Building Spiritual Fitness: Spiritual Fitness Drills

Pray

Recap:

We are in Spiritual Warfare.

Who are our enemies?

Satan (Heb, accuser or adversary) and his demons

The World (the spiritual anti-God agendas/cultures that push people further from God)

The Flesh (our sin-nature, that aspect of us that hungers for the carnal, anti-God things of this world

What is our defense against the enemies in this spiritual battle?

Belt of Truth (v. 14)

Breastplate of Righteousness (v. 14)

Sabatons (shoes/sandals) of Readiness/Preparedness that comes from the Gospel of Peace (v. 15)

Shield of Faith (v. 16)

Helmet of Salvation (v. 17)

Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (v. 17)

Prayer (v. 18)

Spiritual Fitness Drills

The following drills are key to developing your spiritual muscles. Regular practice of these drills will help you grow closer to God, understand His will for your life, and serve Him more faithfully wherever you are.

Drill 1 - Put Jesus First

What does living in allegiance to Lord Jesus and the government look like?

Read John 12:26 & Ephesians 6:5-6

Drill 2 - Engage The Word Daily

How can we engage the Word daily?

Hear, Romans 10:17

Read, Revelation 1:3

Study, Acts 17:11

Memorize, Psalm 119:9, 11

Meditate, Psalm 1:2-3

Apply, James 1:22

What translation of the Bible should you have?

One that you can actually understand when you read.

Drill 3 - Pray

What is prayer?

Fundamentally, it is worship. It is not merely us saying our little mumbles before a meal or spiritually hoping you pass an exam you hardly studied for. Prayer locks us into a divine and intimate conversation with God; note, conversation, not monologue.

How do we pray?

Timothy Keller has put it, “Jesus tells us what to pray (Matthew 6:9-13), the Psalms tell us how to pray.”

In the Psalms, we see every form that prayer can take, from prayers praising God (Psalm 145), confessing sin (Psalm 51), and there are even prayers that cry out to God from places of deep pain and isolation (Psalm 22, 137), and sometimes Psalms will incorporate multiple of these emotions and experiences.

A good discipline to develop is reading and praying through a psalm everyday.

Is prayer necessary?

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Prayer is essential to the Christian.

"To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” -Martin Luther

Do we have to pray perfectly?

Romans 8:26

Drill 4 - Be a Witness

2 Corinthians 5:20

As ambassadors for Christ, we belong to a ministry of reconciliation, called to bring others to Christ.

How do we bring others into the Kingdom of God?

WE DON’T. It is the Spirit who brings conviction to the unbeliever and causes him to see the truth of the gospel in a clear light.

John 16:8-11

When it comes to our role in witnessing to others about the Gospel of Christ, the founder of Cru, Bill Bright, said, “Success in witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.

There are many methods when it comes to sharing the Gospel, and there will be times we may be called to share in ways that are both comfortable and uncomfortable to us. This simply requires prayer and discernment.

How do we witness?

A helpful practice is learning how to tell the Gospel in less than two minutes, as well as learning how to summarize your testimony into two minutes, structuring it into three categories:

Who I was before I met Christ.

What happened when I met Christ.

What has God been doing in my life since I met Christ.

Drill 5 - Fellowship With Your Spiritual Family

What is fellowship?

Intentional gathering with other brothers and sisters in Christ, be it formally or informally, in order to be used in an edifying way by God in each other’s lives.

Do we have to fellowship?

John 13:34-35

Hebrew 10:25

Practical ways to fellowship:

Encourage each other to improve and mature, Proverbs 27:17

Defend each other, Ecclesiastes 4:12

Be patient with each other, Ephesians 4:2-3

Support each other, Galatians 6:2

Forgive each other, Ephesians 4:32

Take action, 1 John 3:18

Drill 6 - Faithfully Obey God

John 14:21

Romans 6:1-2, 11-14

Matthew 22:37-40

Heart:

Questions:

What in this discussion made the biggest impression on you?

What actions are going to take and which drill will you be starting with?

Hands:

Walk with God: How can these disciplines help your walk with God?

Keep Christ first: How do these disciplines help you to keep Christ first?

Keep sin out of your life: How do these disciplines help you keep sin out of your life?