About
Welcome to the 1000 Hours with Jesus Challenge! The goal of this yearly challenge is to surround yourself with Jesus daily!
1000 hours a year is roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes a day, but how you break it down per day is completely up to you! As an imperfect Christian mom of two toddlers and a baby on the way, I felt a deep desire to “set my minds on things above, not on earthly things.” The challenge of raising a family made me realize how insufficient I was and how my need for my Savior was absolute! No matter what season of life you’re in, if you too find yourself longing for time with your Savior, please join me in this challenge!
What counts towards an hour?
Anything that gets you meditating on Christ and strengthens your relationship with him counts!
Some examples might be:
•reading the Bible
•listening to a sermon
•teaching your children about Jesus
•singing hymns
•praying
•scripture memory
•reading Bible stories with your family
•doing a devotional
•doing a Bible study
•listening to a Biblical podcast
•reading a book about the Bible or scripture
•praying scripture
•listening to Christian music
•worship
•journaling about Christ, the Bible, or your Christian faith
•taking a walk in nature and dwelling on God’s creation
•going to church
•talking about faith and Jesus with your friends
•serving a family by making them a meal
•watching the Chosen
•volunteering at a homeless shelter
•dancing to worship music
•journaling about your faith
•making art about your faith
•serving in your church
•listening to the Bible
•ANYTHING that gets you focusing more on Jesus
Anything that helps you dwell on God’s Word and grow in your faith counts. The goal is to strengthen our relationship with Christ and grow as Christians! If it helps you focus on God’s word, then it counts!
We have many ideas and resources coming, so stay tuned!
FAQ:
When can I start? As soon as possible! Find a creative way to keep track of your hours and get going!
What if I start, but don’t finish? There are NO losers in this race! Even if you only make it to 50 hours, that’s 50 hours you may not have spent with Jesus!
Can I do varying hours each day? Yes, absolutely! Some days you may only be able to do 15 minutes, others you may be able to do 4+ hours. The average in order to reach the 1000 hour goal is 2 hours and 45 minutes a day, but this does not mean you must do that each day. Do the best you can with where you are at! Every minute surrounded by Biblical truth is a minute well spent! Many of our days are spent juggling busy schedules. The beauty of this challenge is that you can tailor it to what works best for you in the season of life you are in. Sometimes your 1000 hours are simply completed by listening to worship music.
Do you have any ideas to get started? Our resources page is filled with options to help you get started. Please note, I do not endorse every aspect, view, or belief of every resource or author listed. Being included on the page does not mean that I endorse all the work or viewpoints of an author or resource. These are listed as helpful starting points, but please remember that part of being human means we are all subject to error and no one resource can replace the Word of God.
Can I make it more or less challenging? Absolutely! If you would like to challenge yourself and be more selective about what you count towards your hours, please do so! Or if you want to count more things instead, please do that as well! My desire is for you to grow in your faith. We are all at different places in our walk with Christ and our needs in order to grow will be vastly different. Some people may only want to count actual scripture reading, while others may want to include listening to sermons, memorizing scripture, reading books about scripture and the Bible, listening to biblically based podcasts, reading Bible stories with their kids etc… There is no right or wrong answer as long as it is biblically based and drawing you towards Christ. I want to encourage believers to abide in Christ. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
I am having a hard time keeping track of my hours. Can you help? Absolutely! We have created a free downloadable resource to help you keep track of your hours. Please visit our resource page and click on the downloadable resources tab.
I am feeling overwhelmed with trying to log my hours. Can you help? First, I want to start by saying give yourself grace. The purpose of this challenge is to help strengthen your relationship with Christ, so if keeping track is becoming burdensome and taking the joy out of God’s Word, then make it SUPER easy— roughly estimate how many minutes or hours you’ve spent, track them, and move on. This is not meant to become legalistic. P.S. I have small children and I count the time I take teaching them about the Bible towards my hours. However, let’s be honest, toddlers get super distracted and ask a lotttt of questions. Just today, we were reading about the plagues God sent to Egypt because of Pharaoh’s disobedience and when it came to the plague of the flies, my 3 year old asked “So were the flies not showing kindness?” “Would they fly up my nose, in my ears and mouth, and down my pants?” These questions are funny, but I take the time to answer them and I still count it towards my time. Also, when I am reading the Bible while my kids are playing, sometimes, I have to stop and meet a need (or sometimes I have to stop and meet several). This is life. I do a rough estimate of how much time I believe I actually spent reading the Word and I move on. There are also times of quiet where it is very easy to track. You just do the best with where you are at.
It is supposed to challenge you to abide in Christ, please don’t let tracking the hours subtract from that.
John 15:4-5 ESV
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Colossians 3:16 ESV
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ESV