By John W.
“It’s a lifelong process to learn to involve God more in your life and work, and to operate in ways that are effective for your spirit—just like staying fit and healthy physically should be a lifelong priority.”1
A few years back I had a knee problem that made it difficult to do my work properly. It came to the point that it looked like I needed an operation, but I knew from different people’s experience that knee operations can be quite complicated and often don’t help. After praying about it, the Lord showed me a specific workout program which I’ve since kept every day, and by God’s grace my knee is doing so much better.
At that time a brother mentioned to me that I was one of the few of my age he saw doing regular exercise. There are so many good articles showing the importance of exercise, especially when people get older, like this one: Mid-lifers who want to be active in their 70s, 80s should be hitting the gym now. “If you want to be sprightly in your 70s, you need to be working out in your 40s, 50s and 60s, experts say. Put another way: If you don’t pay into your fitness bank in middle age, you won’t have much to draw on later.” “If you don’t take time to exercise, you have to take time to be sick and to get better.” “It’s the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth.” Here’s another one: Work-Life Balance Begins with Exercise. “People who exercise regularly also feel more capable of taking things on and getting them done, which carries over into both work and home roles.”
Many people say they have no time for exercise and at the same time find it difficult to get time with the Lord. Here is how I make time for both: I combine spiritual with physical exercise. Every morning after I wake up, I take an hour to exercise. I put on my headphones for the first 45 minutes with devotional audios, whatever I need to strengthen my spirit at the time. The exercises I’m doing are simple, so I can concentrate on the Word. I move my whole body, arms and legs, hands and feet, neck, back, etc.
The fittest people I ever met, besides being the most loving, were the Pygmies in Africa. Their kids start dancing basically when they start walking. They rock out like teens in a disco, from two years of age on up to old men and women. They move every part of their body when they dance with amazing agility, and for a long time with amazing endurance.
I try to move every part of my body, too, and because the movements are not complicated, I can concentrate on what I listen to and have a great time with the Lord. Sometimes I just take time praying during my exercise time, or if the Lord gives me some new idea, sometimes I stop the MP3 player to meditate on what I just heard.
The last 15 minutes I take time to pray. I like the ACTS method:
Adoring the Lord for all His goodness
Confessing and asking Him to help me with my weaknesses
Thanking Him for all His goodness
Supplication for others and our own needs.
It’s a great way to start the day! The trick is not to give up, but to stay steady. We are so faithful to eat three times a day without fail. Why should we fail in this vital need for our bodies? Physical discipline helps us to stay healthy and fit. Without good health, we are limited in many ways. I’d like to keep serving the Lord actively until the day I die, having a good time and enjoying it.
I was thinking of what Jesus and His apostles did along that line and I saw how they were moving about all over the place, going up mountains, walking back and forth across the country. “And Jesus went about all Galilee…”2 “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain…”3 “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages…”4 He even walked on the water.5 In those days people didn’t need a gym. In our time people have better and faster ways of traveling than ever, but they sit down more and move less than ever.
I take every opportunity to move my body. I walk when I’m on the phone, walk up and down stairs instead of taking the elevator, walk instead of drive short distances, and run slowly and gently instead of walking when feasible. And during any such extra exercise periods I take time with the Lord, reviewing my verses, praying, meditating—communing with the Lord in any way possible.
It’s a spiritual fight to do my daily exercises and to stay fit. But every time I do, I feel so much better, ready for a new day. Jesus said:“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”6 Regular spiritual and physical exercise helps me to stay in good shape.
1 Mottos for Success, Vol. 4, April 12.
2 Matthew 4:23.
3 Matthew 5:1.
4 Matthew 9:35.
5 See Matthew 14:22–33.
6 Matthew 26:41.
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