You wouldn’t think about exercising and then not eating. Well, you might do it on occasion, but your body needs the energy – especially when you exercise hard. You have to fuel it to sustain it. AND – if you want growth, leaner muscle and improved physical strength and wellness you have to fuel it well. It’s the same for your spirit. You have to fuel it well too. How? Get the truths of the Bible inside of you, nourishing your spirit. It’s not just a good book. The Bible is fuel.
THIS AIN’T NO DIET – EAT WELL!
So, you read a few Bible verses during the Sunday sermon at church. Maybe you wake to that verse-of-the-day from K-Love radio. Perhaps you draw inspiration from the Bible passage at the end of each daily devotional you read on your lunch break. That’s all good – if you’re on a diet and intentionally trying to restrict your spiritual calorie intake. What you really need, if you want to grow strong in Christ, is to eat well. You need to consume good nutrition not just regularly but frequently – lots of it. It’s kind of like bodybuilders who keep eating all kinds of clean lean protein over and over and over. Get familiar with it and make it a habit. If you’re going to have a compulsive addiction – this is it.
NOW YOU CAN TRAIN AND FEAST AT THE SAME TIME
To improve your appetite for the Bible and bulk up on God’s truths we have 3 spiritual meal prep tips for you:
- Increase your liquid diet. Drinking your nutrition always gives you more – more quickly. There are all kinds of Bible apps. Many of them include an audible version. That’s right, someone reads the Bible to you while you go about life. You can pick from multiple translations. You can listen to it when you’re meal prepping the food you’ll eat. You can play it as part of your evening wind-down and bedtime. Opt in to Bible listening while driving or cardio instead of your podcast or playlist. AND when you’re exercising for 30 to 45 minutes play a few select chapters of the Bible repeatedly. It sinks in better that way.
- Sets and reps. Time to replace the counting you do for 3 sets of 12 with some Bible memorization instead. For example if you’re used to doing 10 reps of a bench press counting each completed execution … 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 then instead say one word of the following 10-word verse for each completed execution: I, can, do, all, things, through, Christ, who, strengthens, me. Once you have them memorized then add new ones. Pick your own verses or use the ones listed below.
- Do both: Memorize the short verses during your sets and reps then use the link, tap on “read full chapter” then tap on the speaker icon to listen to the entire chapter.
BIBLE VERSES YOU CAN REPEAT AND MEMORIZE WHILE EXERCISING
- Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time. (set of 8 words)
- If my goal was popularity, I wouldn’t bother being Christ’s slave. (set of 11 words)
- The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. (set of 12 words)
- Never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus. (set of 14 words)
- For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (set of 20 words)
SERMON-BASED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: “Woman Behold Your Son” Seven Last Words Part 3
- What Do Jesus’ actions and words on the cross show us about the significance of relationship in our llives?
- What can we learn from the loyalty from those who stood by the cross, such as Mary and John?
- How can you apply the themes of humanity, loyalty and identity to your relationships?
