Hi friend! Are you ready for another journey?

Lately, I have been thinking about my health and doing things I can do for my physical health. However, our Spiritual health is the same way. We must do certain things to keep it healthy. We can maintain general spiritual health by doing just the minimum workout. Still, if we want more rigorous spiritual health, we must create a training routine to help us build those spiritual muscles. Come with me to the gym and let’s look three areas to exercise our spiritual fitness!

Have you ever thought about how to keep your spiritual body fit? Or even thought it was necessary?

We know how important eating balanced meals, getting exercise and enough sleep, and drinking water are for our bodies to be healthy and work the way God created them to.

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; instead, train yourself to be godly. ⁸ For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:7-8

Keeping our physical body fit is good; we need it to do the work God calls us to do, but taking care of our spiritual health and fitness will help us now and in eternity.

Three Areas to Exercise Our Spiritual Fitness

I have developed three areas we can focus on and some exercises we can do.

Spiritual Fitness Number 1:  Our Belief.

The first thing we must do is Believe in God. We must believe there is Someone greater than us and that created everything we see, smell, hear, taste, and feel.

Then, we must believe that He forgives us. We are all sinners. There is nothing we can do to change that, but we can believe and accept that God loves us and sent Jesus, His only Son, to take away our sins and make us clean. He forgives us for our sins and wants to be in a relationship.

Then, once we have accepted His gift of Salvation and forgiveness, we must believe God’s Spirit lives inside us. This Spirit teaches us and guides us in how to live like Jesus. He is our Spiritual Fitness Coach!

Spiritual Fitness Number 2: Our Relationship with God.

There are three exercises we need to practice for this area.

Spiritual Fitness Exercise 1: Get in the Word

Do you like to read murder mysteries, romance novels, or adventure stories? Why? Could it be because they are fun to read? They may be easy to read. What if we took a closer look at God’s Word and see what is inside?

In the murder category:

Cane and Able.

David when he had Bathsheba’s husband killed.

Romance, the entire Bible, is God’s love letter to us! From Genesis to Revelation.

If you love adventure, check this out!

Spend 40 days on a boat with lots of animals, or 40 days wandering in the desert, or how about fishing on a lake, and a Man walks up and says, “Follow Me.”

When we take the time to find the murder mysteries, the romance, and the adventure stories in God’s Word, as well as many other stories, we can grow the desire and excitement to read His Word.

Building a Desire for God’s Word

We need to desire God’s Word and make it part of our daily routine, which will help us grow and become spiritually fit. In any exercise program, you must commit and follow through to be successful.

Let’s find some activities we can use that will help get us in God’s Word.

• A. Have a daily quiet time/devotion time that gets you started, even if it’s 5 minutes. There are many kinds of devotion books and Bibles you can use.
• B. Journaling and Bible art is a way for you to put down on paper the things God speaks to you. Something new and different is creating pictures in your Bible. For those who don’t want to do that, you can draw/paint in a sketchbook. A way you could begin is by writing the Bible. Start with a small Book and write it out in a sketchbook; on the right side, write, and on the other page, draw or journal what God speaks to you about those verses.
• C. A study tool you can use to study the Bible is SOAP. Scripture – what verse speaks to you? Observation – what do you observe in this verse? Application – how can you apply it to your life? Prayer – pray the scripture or praise God for what you learned during your study.
• D. Place Scripture verses where you can read them often throughout the day and think about or memorize them. If you have little ones at home, do devotions together.

 God’s Word has all those exciting stories we want to read in other books. We need to ask God to give us the desire to read it instead. Trust me, He loves to give us the desires of our hearts and having a desire to study and read God’s Word makes Him happy!

Reading God’s Word and Coffee goes well together! If you like reading my posts and would like to see more, here’s a link to keep me caffeinated:)

 When we make time for God, sometimes our days go better. Practicing healthy holy habits will help with days that go well but will significantly allow those days that do not.

Whether your day goes well or poorly, God is still with you; He can bring peace to your chaos and wants to be an integral part of your life. He is faithful to be with us no matter what is going on.

Often, during the chaos with little ones, our time with God may be cut short or not like we envision. God honors any time with Him. However, if you decide to study God’s Word, plan, stick to it, and get in the Word!

Spiritual Fitness Exercise 2: Prayer

God speaks to us through His Word, and prayer is how we communicate back to Him. Praying is good for our spiritual health and fitness. We can talk to God about our sins, about the struggles we are facing, and about those we love.

We have forgiveness for sin through prayer. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Here are some workout activities we can use for prayer.

1. ACTS – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. I have a friend who shared she used this tool and, for the adoration part, used the alphabet to show adoration for God. A – Amazing, B – beautiful, C- Creator, etc. Then confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.
2. Another exciting way to pray is to use Facebook and pray for those who come up in your news feed.
3. Multitask – pray while you fold your family’s laundry; as you fold the clothes, pray for that family member.
4. Find a location that you can enjoy and help you focus on those people or struggles you are praying for.

Prayer gives us peace.

Praying will give us peace. We all have faced some difficult situation or struggle and have no idea how to move forward with a decision. We can only see or think, “How am I going to make it through this?” or “Why is this happening to me?”

Philippians 4:6 says do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Once you pray and give everything to God, the situation or struggle you are dealing with will still be there, but you now have a peace that you cannot explain that is giving you a clearer vision, and you can then walk through the process of moving forward.

Prayer gives us strength.

Prayer gives us the strength to push through our spiritual workout.

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.

There will be days that you feel worn down physically and mentally. You barely have the strength to open your eyes. If you pray and ask God for strength, He will give it to you. And the cool part is it will be more than you asked for.

We also can gain wisdom through prayer. Like praying for peace, we can pray for wisdom for our struggles.

 James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

 Check out my previous post about Jonah’s prayer here.

Spiritual Fitness Exercise 3: Praise

Acts 16:25, about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

Though beaten and wrongfully accused, Paul and Silas found great comfort in praying and singing hymns to God. There is something about singing that causes most of us to feel better about ourselves.

When beautiful words about God’s love and the hope of heaven are sung, they can melt away the troubles you are experiencing. Even if you cannot carry a tune, it’s a joyful noise to God, and He loves hearing you sing to Him.

A sacrifice of praise

When we praise God either by prayers or songs, we make a sacrifice to God that is pleasing to Him. It also will affect those around us.

Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

Just like when Paul and Silas worshiped God in jail, the other prisoners were listening, and though it doesn’t say, they may have been worshiping too, and their hearts were changing. We can have the same effect on those around us when we worship and praise God.  

Colossians 3:16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

I don’t know about you, but I love to worship and praise my God. When I worship, I feel joy and whatever I’m going through fades away. My focus goes to who God is and am in awe of how He cares and loves me.

Singing praises is an exercise we can do daily. You can exercise your worship and praise muscles by listening to your favorite Christian artist or radio station or making up music to your favorite Scripture verses.

Spiritual fitness exercise number 3: How you live out your faith.

Spiritual Fitness Exercise: Fellowship

We all know it is much easier to have a workout buddy. They encourage and help us stay focused when we want to give up. It’s the same for our Spiritual workouts. We need the fellowship of other believers to encourage and keep us accountable.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: ¹⁰ if either falls, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. ¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? ¹² Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

 We are to gather with each other to work together, build each other up, and help grow the church. When we do this, we show the love of God and do good works.

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

When we meet, we also comfort one another and help keep us from becoming hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 3:12.

Meeting with fellow believers is crucial to helping us maintain healthy, steadfast, and faithful Spiritual growth. We must meet at every opportunity during Sunday church, weekly Bible study, and prayer services. All of these are great opportunities to meet and fellowship.

Spiritual Fitness Exercise: Do good works.

Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

We are called to do works of love and obedience. God created us to do good works.

Any exercise program requires work, and your spiritual workout does too. Knowing and using your spiritual gifts is one way of getting a spiritual workout. There are assessment tests available that you can take that will tell you what your gifts are.

Doing good works includes sharing the gospel with the lost and ministering to the brethren and the lost in need physically and spiritually.

We should use God’s resources (time, money, talents) to help the poor and the sick. Each day, try to do something that blesses another person.

Good works done systematically build our spiritual endurance. Most of us are wives and/or moms who are good works God called us to. We might have a job we must bring in extra income.

These good works give us opportunities to serve and work for the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves entirely to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Galatians 6:9: let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers.

I thought about a few spiritual fitness exercises, but there are many more. Making this part of our daily exercise routine will help us finish the race called for us.

Ready for the gym to exercise our spiritual fitness!

WOW! I don’t know about you, but I like this exercise plan! I encourage you to look at your spiritual fitness, and if you are weak in an area, sit with your Spiritual Coach and put a plan in place to strengthen it.

1 Corinthians 9:24 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. ²⁵ 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.²⁶ Therefore, I do not run like Someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ 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.

I’m praying for you, my friend! Until next time!

Please feel free to share this post with others. Thank you, bunches!!

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