Flexing your muscles

Remember last week’s message? If not, here’s a quick recap on how to boost your spiritual metabolism:

1. Start your day by seeking the Holy Spirit. Start yours off by presenting it and all your plans to God before you do anything else. It’s the spiritual food for your soul.

2. Don’t starve yourself. You need to feed your body with spiritual food to keep you going during the day, e.g. Read a few verses in the morning and continue to meditate on them throughout the day.

3. Do more resistance training. Train yourself to resist negative thoughts.

4. Increase aerobic activity. Be alert to people, places and situations that will tempt you to sin, and if you find yourself in a tempting situation, run, run, run, so as to avoid sin and maintain a clean conscience.

5. Take supplements. Make sure you attend the Wednesday meetings, not just Sundays alone. It’s the extra boost you need to keep you going.

6. Build more muscle. Faith is this muscle, therefore the more you use it, the stronger you will become, burning away every doubt lurking in your mind.

7. Avoid burnout. Do not rush into doing everything at once; otherwise, you will lose interest quickly. It’s not a quick fix to look good for others, it’s not a 1, 6 or 12-month plan. It is for the rest of your life.

At the end, I asked this question: “What has this got to do with your love life?” Well, the spiritual metabolism refers to your faith. It is faith that is needed to receive God’s blessings for your love life. If you are constantly put down because your love life is “dead”, it will not change for the better, unless you use your spiritual muscle – your faith.

Let’s look at two examples in Hebrews:

“By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11: 11)

“By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.” (Hebrews 11: 24, 25)

Sarah through her own faith believed that she could give birth at 90, therefore received strength to conceive, carry and give birth to Isaac.

She believed God would come through for her in the end. It was Sarah’s faith that enabled her 90-year-old body to endure the back pain, irritability, mood swings, vomiting and all the other symptoms experienced in pregnancy.

How many women past forty years of age write themselves off as being “useless” or “past the age?”

Likewise, Moses chose to be a slave amongst his own people rather than live a lavish lifestyle, denying himself of the temporary sinful pleasures that would be offered to him on a plate by Pharaoh. He knew these pleasures were short-lived, believing that he would receive greater eternal blessings.

Moses’ faith enabled him to endure the headache of dealing with up to 3 million potential problems, sleep in a tent in the hot desert, living like a gypsy; moving from place to place, seeing his own people die in the desert, due to their stubbornness.

They both endured mockings, self-doubt, various trials and persecutions. They, and others like them, used FAITH. How much have you endured because of your faith?

Do you complain at every little problem, thought or unanswered prayer?

Stop whining at where your love life is taking you. Instead, start flexing and using your muscles (your faith) to drive your love life in the direction where you want it to go.

And this is only the beginning. You have to continue until you give birth to your blessing.

If you have not done any of the seven things above in this past week (at the very least), then your faith has been empty, dead and useless.

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26)

Pastor ­Michael­ Boodram
Email ­me: ­love@uckg.org
www.partners4life.tv
michaelboodram.blogspot.com