Power Of Shaping UP!

Key Scripture:  “Exercise daily in God-no spiritual flabbiness, please!  Workouts in the gymnasium are useful but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit today and forever.”  I Timothy 4:8, The Message

Power Point:

I’m not particularly fond of physical exercise but I’m particularly fond of how I feel after I do it.  I’m not particularly fond of exercising good eating habits. I’ve had the old ones for a very long time.  But I am very fond of the benefits when I eat healthy foods. To be honest, it takes a lot of hard work. I discovered that it needs to be a lifestyle not a one-time event. I can’t exercise on Monday and expect it to last me for the next month! Darn.

In the last few years, I’ve had to make a few changes. I had gotten really sloppy (okay-LAZY) in my exercising any of the above. Then about three or four years ago I began having real issues with my legs. I wasn’t able to walk well at all.  It was a little frightening and Satan whispered in my ear all the time-but so did Holy Spirit. He kept telling me to exercise. I decided to just pray for healing, it seemed easier. It didn’t happen. More prayer. I still couldn’t walk well.

One day I decided to listen to the right voice in my head and exercise a little godliness. I realized that He was giving me good advice and if I respected His opinion, it would help me not only physically but spiritually. In my case it began with a new exercise program.  Over the last year, I’ve seen great changes. I still have some difficulties but I’m in a lifestyle of exercising physical godliness. I wondered why He didn’t do a miracle and then as I looked back over my life in the last few years, I realized that there were changes I needed to make. If He had just “zapped” me, I would never have made them. Did He want me well? Yes.  Does He want you well? Yes. Are there some lifestyle changes that perhaps will help you exercise godliness?  Yes.

Of course, the key to any exercise program is having a goal. Keeping your eye on that goal helps you to stay with the program doesn’t it? When scripture says that physical exercise profits “little”, it is not telling us not to do it. It’s just pointing out the fact that exercising yourself spiritually is the key to a profitable life. 

Sometimes when we’ve prayed for people to be healed and God doesn’t do a miracle right away, I always wonder if perhaps there are some important things He wants to teach them in the healing process. I wonder if there’s something He’s been telling them to do that they’ve refused to do. Sometimes our desperation will lead us to do things we wouldn’t have done otherwise doesn’t it?  When I couldn’t walk, I got desperate enough to make some changes. 
     How about you?  Are you ready to do what He’s been whispering in your ear?  Are you ready to deal with the issues that are keeping you from walking in the wholeness of life that He offers you? Is it time to exercise godliness? Do you need to shape UP in some areas? 

Today is a great day to begin. Why don’t you simply ask Him what is holding you back and then do what He tells you to do! (Now there’s a thought!)

Obedience to Him is still the foundation of a wise walk with Him where HIS wisdom is applied to our lives. I still don’t always enjoy the exercise part and I still slip up on my healthy eating but I’ve become wise enough to know that both of those things are wise things to do.

Shape UP! Beloved! If you do what He tells you to do, you will have what He says you can have, and you’ll become what He means for you to be.

Power Thought:

He may tell you to make Life Changes so that your life can change for the better. Exercising godliness simply means that you have respect for what He tells you.  That means that you DO it!  In other words-Shape UP!