By: Dale Weckbacher
Philippians 3:13b-14
Forgetting what is
behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I
pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly[c] call in Christ Jesus.
(CSB)
Based upon his writings, the
Apostle Paul must have been a sports fan.
In 1
Corinthians 9:24-27 he equates a runner training for a race to one training
for ministry by training involving spiritual disciplines. A runner running a race will encounter
challenges such as changing terrain as well as battle fatigue. To overcome these adversities a runner
depends on his or her training.
Unfortunately, failure to
spiritually train with spiritual disciplines prior to adversity leaves us
unprepared spiritually. To become
spiritually prepared for adversity we must.
1)
Meditation – Meditation goes beyond simply
reading the Bible and involves taking time to contemplate what it says and more
importantly how it applies to our lives.
It is something done by Isaac, Samuel, Elijah, and Jesus (Genesis
24:63; 1 Samuel 3:1-18; 1 Kings 19:9-18; Matthew 14:13). Athletes spend time in the gym training their
physical bodies for competition.
Meditation is the physical gym training a child of God for adversity
when it comes.
2)
Pray – Athletes have coaches and trainers to
help them compete victoriously. For a
child of God, the coach and trainer is God but, if a child of God does not
spend time communicating with their coach and trainer, they will not be
prepared for adversity. Jesus faced the
greatest adversity anyone could face when he took the sins of humanity upon
himself on the cross. In preparation for
this adversity, Jesus routinely rose early in the morning to speak with His
Heavenly Father (Mark
1:35). Our requests in prayer must
also align with the desires of God (James
4:3).
3)
Study of God’s Word – Children of God are to
abandon conformity to the world and its manner of thinking and experience
transformation in thinking through renewal of their minds (Romans
12:2). Just as study in education transforms
one’s mind to learn their trade or profession, study of the Bible transforms
our mind from worldly thinking to Godly thinking. A mind transformed from worldly thinking to
godly thinking is a mind prepared to handle adversity.
4)
Fasting – In preparation for competition, athletes
spend time getting away from distractions to focus on the competition
ahead. Some refer to this as an athlete
putting on their game face. This fasting
from distractions allows an athlete to achieve greater focus on his or her
coming competition. Jesus fasted prior
to His temptation by Satan. This fast
caused Jesus to become hungry but also stronger spiritually as evidenced by the
first temptation to turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger. Instead of giving in to the desires of His
flesh, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy
8:3 proclaiming His greater need for nourishment from the Word of God. Overcoming adversity when it comes requires
starvation of fleshly desires and regular feeding of the spiritual man with the
Word of God.
I urge those reading this to
dedicate themselves to a regular training regiment of meditation, prayer,
study, and fasting to become spiritually strong and equipped to handle
adversity. Jesus told us that adversity
would come but also that He overcame the world (John
16:33). We too can overcome the
world and adversity through the practice of spiritual disciplines.
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