Feeling Out of Shape Spiritually

There are times we find ourselves feeling like we’re out of spiritual shape. This feeling comes when we’ve not gone to church in awhile. It shows up when we’ve been out of fellowship. It appears when we’ve not prayed, really prayed in a while, we feel this way when we pray and our situation worsens. There are a number of things that can contribute, but the feeling is all the same. We are spiritually out of shape.

But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit…
– bible.com/bible/97/JUD.1.20.MSG

I found this passage in the New Testament, but after reading it, it sounded Greek to me. That simply meant I didn’t understand it. With a little study and gaining an understanding, this passage gave me an answer to the problem of being spiritually out of shape.

We must build ourselves up. Like a body-builder, we must workout in order to be in shape. It says, this building of our faith or in other words spiritually happens when we pray. But not any kind of prayer. Prayer that’s uncommon. Prayer that’s not your everyday normal prayer. To build yourself up, you’re going to need to put some spiritual weight on the bar and press through the exercise. You’re going to have a little pain (disciple) to have some gain (results).

[Pray This] Lord, I pray so that I can build myself up and others. Being spiritually-fit takes prayer and not just any kind of prayer, but prayer that’s uncommon. Let my prayer produce the results needed to make me spiritually fit, in Jesus’ name.

Your Action (What action based on your prayer can you take?):
Here are four actions on can take to relieve the feeling of being spiritually out of shape:

1. Get prepared for fitness
2. Get back in the game.
3. Be present in this moment.
4. Revisit your goal as often as possible.

For more on this topic, see “The More You Pray, The Better You Become.” 

Prayer Disclaimer Notice: prayer is not a miracle, it’s our conversation with God which gives us insight on how to respond to our situations and the world around us. For more detail, please review our prayer disclaimer notice in its entirety, available at nolongercommon.com/nlc-prayer-disclaimer.