Physical fitness and spiritual fitness go hand in hand. Both are highly beneficial, but difficult to achieve. Most everyone wants to eat right and exercise to have a healthy, strong body. Most everyone wants a close intimate relationship with God and the inner peace that comes from that. Why don’t we do it?
This is what God has laid on my heart lately. I need to develop some better physical fitness routines and spiritual fitness routines. I have some people that are going to hold me accountable over the next 90 days to work at improving the health of my physical heart and my spiritual heart.
How does this happen? Well for me it was a decision I made. I basically said. “OK God I’m ready”. This is the journey He is taking me on. I know that for me to go to a new level of spiritual leadership I need to develop some new habits and eliminate some old habits. Anytime I feel stuck it is usually because I have gotten comfortable in a routine or rut.
To get unstuck physically, emotionally or spiritually you first need to make a decision to change.
Then you need to find your motivation. Why do you want to lose weight, exercise, read your Bible or pray? Is it because other people want you to do that or because it is something you should do, or is because you desire to change and grow and be a better example to everyone around you. Finding your motivation is critical to the long term success of improved fitness.
Once you find your motivation to make the change then you need to find some people to hold you accountable and to go on the journey with you. Developing new routines and habits is hard work and it really helps to have people asking how you are doing. It also helps to have someone to encourage you when you don’t want to go exercise or read or eat healthy.
Once you have your accountability in place, you need to develop a strategy and some practical goals. That is the stage I am in right now. The next step is to start, don’t wait until everything feels right. You need to start making changes today – Are you ready?
Chad, this posting found me in a similar spot, God has been showing me there are some moves He wants to make, but I have to be ready! After a great prayer conference this weekend – i have challenged the churches to deepen their prayer walks, as I am deepening my phyical walk! I have 70 days to our next Haiti trip and have a few mountainous hikes I want to take to share love and distrubue medical supplies! thanks for being in sync with God on this one! Off to walk I go! I too like the new style of posting!
be blessed and KNOW HOW MUCH GOD USES YOU TO ENCOURAGE MANY!
Good post! Often we forget to excercise both sides of ourselves and concentrate only on one side or the other. Focusing on both sides at the same time really does pay off in the long run. Speaking of long runs, On Dec. 5th at 6:30 PM there is an annual night run (15 K) at Mosquito Lake State Park in Cortland, OH. I did this one last year and it was a lot of fun. Any takers?