Kyle Idleman - 40 Days to Lasting Change. An AHA Challenge

CONTENTS

40 DAYS TO LASTING CHANGE

Published by David C Cook

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com; MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE . Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group; NCV are taken from the New Century Version. Copyright 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved; NLT are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved; NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. TLB are taken from the The Living Bible, 1971, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60189. Used by permission.

LCCN 2014948794

ISBN 978-0-7814-1268-1

eISBN 978-1-4347-0900-4

2015 Kyle Idleman

Published in association with the literary agency of The

Gates Group, www.the-gates-group.com.

The Team: Alex Field, Amy Konyndyk, Helen Macdonald, Karen Athen

Cover Design: Nick Lee

Cover Photo: Shutterstock

First Edition 2015

KYLE IDLEMAN is the teaching pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, the fourth-largest church in America. Author of the bestselling books Not a Fan and AHA , he speaks regularly at conferences and events around the world. He and his wife, DesiRae, have four children.

Visit DCCeBooks.com for more great reads.

Introduction

Selfless Help

If youre looking for a self-help book, you can put this one down. Bookstores and libraries are filled with themincluding some hilarious titles and topicsbut this is not one.

AHA is not a self-help process. Its an I cant help myself process.

The goal of 40 Days to Lasting Change: An AHA Challenge is not to find ways to change ourselvesits to seek and encounter God in ways that allow Him to change us. Instead of self-help, we are asking for Gods help. We are declaring that we are helpless. We are inviting God to do what we cant do on our own.

AHA is a spiritual experience that brings about supernatural change. More specifically, AHA is a sudden recognition that leads to an honest moment that brings lasting change. With striking consistency, AHA always has three ingredients:

1. A Sudden Awakening

2. Brutal Honesty

3. Immediate Action

If any one of these ingredients is missing, it short-circuits the transformation process

If there is an awakening and honesty, but no action, then AHA doesnt happen.

If there is awakening and action, but honesty is overlooked, AHA will be short-lived.

But when Gods Word and the Holy Spirit bring these three things together in your life, you will experience AHAa God-given moment that changes everything.

Your AHA Journey

This book is about humbly seeking God and opening your heart to His Word and His Spirit. Its about making yourself available to discover how God wants to use Awakening, Honesty, and Action to bring about growth and spiritual transformation in your life. Its about living in the Fathers house. Its about interacting with God, walking and talking with Him, and learning to recognize His voice and His ways in our lives. Its about our lifelong journey of awakening to His guidance, living openly and honestly before Him, and taking action as He guides us. And its about our transformation, initial and ongoing, as our Father shapes us into the image of His Son through His extravagant love and grace.

Our forty-day journey together centers on the parable of the prodigal son. Its my favorite AHA story. With this one short parable, Jesus revealed so much about our heavenly Father. Its almost impossible to read this story without finding yourself in it. My prayer is that it will be impossible not to find yourself and encounter God in a transformative way. Lets begin your story with the story Jesus told in Luke 15:1132:

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them.

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my fathers hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants. So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Lets have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. Your brother has come, he replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.