Exercise!
But
this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I the God of my fathers,
believing
all things which are written in the law and in the
prophets:
And
have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a
resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
And
herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence
toward God, and toward men. Acts 24: 14-16
But
refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather
unto godliness.
For
bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all
things,
having
promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
1
Timothy 4: 7, 8
Notice, Paul exercised himself in believing all
things which are written so that he had hope, which is a joyful, confident
expectation. Also, he exercised himself so that he had a conscience void of
offence toward God and man. He exercised himself unto godliness which is
profitable for both now and for hereafter.
He exercised himself in believing the Word.
Here’s what I want you to do. First, identify
what you are needing from the Lord in your life. Is it healing? OK. Get you
some scriptures on healing. We will take
Isaiah 53: 5:
But
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities:
the
chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and
with his stripes we are healed.
Now,
take a deep breath and with a loud voice shout out, “But he was wounded for our
transgressions.” Now, take another deep breath and jump up and down and shout, “he
was bruised for our iniquities.” Ok, things are getting loosened up a bit. Now,
stretch sideways both ways saying, “the chastisement of our peace was upon him.”
Good! Now, run around a bit and laugh real big, singing, “and with his stripes
we are healed.” Do this repeatedly with full, joyful liberty.
Get you some “fear not” scriptures and
do this with them until you are free, free, free! There are about 365 of them,
one for every day of the year.
Do you get the idea? Most people are
timid when it comes to speaking in public in any capacity. When the people were
filled with the Spirit in the book of Acts, they spoke the word of God with
boldness. Boldness does things in the spiritual realm. If you and I will
exercise ourselves unto speaking the word of God with boldness, even boldly
demonstrating our liberty in a physical way, things will loosen up in the
spirit and in body.
Then, when it comes time to speak in
public, we will be “in shape” to do whatever the Spirit of God is leading us to
do.
Get creative with your exercises.
Practice getting out of your comfort zone. Do it as an act of worship to God,
presenting yourself and your body as a living sacrifice to God, holy and
acceptable to him, proving what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of
God. Don’t allow your thinking to be conformed to the ways of the world, of timidity,
of fear, and of inhibition. No! We have a message to proclaim, and we are the Army
of God to carry out his divine commission. We have a job to do and we must be
in excellent shape to boldly get this job done!
So,
come on! Let’s get moving! Exercise! Exercise! Even scientific research tells
us of the benefits in every way when we get moving. Laughter releases
endorphins that are in-body healing agents. So laugh when you don’t feel like
it, and you will feel like it. They have discovered that praying in tongues
boosts your immune system by about 30%. So sing and shout and laugh and pray in
tongues freely, loudly, and with full liberty, and let the Spirit of life fill
you in every way, pushing out the fear, lethargy, toxins, and disease.
If you are flat of your back or wheel
chair bound, do this in the full capacity of which you are able, and you will
increase in ability.
Whatever your situation, exercise
yourself in believing the Word unto a full and joyful and confident expectation
of good things to come.
Exercise yourself to get ready for the
glory of God to be revealed.