Exercising Your Faith!

 

I remember the first time I was invited to exercise.  I was a senior in high school and a friend who was a wrestler at our school, was going jogging in a nearby park.  I gladly accepted, changed into my shorts, tennis shoes and a t-shirt, grabbed a book and met him at the park.   That was back in 1980, but I can still see his face when he asked “Why did you bring a book to jog?”   My response, "I needed something to do while you ran.”  

That has been my mindset towards exercise.  Don’t get me wrong, I  tried to change my mind, but it is too much work.  I don’t like sweating, I don’t like pain, and I don’t like going to gyms where the seats are often damp from the last person who used it.  I didn’t know how to use the equipment and couldn’t afford a trainer.  (Plus, I didn’t want anyone pushing me outside my comfort level)

So in a nutshell, exercise was a  BIG NO for me.

That changed about a month and a half ago.  I have been working with a trainer; he was able to keep up with my banter and convinced me to join.  He pushes me beyond what I think I can do, and I am benefiting from it.   I don’t feel the normal pain due to sciatic issues, I am energized, feel better and sleep good.  I even sweat now.  Who knew.

 

NATURAL V/S SPIRITUAL

Just like we need natural exercise to function and be healthy, so we need spiritual exercise. We know when Jesus talked to followers; many times He would use a natural illustration to drive home a spiritual truth.  The spiritual truth kicked in for me much faster than the natural, but here is what I have been learning.  

HEBREWS 5:12-14

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.   For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.   But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of USE have their senses EXERCISED to discern both good and evil.

 

We need a Spiritual Exercise Plan!   So many try to convince us of what we need to do in the natural, and that is true...but SPIRITUALLY we want to be fit, ready for every good work and able to endure to the end.  Below are a few thoughts about exercising our faith.
 

 



  

1.    EATING PLAN: Every exercise program is accompanied with an eating plan- Regular meals from the Word of God. Whether we get them in our car electronically, in church on Sundays, in our own time reading at home or in conversations with others.  We need to eat more than one time a day!  Hebrews 5 talks about how we should be teachers by now, and should be eating MEAT but we had to go back to MILK.  You should be able to increase your ability to digest the word of God.  If you are still on MILK after many years of being a Christian, you need to increase your MEAT intake so you can grow properly.  NO child should be nursing after so many years.  It is natural to grow and do more, so it is spiritually. 
 

2.    EXERCISE: Hebrews also talks about those who are of full age (mature) who by reason of USE have their senses EXERCISED to discern good and evil. This looks like DOING what is required by God in His word.  Faith without works is dead!  It is not good enough just to eat well, we need to exercise.  You may still experience  health issues while eating well, exercise helps us in so many areas.  Just like forgiving is not easy, it is a heavy load many times, but with strength training you can do it! Training yourself to forgive in little things (barbells) can equip you to one day handle something heavier.  It is better to live ready, than to get ready. (Smith Wigglesworth)   

Here are some examples of what Exercising your faith looks like:  

 

WHAT DOES EXERCISING YOUR FAITH LOOK LIKE?

•          STRETCHING- This looks like taking chances as God opens doors, getting outside your comfort zone.  Doing things out of your reach and trusting God as you do it. (Without faith it is impossible to please God)  It looks like preparing yourself to do what has seemed to be too much before.    

•          STRENGTH TRAINING- AKA Resistance training- developing strong muscles, resisting the norm and strengthening for bigger things. It looks like taking on the tasks that God gives you that seem hard to bear, and allowing HIM to ‘spot’ you while you do it in obedience.   It also looks like pushing yourself to be and do more than you thought you could.  Trust God as you open a business, deal with family issues and discipline your flesh.  (Resist the devil and he will flee from you.)

•          CARDIO- strengthens your heart and burns calories to manage weight. A lot of activities can help with cardio. This looks like having a heart for others.  Caring and praying for others, giving your time and energy for the long haul.  It is seen in patience, in agape love and in how we serve and how we forgive.   Increase the flow to your heart so that you can always treat and serve people like God wants you to.  Volunteering can burn the calories that cause us to judge each other.  It is harder to criticize those we pray for. Prayer strengthens our heart.

 

6 Benefits of Exercising Your Faith

1.    Controls weight-  Helps us to lay aside every weight and sin- Increases metabolism- you work through stuff easier without residue  or bitterness.  You can pass the waste better.

2.    Combats health conditions and dis-ease- Helps prevent heart disease, improves cardiorespiratory –  you can gain a greater heart for others, forgiving becomes  easier. Dis EASE- those things that bother you are ineffective.  You find more peace and deal better with life's issues.

3.    Improves your mood- reduces stress, depression, anxiety and improves memory. Exercising your faith will remind you of all the times God has helped you and others before.  His faithfulness will lift you! Joy is easier to come by, remember the Joy of the Lord is your strength!

4.    Increased Energy – You are better able to stay in the race- endurance (those who endure to the end shall be saved) You can trust God when the answer seems long overdue, you are still in the race, believing Him.  You are not those that 'fall away' you stay in there...by faith.

5.    Builds Muscle- you can handle more issues properly in your daily life!  God won’t put more on you than you can bear, it is heavy…. But YOU GOT THIS!  You will surprise yourself and others at the things you are able to do in Him.  (In Him we live, move and have our being)

6.    Helps you sleep better – Helps keep your mind at ease, and you can enter into peaceful eternal rest!  Don't forget, one day this will all be over.  We will REST IN HIM.

If you have no Spiritual Exercise Plan, I highly recommend it.  Knowing that I want to be ready to run and win is making me stretch myself and take on more of what God has for me to do.  Work that ministry, write that book, start that outreach project, teach that class at church, open that business.   It might seem like too much to you, but God has your back.  

 

EXERCISE YOUR FAITH!

1 Corinthians 9: 24-27     Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.   Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.   Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.   No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.