SPIRITUAL EXERCISES II
"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."
Yesterday we saw a dimension of spiritual exercises that we
need to engage in to remain fit in spirit and in our hearts.
When your heart starts getting hardened, it all means that you
have denied it of its required exercises. Once your heart no
longer convicts you in your faults, mistakes and wrong
moves, then you are not spiritually fit any more. And any kind
of heart sickness (physically speaking) is one of the worst
kinds of ailments ever, if not the very worst.
God said that the heart of man is desperately wicked above all
things, and no one knows the heart of man except God. Not
even the man who carries the heart knows his own heart;
Jeremiah 17:9-10. If the heart can be that dangerous and
deceitful, then it must not be left to chance, it has to be
exercised on a regular basis. There are certain biblically
prescribed exercises to which if you apply yourself you will
be just fine, and you will do well. Such exercises are as
follows:
a) Exercise yourself in prayer in the spirit:
Prayer in the spirit is simply praying in tongues. According to
Jude:20, it is a very viable way to build spiritual muscles in
your life. We don't only pray because we feel like praying, we
also pray because we need to be built up and become strong.
To pray in tongues is to edify or charge yourself just the same
way battery is charged.
b) Exercise yourself in the word. Hebrews 5:12:
Every word you take into your life is an exercise for your
senses, and the exercise of your senses by the input of the
word sharpens your senses towards discernment. The word of
God is a natural discerner of the intent of a man's heart.
Therefore, much of it in your spirit means an inpouring of
discerning grace.
c) Exercise your conscience. Acts 24:16
The conscience is the police of the human heart. Your
conscience is an inbuilt regulator that God gave to you, and
you cannot afford to leave it unattended to. Leaving your
conscience idle will be engaging in a courtship with disaster.
That was why Paul said he had to exercise his conscience to
be void of offence before man and God. There are many
believers who don't feel the rebuke of their consciences any
more, and that is not good. The Spirit of God works with your
conscience to guide you out of trouble. Your conscience is the
internal witness in your life that you are being truthful.
Romans 9:1.
d) Exercise yourself to receive rebukes. Hebrews 12:11:
No rebuke is joyous in the present, but it yields a peaceable
fruit of righteousness later on, only in those who have been
exercised in it. When a thing is not so pleasant but necessary,
then you will have to make it an exercise. No father truly
loves a son he does not rebuke. Rebukes are ways people of
authority show that they believe in you. When a man has
given up on you, they would not bother to correct you any
more; they will rather leave you to your own ways. God
forbid! People don't usually appreciate those who rebuke them
at the point of rebuke; they usually do so much later in life.
Exercise yourself in Jesus Name.
Assignment/Prayer
-Pray over each of the exercises pointed out.
-Ask God for the grace to practice each of them.
Nugget
Once your heart no longer convicts you in your faults,
mistakes and wrong moves, then you are not spiritually fit any
more.
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