Unshackled Moments ~ August 1, 2017 ~ Spiritual Workout Tips

I remember the off-season workouts in the gym between football seasons when I was in high school. I never enjoyed working out, but some of the things I learned there stuck with me. I thought about those workouts this morning as it occurred to me that we are now in August and it is only 24 days (5 hours 48 minutes) until the college football season kicks off. That is much more exciting to me than the idea of going to a gym. But as I ache this morning from being in my mid 40s and having not cared for my body well since, well, since ever, knowing I am out of shape, my mind drifted back to those days getting ready for football when the coaches forced us into the gym.

There are three main things that are important to remember when working out. First, you have to vary up the workout focus and routines. Otherwise your body becomes accustomed and you hit a wall where no further progress can be made. Also if you focus on only one area, such as abs, the rest of you is neglected and that is not good for overall strength.  The second thing is that there are maintenance workouts and building workouts. Muscle building requires that the muscle must be worked until it breaks down and then you have to eat right so that the muscle can  be built back up, stronger than before. Finally, when working with weights, it's important to have a spotter.

So what does this have to do with freedom and walking with Jesus? Everything. We will remain in bondage in our lives until we grow in the strength of the Lord, learning to walk in His power and growing spiritually. Growing stronger spiritually isn't all that different from growing stronger physically. It doesn't happen without some resistance and work and effort. If we lie around on our spiritual couch all day doing nothing but eating junk food, we will not grow stronger. I am most certainly not talking about a rules ritual. Nothing we do or don't do is required to make God love us more or will make Him love us less. But if the desire of our hearts is to get closer to Daddy and to grow spiritually, it's time to consider our spiritual workouts.

When it comes to spiritual things, we have a tendency to target areas. But this isn't the way to go. Jesus told us that the first commandment is to love God and the second is to love others. But there's more to it than that. It's like running uses a lot more than leg muscles, and loving uses more than our heart. Jesus said when it comes to loving God it needs to be totally, with the heart, soul and mind. We can't only focus on our heart, or our soul, or our mind when trying to grow spiritually. Sure, we may have more weakness in one area or another, but if we exclude the other two, we won't grow stronger overall. Worse, we'll think we're getting stronger until something comes that we have to use one of the other areas and we're not strong enough to stand.

So, let's remember that our spiritual strength is more than our soul being developed and built up through prayer and meditation, and it's more than our mind being built up by thinking on things that are lovely, true, of God, etc. while eliminating areas of thought that cause us to distance ourselves from Daddy, and it is more than building up our heart by being kind, generous, compassionate and empathetic toward others. It is using and working on all of these areas and seeing how our spiritual body is connected and intertwined with every other part of us.

Sometimes we face struggle and difficulty that breaks us down. It sucks, and it hurts, and it's not fun...and it's also how we get stronger. No matter the desire, strength does not come without resistance and without being broken down. Maintaining things won't  make us stronger, but being broken down so that we can be built back up by Him, for Him and in more of His image will.

Finally don't forget your spotter. No matter what you're doing, if you are trying to grow spiritually, you're using weights. You need a spotter. Someone who can keep an eye on you, who can be objective about your progress, your thoughts, feelings and motivations. Someone who can pray for you and with you and help keep you on track and hold you accountable.

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