There are many people out in the world who are convinced that their spirituality has nothing to do with their physical fitness. I will attempt to draw the clear connection and show you how your spiritual fitness feeds your physical fitness and vice versa. I will attempt to empower you with life bearing spiritual lessons that you may transfer into your physical fitness program. This will definitely take your fitness motivation to a higher level of excellence.
You may have all kinds of desires in your heart, these may include getting your physical fitness after years of neglect, regaining your mobility and healthy lifestyle after surgery, making the team at your work place, school, or college. You may also have dreams of being a professional athlete- in the NFL, NBA, PGA, or MLB.
Your desires are God sent, it is not your mind playing games with you. You must acknowledge your desires, they are not mistakes! Your desires were created by God, so that you may be a testimony of his great plan for you. So rejoice that you have desire, and unstoppable fitness inspiration that is an expression of God’s love.
Unlocking your fitness blessings, starts by being obedient to God and his word. This means reading the scriptures on a regular basis, when all is well in your life, and also when things have gone haywire. One might argue that there are so many people out there who are super healthy, fit or even great at sports, and yet they are not spiritual. I want you to understand that with God all things are possible, God blesses even those who don’t recognize him or even keep his word-God even blesses the biggest sinners of this world! A lot of times you need to ask yourself what it takes to maintain your gifts or talents. A lot of Christians are quick at looking at the lawn next door, and wishing that they owned it-not understanding that it takes considerable effort to maintain the greenness of the ‘lawn next door’. The “lawn next door” is usually another person’s body, physique, hair, or leg muscles. Recognizing and acknowledging that everyone is blessed will help you with staying connected to God, who will provide you with all the wisdom and insight for promoting and maintaining your health/fitness.
You need to be obedient in order to release the fitness blessing. 2ND Timothy 2:19 tells us “Let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness”-we need to turn away from sinful ways. Quit fighting and arguing with folks on Sunday evenings or in the morning, and you wonder why some Christians leave the house without breakfast or their workout clothes!- Strife of any nature is a source of distraction.
Others will not take classes offered at their gym, because they do not want to be “seen” by others. I strongly believe that the current obesity problem in America is mainly a spiritual problem. The heart disease and high blood pressure can be prevented and cured by spiritual fitness, and then translating it to other areas of life. We need to pray in-for all the good knowledge and character, as well as pray out-so that the procrastination, laziness, negative attitudes, overeating, jealousies, self consciousness and so forth, are pushed out of our minds and spirits.
Psalm 24:4 tells us “Those who have clean hands and pure hearts who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully, they will receive blessings from the Lord”. This passage is instructing us to be truthful, in all our thoughts and actions. This means that you will approach your fitness and health from a different perspective, from a truthful perspective…..that it is the temple of the holy spirit, and everything you do to it, is simply to honor and respect it. No longer will you want to lose weight just for the mere fact of wanting to flaunt it at your high school reunion, prom, and a visit to the beach or some corporate function.
You will be amazed by how stronger and beautiful you would look when you walk into a room, and you have the holy spirit moving in you. A lot of people will be amazed by the “whole package” and not just your physical attributes, which is the worldly way of measurement.
A faithful heart is another necessary ingredient. I call it “aggressive faith”. There are many people in the world who have regained their fitness or performance because of this aggressive faith. Michael Jordan’s story is a classical example, at one point Jordan had been short listed from his high school team. But we later see his aggressive faith swinging into action, in not taking no for an answer. He later made it into the basketball team, as well as gaining admittance to the University of North Carolina, and later on changing the game of basketball in America. This is what I call fitness motivation!
Let us look at Luke 5, verse 19-20 where a paralytic man was healed by Jesus; “ but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend your sins are forgiven”. So just like the
Paralytic man, you might be really down due to illness, inactivity or a disappointment. You might be an athlete who is struggling with getting your balance, speed or technique correct. You need to have that aggressive faith, and say to yourself in the name of Jesus that you will be aggressive, you will attack your problem from any possible angle in order to achieve your goal. This obviously doesn’t mean being mindless, but rather burying yourself in the spirit of God, which will give you the enlightenment in getting the right help for bettering yourself.