus chose not to use some of the divine powers he had. Instead the Holy Spirit enabled him to do the amazing things he did to show us how it could be done. With the Holy Spirit in us we can walk in his shoes and do as he did. With the Holy Spirit resting on us we can achieve great things for God.

However, after Jesus was baptised and had received the Holy Spirit what was the first thing he did? He didn’t come up from that water and head straight to the people. The first thing he did was head out into the wilderness. He needed 40 days of silence, solitude, prayer and fasting to prepare him for what was to come.

Silence
I surround myself with noise all the time. I have music at work and in my car. I have TV and films at home. I even wake up to news on the radio. There is actually so much noise in my life that when I try to fall asleep I struggle because songs are still playing on loop in my brain. How am I meant to hear God through all this racket? It is time to turn off the stereo and listen for God in the silence.

Solitude
This goes hand in hand with the silence. If I surround myself with people all the time they just count as another distraction. I am not saying that I have to live as a hermit but sometimes I should say no to a trip to the cinema and stay in and spend time with God for a change.

Prayer
Silence and solitude without prayer seems silly to me. Prayer is the most important thing we can do in life (along with reading and following the word of God) and there is no better time to do it than when everything is quiet. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t pray with other people as this is also important but Jesus thought it important on a number of occasions to get away from the busyness of life and seek solitude to pray to God.

Fasting
Fasting is a new thing to me that I don’t know much about. I have only ever done it at lent but feel like I should do it more regularly. It doesn’t have to be food by the way, that is just the traditional thing to fast from. You could fast from TV or alcohol. There are lots of choices. The important thing as far as I am aware is not to just fast, but whenever you get that feeling of hunger for whatever you are fasting from you must seek God. Use the time that you would be doing whatever it is you have given up to pray and read your bible.

I can’t write an article on this without mentioning the fact that Jesus was also tempted in his 40 days. This will happen to all of us whenever we do something like this to seek God. The devil wants to stop us from getting close to our father in heaven and will try all the tricks in his arsenal to stop us. Like Jesus we must put our trust in the word and the devil will flee from us.

So, I am saying that we should all go and camp in a field for 40 days? Of course not! As none of us are preparing to do what Jesus went onto do I don’t think we have to go to such extremes, but maybe trying to do this on a smaller scale could help us. If you feel like there is something amazing that God wants to do with you in the near future don’t you think you should get yourself prepared? So ask for the Spirit to rest on you, seek God in silence, solitude, prayer and fasting and you will be ready to walk in Jesus’ steps.