For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is
profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that
which is to come. - 1 Timothy 4:8
What if? What if I
trained spiritually with the same considerations as I do physically?
At my age I consider the light amount of physical training I
do necessary just to try to maintain health, not to be some kind of physical
body spectacle. And I usually am under
some conviction to do more. The idea is
that if I can maintain a decent healthy physical condition I can stay off of
medicines for cholesterol, blood pressure, sugar control, and the like for a
longer time.
If I were to take that same reasoning, then I'd need to
dedicate some time to exercise my spiritual condition. At a minimum, I'd do a light amount just to
maintain spiritual health, probably be under some conviction to do more, but
maybe it'd be enough to keep me away from false hopes or other worldly
"medicines" for my soul.
Again, this should be the minimum, yet it's a minimum most Christians I
know do not accomplish.
My conviction today is why aren't I a mighty man? David had his "mighty men" who were
the greatest warriors in his army and his "mighty men" were victors
of many, many battles. Why aren't I a
mighty spiritual man? I read in the NT
were normal men who were powerful in the Spirit of God healed people, preached
powerfully, and even raised the dead.
Normal men!
Many theologians say that that was then, this is now, that men
can't do that in our time. I just don't
read those things in the Scriptures. My
Word of God says that God is the same for all time, His strength does not
diminish, His Spirit is not less or more, He is at the beginning and the end
and will be forevermore. The Word tells
me that His Spirit is inside of me and that Spirit is the Spirit of the living
God. Therefore, I have to assume it is
only me, the shell around that Spirit, that keeps that Spirit of all mighty
power and love from healing people, preaching powerfully, and even raising the
dead. I can only assume that I am not
spiritually fit and I need to work on becoming spiritually strong and healthy
so He can reach out in powerful ways to others, so others can believe in Him as
their Lord and be healed, and so others can proclaim and worship that He is
Lord.
1 comment:
Good insight. Seems to me that all the knowledge and power of God is inside of every one of us who have accepted Christ as our Savior. That's an easy thing for us to do since it is self-centered - its about our eternity. Making Christ LORD is another thing entirely and requires spiritual fitness. I believe we're all spiritually constipated because of a lack of faith, unbelief, and an unwillingness to surrender control and step out in faith and obedience. The Holy Spirit is inside of us, but cannot fully act in and through us in the ways you stated. How do we get to that next level? Intellectually I know I need to be there and I pray to get there, but am obviously not there yet. What do I need to do?
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