Shownotes
In Tyler Yaw's newest project. He breaks down why Lent is so much more.
Lent as the Original 40-Day Grit Challenge: Leaving the Arena for the Throne
Tyler opens the Applied Faith Podcast by noting that Ash Wednesday marked the start of Lent and challenges listeners not to treat Lent as a watered-down inconvenience or failed resolution. He frames Lent as a 40-day training ground meant to step out of cultural noise, “kill the flesh,” and create space for the spirit, describing fasting as an intentional rebellion against consumerism and instant gratification (endless scrolling, on-demand entertainment, and convenience).
He introduces the “arena and the throne” concept: the gladiator mindset seeks applause in the cultural arena, while the kingdom mindset lives before God as the only true spectator, aligning with Jesus’ teaching to fast in secret. Tyler encourages listeners to use the next 40 days for quiet, disciplined formation and presents his 40-day Kingdom Challenge, built around eight daily disciplines designed to break reliance on the world and anchor participants to the kingdom. He invites listeners to join him, follow along with the daily podcast episodes, subscribe on YouTube, and participate in the community as they pursue resilience and faith leading up to Easter.
00:00 Ash Wednesday Kickoff: Why Lent Matters Again
01:00 Lent as the Original 40-Day Grit Challenge (Not a Diet)
01:44 Fasting as Rebellion Against Consumerism & Instant Gratification
02:41 Arena vs. Throne: Gladiator Mindset vs. Kingdom Mindset
04:00 Fasting in Secret: Leaving the Applause Behind
04:45 A Practical Framework: The 40-Day Kingdom Challenge
05:49 Use the Next 40 Days to Shift Your Trajectory (Join the Challenge)
06:51 Community + Subscribe: Building Applied Faith Together
07:31 Wrap-Up: Daily Episodes, Accountability, and Eyes on the Throne
Transcripts
Welcome back to the Applied Faith Podcast.
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:I'm Tyler y'all.
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:Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which means
we're officially at the start of Lent.
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:Depending on how you grew up, lent
might mean just eating fish on Fridays
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:or seeing coworkers with Ash on their
foreheads, complaining that they gave
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:up soda for a couple of months before.
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:A lot of us though.
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:Lents kind of been watered
down to a minor inconvenience.
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:Maybe we stop eating candy.
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:Maybe we kind of treat it like a
New Year's resolution where we just
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:stop doing it by the third week.
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:But I want to challenge that today.
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:'cause if we're actually pursuing a
Kingdom mindset and we're using Lent
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:for the purpose that it was created for.
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:We have to step out of the chaotic,
exhausting noise of the culture.
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:We talk about this all the time, but
this is exactly what Lent is for.
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:It's the training ground that we need.
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:We all love a good challenge.
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:I know I do.
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:I do at least one every single year.
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:The toughness programs, the ice
bass, the grueling physical tests.
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:I do it 'cause I like to feel that I
have the grit and I still put myself
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:through programs like 75 Heart or the
Kingdom Challenge at least once a year.
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:Okay.
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:I love the discipline that comes
from that, but what if I told
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:you the early church was doing
this thousands of years ago?
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:LT is the original 40 day grit challenge.
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:Its purpose isn't to make you look
better in the mirror, but its purpose.
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:Is to kill your flesh so your
spirit can actually breathe.
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:Fasting during Lynn isn't
just a Christian diet plan.
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:It's an intentional act of rebellion
against the empire of consumerism.
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:We're telling our flesh no, so we
can tell the kingdom and our Lord.
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:Yes, we're trained to give our bodies
and our minds whatever they want,
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:and quite frankly, in the world that
we live in, we do it to give our
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:bodies exactly what they want and
the exact second that it wants it.
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:The endless scrolling, the
instant food, the DoorDash to your
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:house, constant entertainment.
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:How many subscriptions do we have that we
can press any button and watch any movie
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:or any TV show, any idea in the world when
you feel that hunger or that twitch to
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:check your phone or to go on Netflix and
just find whatever you wanna watch next?
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:Say, no, you're actively
dethroning the earthly desires.
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:For the pursuit of kingly desires.
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:This brings us to a concept that we
call the arena and the throne, which is
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:the two ways that we do the gladiator
mindset and the kingdom mindset.
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:The gladiator mindset lives in the arena.
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:The kingdom mindset lives on the throne.
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:It's incredibly easy to default to what
I used to call and what I even created,
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:which is called the gladiator mindset.
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:I created this when I was feeling down
that I feel like I had nowhere to turn.
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:It felt like that I had to fight
every single day like I was a
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:gladiator in the arena to get the
applause from everyone around me.
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:I then realized that wasn't
the right mindset at all.
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:It's the kingdom mindset
that I need to be chasing.
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:I have an arena, and then
there is one spectator.
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:That's God.
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:He's the only one that can
look down and judge me.
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:In the arena of the culture, the
politics, and the social media,
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:everything we do is a performance.
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:We're fighting for survival daily.
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:We fight to prove we are right.
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:We fight to prove that we are worth
what everyone else thinks about us.
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:We want people to see how disciplined
we are, how spiritual we are,
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:how hard we work for our family.
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:We just want the applause of the crowd.
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:But Jesus said, when you fast wash
your face and do it in secret,
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:lent strips away the audience,
it pulls you out of the arena.
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:It's just you and God for Lent.
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:No one else knows.
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:If you're eating that piece
of candy, no one else knows.
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:If you're fighting against your
flesh, it's just you and God.
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:It's incredibly uncomfortable to do
something difficult for 40 days when no
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:one is giving you applause for doing it.
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:But that's exactly where the
real unshakeable faith that
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:we're trying to create is forged.
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:We have to stop fighting like gladiators
in the temporary arena and start living
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:like the heirs on a seated eternal throne
that Jesus has already promised us.
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:So how do we practically do this if
one's 40 days of resetting our focus?
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:I think like anything else,
in order to accomplish it, and
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:especially in the world that we
live in today, we need a framework.
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:You can't just vaguely promise
yourself to be better and expect
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:your life to radically change.
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:We have to have a real
intentional plan behind it.
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:And this is why I built
the Kingdom Challenge.
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:It's 40 days just like lent, just
like Jesus in the wilderness,
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:just like Noah and the flood.
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:It's built on eight daily disciplines
designed to break your reliance on the
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:world and anchor you to the kingdom.
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:Over the last few weeks, I've been writing
down and refining scripts for the 40 days.
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:We started a 40 day challenge
back at the beginning of the year.
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:Now we've had a few days off.
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:I think it makes sense to start again with
a new group of people or maybe the same
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:group of people that it really enjoyed it.
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:It hit me how much this mirrors
the exact purpose of this season.
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:Don't let Lent just be a vague
attempt to drink less coffee or
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:alcohol, or eat a little bit better,
or give up one small vice that's a
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:slight inconvenience for 40 days.
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:Use the 40 day window starting
now to shift your trajectory.
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:If you want to build a resilience
and a faith that holds up
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:under pressure, join us.
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:If you've never done limp before.
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:I think this is a really good way to
get jumped right back into it so you
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:can see what you're capable of and
how close to the kingdom you can get
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:from it, and how important lent is.
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:The next 40 days are going to pass
whether you do anything with them or not.
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:You can arrive at your Easter feeling
the exact same way you do now.
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:Maybe it's exhausted, distracted,
caught in the arena of the culture or.
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:You can spend the next 40 days doing the
hard, quiet work of daily disciplines.
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:I'm taking the challenge.
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:I want you to do it with me.
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:If you aren't already, head over to
the Applied Faith pod on YouTube.
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:Hit the subscribe button.
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:Check us out on all the social
media and um, podcast apps.
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:I'd love for you to join the community.
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:There we are pushing hard.
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:To hit our first thousand subscribers
on YouTube and to build out the podcast.
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:I'm not doing this for money,
I'm not doing this for me.
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:I think what I have to say can
help people build their faith, and
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:I'm not charging money for, I'm
not asking for ads or anything.
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:I just want to give what I can to
help people get closer to the Lord.
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:Follow along as we break down the
disciplines, keep each other accountable.
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:Let's get our eyes back on the throne.
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:Start back at the first podcast episode.
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:I have it down there.
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:It breaks down what the Kingdom Challenge
is, and then I have a daily podcast that
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:you can follow along with for all 40 days.
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:We'll catch you on the next one.
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:This is the Applied Faith
Podcast, and I'm Tyler y'all.
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:See you soon.
