"If you can pray 3 x's a day, 7 days a week, and if you can read the Bible daily for 15-30 minutes, if you re-commit your life to worship the Lord, not only every Sunday but everyday, YOU WILL SEE RESULTS!"
The long relaxing days of summer have transformed into the busy rush of fall, which meant it's time to get back and kick-start your spiritual routine into high gear! But working your spiritual stamina and energy into consistency is the difficult part. When the days of the week are divided between school, work, family, running errands, and the occasional home-cooked meal, finding a regular time to pray, read the Bible, attend Bible class(es), and worship God requires an extra creativity and commitment.
Just like everyone else in your life, planning your spiritual workouts will help you get your spiritual stamina up and running. Consistency is the key! Time-blocking is the key to making it happen. If you can pray 3 x's a day, 7 days a week, and if you can read the Bible daily for 15-30 minutes, if you re-commit your life to worship the Lord, not only every Sunday but everyday, YOU WILL SEE RESULTS! Or shoot for two-three days of spiritual workouts and two days of one-on-one fellowship with a brother or sister in Christ.
Another great suggestion is setting up a reward system: indulging in something that is your favorite such as a restaurant that you love after each week of spiritual workout, a trip to Aruba (I may be exaggerating here :) ) after a year of commitment to the Lord in worship and fellowship. The reward system is especially helpful if you have a specific spiritual workout goals defined and recorded. Have a Christian friend or spouse be your coach and you can coach them to ensure you're keeping up with your spiritual workouts.
But whatever goal you choose, make sure to ease back into your spiritual routine to avoid early spiritual burnout. You see so many people defeat themselves because they come in with their expectations so high. It is like Christians making a "New Year's Resolution" with a desire to do more for the Lord in a month! And that's just not realistic. Christians come in too fast, too hard and they over-train in their spiritual workouts.
In order to maximize your spiritual workouts, it is recommended that you have a buddy system to keep you from missing your workout sessions. Having someone who is relying on you to be spiritually fit will help you stay on track. Couples, or pairs tend to stick to it, they have fun, and it becomes this thing they're doing together. When you're doing it with a loved one, or a Christian, your entire goal is being supported. If you can include the kids in it too, how inspirational is that!?
"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling." Philippians 2:12 (niv)
Excellent!
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