Train Yourself to Be Godly Part 2 An 8-Week Spiritual Fitness Class Strength Endurance Flexibility January/February 2013
Train Yourself to be Godly I Timothy 4:7, 8 Date Topic Type Foster Bk Memory Vs. Jan 8 Intro/Assessment Ch. 1 I Tim. 4:7,8 Buy notebook/sleeves or use notebook from last year. Read handouts on fitness principles. Memorize I Timothy 4:7,8 Jan 15 Study Inward Ch. 2 I Cor. 8:1-2 Complete Study Log for the week. Memorize I Corinthians 8:1-2 Jan 22 Worship Corporate Ch. 11 I Samuel 16:7 Complete Worship Log. Complete Devotional Log for the week. Memorize I Samuel 16:7 Jan 29 Prayer Inward Ch. 3 Mark 1:35 Complete Prayer Log. Complete Devotional Log for the week. Memorize Mark 1:35. Feb 5 Solitude Outward Ch. 7 John 10:27 Complete Solitude Log. Complete Devotional Log for the week. Memorize John 10:27. Feb 12 Guidance Corporate Ch. 12 Acts 13:2 Complete Guidance Log. Complete Devotional Log for the week. Memorize Acts 13:2. Feb 19 Service Outward Ch. 9 Mark 10:43-44 Complete Service Log. Complete Devotional Log for the week. Memorize Mark 10:33. Feb. 26 Celebration Corporate Ch. 13 II Samuel 7:18 Complete Celebration Log. Complete Devotional Log for the week. Memorize II Samuel 7:18.
Continued This is the schedule if you want to add Memory Verses and continue on after our study is concluded. Date Topic Type Foster Bk Memory Vs. Jan. 8 Intro/Assessment Ch. 1 I Tim. 4:7,8 Jan. 15 Study Inward Ch. 5 I Cor. 8:1-2 Ezra 7:10 Jan. 22 Worship Corporate Ch. 11 I Samuel 16:7 John 4:24 Jan. 29 Prayer Inward Ch. 3 Mark 1:35 James 4:3 Feb. 5 Solitude Outward Ch. 7 John 10:27 Habakkuk 2:20 Feb. 12 Guidance Corporate Ch. 12 Acts 13:2 Psalm 119:133 Feb. 19 Service Outward Ch. 9 Mark 10:43,44 Phil. 2:3,4 Feb. 26 Celebration Corporate Ch. 13 II Samuel 7:18 Philippians 4:4 Mar. 5 Meditation Inward Ch. 2 Psalm 119:97 Rom.12:2/Ps 1:2,3 Mar. 12 Fasting Inward Ch. 4 Nehemiah 1:4 Isaiah 58:6 Mar. 19 Simplicity Outward Ch. 6 Philippians 4:11 I John 2:15 Mar. 26 Submission Outward Ch. 8 Hebrews 13:17 I Peter 2:18 Apr. 2 Confession Corporate Ch. 10 James 5:16 Prov. 28:13
Train Yourself to be Godly List of Memory Verses Introduction: I Timothy 4:7,8 Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. Study I Corinthians 8:1-2 Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel. Worship I Samuel 16:7 The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. John 4:24 God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. Prayer Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Solitude John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. Habakkuk 2:20 But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.
Guidance Acts 13:2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Service Mark 10:43-44 Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Philippians 2:3-5 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Celebration II Samuel 7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?" Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Continued Meditation: Psalm 119:97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. OR Psalm 1:2,3 His delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
Fasting: Nehemiah 1:4 I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Isaiah 58:6 Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Simplicity Philippians 4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Submission Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. I Peter 2:18 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. Confession: James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Overview of Spiritual Disciplines Train yourselves to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. I Tim. 4:7-8 The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster lays out 12 spiritual exercises to help a person get toned spiritually. The disciplines don t make a person more spiritual, but they put a person in the position for God to work and change their spiritual CONDITION. They are conditioning exercises! Here are the categories with a brief description of what the exercise does. Although all the disciplines should be used regularly, they don t all have to be done every day. Just like some days a person might do cardio, legs, upper body sometimes a person will find that they might concentrate on one exercise for a period of time and on a different day a different category is getting a work out. The Inward Disciplines This category deals with exercises that target our relationship with God. It strengthens our mind, desires, and appetites. 1. Meditation: this is a lightweight, many reps exercise. Bible reading can fall under this category, but it is not a separate discipline. Some will read a Bible passage and try to go deep into understanding. This discipline is more effective if you read a passage carefully one time and then re-call something or ask God to bring something to mind several times (repetitions) throughout the day. I find memorizing one verse a week plus a review 5 minutes/5 times a week to be the best way to practice this discipline. Sometimes when I am feeling overwhelmed in a situation, I ll ask myself, Does anything come to mind? Don t Force things to come. Most helpful resource found: www.memlok.com 2. Prayer: this can be a lightweight or heavyweight exercise. The lightweight version is to pray short, stay-in-touch prayers to God throughout the day. They are usually circumstance related. They keep the communication with God open and close, but can tend to become a little self-focused if not careful. Pray about everything describes this. The heavyweight version is to learn to pray the deep desires of our hearts and deep concerns for others and then be willing to hang in there and WAIT until that prayer is answered. (Luke 18:1 Always pray and don t give up. ) This exercise takes a lot of energy especially the endurance part! This exercise refines MOTIVES. 3. Fasting: The spiritual exercise is very different from fasting for physical benefits. More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. (CD, Foster) It is an exercise that focuses our spirits. There are two types of fasting that I have found helpful The short, complete fast: abstaining from everything except water for 24-36 hours. The extended, partial fast: abstaining for a certain TIME every day (ex: skipping the lunch meal every day for 1 month) OR abstaining from certain item/s of food (a comfort food ) for an extended period. The fast does not make me holier! It provides a measure of freedom from what otherwise controls my
appetites. Fasting especially helps the stronghold of lust, since the food-drink appetite and sexual appetite are often connected. Most helpful book found: God s Appointed Fast. 4. Study: This is a heavyweight exercise. It is recommended that a person set aside 1-3 hours to study God s Word once a week rather than try to do 20 minutes every day. The benefits of this sort of immersion are for the deep cleansing of the mind with the Word of God. Meditation is geared toward practical application. Study is geared toward changing our thinking patterns to be in line with what God is teaching us from His Word. Definitely a strength-training exercise. Outward Disciplines This category deals with exercises that target our relationship with people and possessions. It refines our motives and purges self-interest. 1. Submission: freedom from having to have our own way. 2. Simplicity: freedom from being owned, motivated, or driven by possessions. 3. Service: doing for others without the motive of recognition. Serving in secret is the key to finding out what is truly driving us to serve. 4. Solitude: pulling back from the voices around us in order to hear God s voice. This includes withdrawing from the internet, phones, and even music. Solitude does for us in the relational world what fasting does for the body. They exercise the same areas internally. Corporate Disciplines: Done in conjunction with other believers in order to be effective. This category deals with exercises that connect us to blessings from God through the channel of other believers. It rebuilds our passions and emotional connectedness to spiritual realities. 1. Worship: praising attributes or actions of God with believers or in our hearts. 2. Confession: bringing hidden things in to the light with another person so we can be cleansed and healed. 3. Guidance: relying on the wisdom God gives us through other believers and not just making our own choices. This discipline is tied to Submission, and exercises some of the same things internally. 4. Celebration: enjoying and remembering important occasions together in a pure way.
Physical and Spiritual Fitness Principles Many principles of physical fitness are the same for spiritual fitness. There are a lot of reasons people want to get fit. Enjoy good health Prevention of illness Reduce stress Lose weight To look great Feel closer to God Overcome besetting sin Feel better in the soul/spirit To look great Fitness is intentional, but Flab comes with no effort at all. You can t get fit reading a book or watching a video you have to do the exercise. Which program is the best? is not the question: the one that is USED is the one has an effect. Beware of Kipping : being at the right place and looking like you are exercising without really doing the exercises. Form is important in order to be effective, especially with strength training. Reading about the spiritual disciplines won t make a difference; you have to do them. Even small changes incorporating the disciplines are more effective than a great plan on paper. Beware of going through the motions of the disciplines without engaging the heart. It is important to know how to do the disciplines: always engage the heart. Fitness must be individualized. Start where you are and progress from there. Jumping in beyond what you can do is difficult and discouraging. (DOMS) Different body types respond to the same exercises in ways specific to that person. Some exercises are easier than others depending on your level of conditioning. Principle of Reversibility: You snooze, you lose. When one stops exercising, they lose the gains made in half the amount of time it took to get them. Ex: A deconditioned person who exercises for four months can become deconditioned again in two months by doing NOTHING. Trying to meet an imaginary ideal standard of the disciplines can be difficult and discouraging. Depending on temperament, spiritual gifting, and life experiences, the effects of the disciplines will be different for different people. Some of the spiritual disciplines will be easier than others depending on what you have already done. When one stops a particular spiritual discipline, they become deconditioned in that area. Even if one has a great reputation from the past, they must continue putting the disciplines into practice to reap current benefits.
Consistency is better than intensity (but intensity helps). Exercising 30 minutes 5x/wk at moderate intensity produces more health benefits than a 2-hr. session 1x/wk at high intensity. Sometimes you may not feel like exercising, but you still benefit if you do. You are the one who directly benefits from the work you do, although others may see the results. There are 4 ways to increase one s fitness level. (FITT) Frequency: how often Intensity: how much/hard Time: how long Type: the activity Practicing the disciplines on a daily basis is more helpful than an intense session 1x/week. You may not feel like doing a spiritual discipline, but you still can benefit by doing it. As you put the work into the disciplines, you will start to see changes, but others will also see and enjoy the person you are becoming. If you are new to a discipline, increase Frequency first: even if it is going from not at all to 1x. Increase Time second. Example: If you want to expand in the discipline of Meditation, go from 5 minutes to10 minutes. If you have been practicing the disciplines for a while, increase Intensity. This may be related to the amount of time, or to more actively engaging the heart and mind. If you have fallen into a rut or seem to gravitate toward one discipline, to the neglect of others, try varying your focus.
Train Yourself to be Godly-2 Introduction and Overview Notes I. The Spritual Disciplines A. What comes In to the body/soul Meditation, Study, Solitude and Guidance B. Work: What the body/soul produces Prayer, Service, Worship, Celebraiton C. Eiimination: What goes out of the body/soul Fasting, Simplicity, Submission, Confession II. What the Spiritual Disciplines do not do. I want my life to be different : My relationships, schedule, stresses, home Everything under control and running like it should be. I want to be different : Bad habits, besetting sins, how I act/talk/think, things I love. The Spiritual Disciplines are not a way to add God to the equation of life so that I reach my goals and everything starts working the way I want it to. That is called managing life. In Fitness there are two types of Goals: A. Outcome goal: By March I am going to fit into the dress I wore at my high school prom. I am going to be a loving person by Dec. 31. B. Process goal: I am going to walk 45 min. 5x a week until Easter. I am going to read a chapter of the New Testament every day until I finish. III. The Goal: Loving God with all When we can t measure up to that standard why doesn t it work to just Do the best we can? We don t do our best. We love ourselves more than God. We give our minds to useless pursuits. We give our strength to indulging appetites. We want our way more than God s way. We don t care about others the way we care about our own lives. It s easy to be indifferent. A. Brokenness is not the problem. Disconnection is. 1. Adam and Eve break the relationship: old apple Me! Mine! 2. Self-righteous 3. Self-indulgent 4. Self-exalting For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. Gal. 5:17 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. I Cor. 2:14 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom. 5:8
B. Re-connection is the solution 1. Those who turn to Jesus through the Spirit are born into His family: new apple Yes! Yours! 2. Righteousness of Jesus 3. Control of the Holy Spirit 4. Glorify/Exalt the Father For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Eph. 1:4-6 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. II Cor. 5:21 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God s children. Rom 8:15,16 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, I Peter 1:3 IV. What the Disciplines are NOT. A. A checklist that shows me how good I am. Isaiah 64:6/Titus 3:5 We naturally revert to our default a self-righteous and legalistic approach to God and self. This results in PRIDE something God HATES. B. A way to earn God s favor. I Thess. 5:24/Eph.1:7-8 1. This approach results in SHAME because I realize I am unworthy of his love and attention. 2. God can t be disappointed in me because He bought the WHOLE package. 3. I can t get more righteous than the righteousness of Jesus. V. What the Disciplines ARE A. A way to deny the old nature and strengthen the new nature. Ephesians 4:20-32 1. Some disciplines hit squarely at denying ourselves 2. Many of the ones we gravitate toward are strengthening exercises B. Vehicle to get me to Jesus. Jeremiah 29:13 C. A way to allow God IN to relate to me. Philippians 3 VI. How We are Going to Train A. Notebook B. Levels of training 1. Train at your level! 2. Do the practice first if you are short on time, then the reading. The spiritual disciplines are not a way to better manage our lives in order to come up with what we think God wants us to do for him. They are the way to open ourselves up to what He wants to do in us--and that feels terrifying. It is also the safest place to be.
God is wanting to come in and work in us what needs to be done. We have vulnerable places that He wants to gently probe. We have painful places that He needs to clean out and heal. We have misguided places that He needs to correct. We have independent places that we want to hang on to. We have proud places that are screaming and kicking at the thought of bending the knee. Spiritual Training will involve letting God in to do the work that needs to be done in the heart. It will be surrendering to the process of spiritual growth these next few weeks regardless of the outcome.