Was there a time in your life before marriage or children where you were a few pounds lighter? Maybe just a few sizes smaller? Have you experienced lately where you may shed two or three pounds and then gain it right back and maybe even a few pounds extra? Have you during pregnancy gained quite a bit of weight, had the baby and lost the weight except maybe fifteen or twenty pounds? And no matter what you did you still could not shed those last few pounds? I know that this is far reaching, and that not many women experience this, but have you had the problem of not being able to do anything about that derrière? For some unknown reason it continues to spread or run in the opposite direction!

There are many so-called experts with the so-called guaranteed workout that is going to help you get and stay fit! I want to focus on the SPIRITUAL WORKOUT to make sure we don’t neglect the workout that matters the most.

The Believer's Total Faith Workout

Have you ever joined a health club? Have you ever bought weights, workout equipment, or exercise videos and you never used them? Do they just sit on the shelf collecting dust? Years ago, I bought a two year membership at a health club to take advantage of the swimming pool during pregnancy. After the initial tour and visit, I never once stepped inside the facility again. The money spent for services was not refundable, just money wasted. Over the years I have accumulated weights, workout equipment, accessories, and many, many, exercise videos. I have only one video that I really like and use periodically.

I want to ask you today Where Is Your Faith? Do you give your faith a total workout every day? You cannot begin a workout without the proper tools. You first need to get the equipment to exercise your faith. In Romans 10:17, it says, “So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.” That let’s us know right there that STEP 1 is to Read and Hear the Word of Christ.

You can never make time stand still, nor can you recapture time wasted, lost or thrown away. Likewise to have all the equipment or tools and not utilize them would not give you any results. It would be time wasted and never again able to regain. That is why it is so important for us to take advantage of the time given to us.

STEP 2 is to be a Doer of the Word. James 1:22 says, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” If you expect results, you have to put some action up there! In Matthew 7:24-27 it says that those who hear His words and do them may be compared to a wise man who built his house upon a rock, and no matter what came against that house, it will still stand. That should be our daily goal spiritually; that no matter what comes our way in the end we are still standing!

STEP 3 is to Be Steadfast. James 1:3-4 says, acknowledging that “the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” And I Peter 1:7 states that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Do you know that not only in our time but also back in those days gold was worth a whole lot? We need to know that our faith is more precious than gold!

Any workout program is complicated in the beginning. It takes a lot of discipline but if you keep at it each day, you can do a little bit more and keep adding. Likewise in the spiritual realm you have to bear pain, hardship, and adversity. You have to continue, to tolerate, in spite of fatigue and circumstances. But in the end we can endure!

STEP 4 is to put on a Garment of Praise. I Thessalonians 5:18 “in everything give thanks; for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus.” Praise is an important part of a Christian’s life. The Bible says God inhabits the praises of his people. When we praise Him no matter what the situation is, we are getting Him involved. Each day as you begin to exercise these four steps, over time not only will you have acquired STRENGTH in this area, but you are guaranteed to achieve A TOTAL FAITH WORKOUT!