{"id":4461,"date":"2019-02-28T08:16:29","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T14:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nafwb.org\/?p=4461"},"modified":"2019-02-28T08:16:29","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T14:16:29","slug":"fit-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/fit-for-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Fit for Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Randy Sawyer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the great ironies of pastoral ministry is that often in developing a work for God, we fail to cultivate our walk with God. Consequently, we end up laboring in the energy of the flesh rather than the power of the Spirit, and soon find ourselves vulnerable to spiritual attack.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Attack<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In <em>The Divine Conspiracy, <\/em>Professor Dallas Willard cites a well-known Christian leader who said, \u201cIn these last four decades my faith has truly taken a beating.\u201d He tells how at an early age he was taught, \u201cif I was a Christian, then people would see a marked difference in my life! And . . . that the closer I was to God\u2014the more spiritual I was\u2014the greater and more visible that difference would be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, he concludes, \u201cI have seen so many of my mentors stumble and fall, never again to recover their faith; so many \u2018truths\u2019 about the Gospel that turned out to be false; so many casualties, so many losses, so many assumptions that turned out to be just that\u2014assumptions, not truth, that I don\u2019t believe that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He quickly added that he still believes Jesus changes you, but notes, \u201cWhatever the change is, it is not as much outward as it is inward . . . . The change is often visible only to God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While I would be quick to refute the conclusion that sanctification is only internal, I am sympathetic with the sentiment that observation and even personal experience sometimes substantiate that notion. Most Christian leaders and laymen struggle daily to bring some sort of balance to their lives and wrestle to achieve a sense of spiritual victory. Just when it seems one battle has been won, another attack assures us that we are perpetually engaged in a ruthless, never-ending battle for spiritual survival.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Antagonists<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The antagonists in this contest are easy to spot. They are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Devil\u2014the evil prince.<\/li>\n<li>The World\u2014the evil system.<\/li>\n<li>The Flesh\u2014 the evil traitor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As believers, we know this axis-of-evil to be our constant adversary, ever seeking our demise. These are things of which we are certain. The not-so-easy part is how to defeat them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The scripture instructs us, however, that for each member of this evil trio there is an appropriate spiritual weapon. Against . . .<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Devil\u2014<em>Determination, <\/em>\u201cResist the devil and he will flee from you,\u201d (Jas. 4:7).<\/li>\n<li>The World\u2014<em>Discernment, <\/em>\u201cBe not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,\u201d (Rom. 12:1-2).<\/li>\n<li>The Flesh\u2014 <em>Discipline, <\/em>\u201cExercise yourself unto godliness,\u201d (I Tim. 4:7-8).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But once more we wonder, how? Where do we get the courage to <em>resist? <\/em>How do we develop a <em>discerning mind?<\/em>How can we <em>discipline <\/em>the flesh against wrong desires?<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Activities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you think back to the life of Christ, you will find the secret. Jesus, though God-in-flesh, <em>exercised Himself unto godliness <\/em>by regularly practicing certain spiritual disciplines. Among these were solitude, prayer, study, fasting, celebration and acts of service. These disciplines were part of His daily life and serve as a fine example for us.<\/p>\n<p>In order to live the Christ-life, we must live life as He lived it. To bring our work for God into balance with our walk with God, we must <em>exercise unto godliness.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The most common New Testament word for exercise is <em>gumnazo<\/em>, which not only occurs in I Timothy but also in II Peter 2:14 and Hebrews 5:14 and 12:11. It is associated with our English word <em>gymnasium <\/em>and conjures images of physical exercise and discipline. With this picture in mind, Paul encouraged Timothy, his young friend in ministry, to strenuously practice to bring his physical life into balance with his spiritual life. It implies regular, specific, disciplined living.<\/p>\n<p>In <em>The Life You\u2019ve Always Wanted, <\/em>John Ortberg argued that to live what he chose to call a well-ordered life, the believer must develop a <em>\u201crule of life.\u201d <\/em>He noted that the Latin word for rule is <em>regula, <\/em>implying something that is done with regularity. He writes, \u201ca rule of life involves rhythm for living in which we can grow more intimately connected to God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even a casual study of Christ\u2019s life reveals that He engaged regularly in specific activities or disciplines from which He drew immeasurable strength for life and ministry. The same such disciplines will help bring our lives balance as well. They include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Solitude\u2014A life in communion with itself.<\/li>\n<li>Prayer\u2014A life in connection with its Creator.<\/li>\n<li>Bible Reading\u2014A life in contact with God\u2019s will and work.<\/li>\n<li>Fasting\u2014A life in balance with its needs.<\/li>\n<li>Celebration\u2014A life in accord with its purpose.<\/li>\n<li>Service\u2014A life in fellowship with others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In doing these things we follow Christ\u2019s example and gain spiritual power for our own work and walk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Application<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>. . . Slow Down<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Three key principles guide in the development of our own <em>rule of life. <\/em>First, we must slow down. Scripture frequently admonishes us to <em>be still, wait, to listen. <\/em>But our calendars are so over-crowded that we scarcely make time to <em>wait upon the Lord. <\/em>God speaks, but we can\u2019t hear His voice. God manifests Himself, but we don\u2019t recognize His presence.<\/p>\n<p>Our mentors encouraged us to cultivate a <em>quiet time, <\/em>but we\u2019re too busy for quiet time these days. We even pride ourselves that we\u2019re in such demand. A hurried life, however, is not necessarily a holy life and a frantic pace doesn\u2019t provide for intimacy. A.W. Tozer believed that \u201cGod waits to be wanted.\u201d Do we want Him enough to wait?<\/p>\n<p><em>. . . Give-Up<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Second, we must give up, that is, exchange the good things for the best things. In short, prioritize! Vance Havner observed that it\u2019s impossible to be a \u201cHail fellow well met,\u201d and the life of every party and live in close communion with God. The pastor who attends every meeting, enjoys every luncheon and participates in every sporting event, is likely spread too thin to be very deep. He may be a great preacher, an able administrator or an outstanding dinner guest, but performance is a poor substitute for purity.<\/p>\n<p><em>. . . Look Within<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Third, we must look within. The heart of the matter must become the heart of the matter. David was once identified as \u201ca man after God\u2019s own heart.\u201d During that season of his life, his heart burned to know his God and would not be satisfied with less. That is what the disciplines are all about. They allow us to concentrate on finding God and enjoying intimacy with Him. It takes exercise, work, discipline. Time spent in the spiritual gymnasium is rewarded with strength for our work and joy in our walk. Let a final word from Tozer encourage you.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul\u2019s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too easily satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart. The man who has God for his treasure has all things in one. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary for his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after another, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Randy Sawyer One of the great ironies of pastoral ministry is that often in developing a work for God, we fail to cultivate our walk with God. Consequently, we end up laboring in the energy of the flesh rather than the power of the Spirit, and soon find ourselves vulnerable to spiritual attack. The Attack In The Divine Conspiracy, Professor Dallas Willard cites a well-known Christian leader who said, \u201cIn these last four decades my faith has truly taken a beating.\u201d He tells how at an early age he was taught, \u201cif I was a Christian, then people would see a marked difference in my life! And . . . that the closer I was to God\u2014the more spiritual I was\u2014the greater and more visible that difference would be.\u201d Now, he concludes, \u201cI have seen so many of my mentors stumble and fall, never again to recover their faith; so many \u2018truths\u2019 about the Gospel that turned out to be false; so many casualties, so many losses, so many assumptions that turned out to be just that\u2014assumptions, not truth, that I don\u2019t believe that anymore.\u201d He quickly added that he still believes Jesus changes you, but notes, \u201cWhatever the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4462,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4461\/revisions\/4462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}