Re: Spiritual Excellence: Are you committed? -- The Body Builders Forum

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 15:38:07 07/03/05 Sun
Author: Wendy Scheffler
Subject: Re: Spiritual Excellence: Are you committed?
In reply to: JR Smith, c.f.t., s.p.n., s.f.t., c.b.c. 's message, "Spiritual Excellence: Are you committed?" on 09:54:07 07/02/05 Sat

> WOW! I just received this and Praise God this is exactly what I want to do!@ I believe I am doing it now also. I simply cannot get enough of God's Word! I think I may have to share this one with my group too!
By the way, the last post i shared with them, they were all over it! We are a group of women that are speaking the Word in our lives and the lives of our loved ones and boy oh boy is there ever power in it! WOOHOO! Praise His name!
Thank you J.R. for posting. Your messages hit it every time.
Blessings! PowerLife Spiritual Strength & Fitness Journal
>Weekly Topic - Saturday, July 2, 2005
>JR Smith
>=======================================================
>==
>Spiritual Excellence: Are You Committed?
>
>" Wisdom is supreme. Therefore get wisdom; though it
>cost you all you have, get understanding. Esteem her
>and she will exalt you; embrace her and she will honor
>you; she will set a garland of grace on your head and
>present you with a crown of splendor."
>Proverbs 4: 7-9
>
>Have you thought about spiritual excellence in your
>life lately?
>
>In today's society there doesn't seem to be a place
>for second best; either you are a winner or you are a
>loser; your either the best or you're not. The world
>can be a harsh a destructive place. And sometimes, so
>can the church, unfortunately.
>
>Let me ask you a few questions:
>
>* Are you athletic or have been in the past?
>
>* Were you good in school?
>
>* Were you popular? Good looking?
>
>* Do you lead your company and the peers around you
>now?
>
>* Do people look up to you or envy you?
>
>* Do you live in the best house, drive the best car,
>have the best job, a member of the best country club,
>have the best spouse, or have a high social and
>political standing in the community?
>
>Let's suppose you said yes to most of these questions
>or maybe you even know a few people who could; the
>fact is, these people did spend a lot of time and
>effort achieveing those accolades and trophies. And
>for the most part, it didn't just fall into their
>laps. They literally programmed their consciousness
>for these achievements.
>
>And you must do the exact same thing to achieve
>spiritual excellence. You have to program yourself to
>the Word of God. You will have to feed on the Word of
>God day and night. Spiritual excellence does not come
>from reading scriptures for just a few minutes a day.
>This is going to take an effort.
>
>"Why I can't do that JR, there is no way. That is
>impossible to do." (Remember this scripture in the
>back of your mind..."With God, all things are
>possible.")
>
>Think about this for a moment. A music major in
>college practices for hours a day, every day ( I know,
>I have a nephew that is completing his doctorate work
>and he is absolutely incredibly awesome on the
>trumpet.)
>
>Olympic skaters and gymnists spend as many as eight
>hours a day in training and practice. Bodybuilders
>train sometimes twice a day, every day and spend hours
>in the gym refining their physiques for contest day.
>
>Why? They do it because they are committed to their
>extreme goals. How committed to spiritual excellence
>are you?
>
>Remember those questions I asked you earlier?
>Regardless if you said yes or no, those are simply
>"things" - "earthly trophies". Go to 1st Corinthians
>9: 24-27 and read what Paul says about these
>achievements. You can take a moment to do that now
>since this will help you to understand the issue of
>spiritual excellence.
>
>There is something more important than earthly gain
>and rewards; as those pass away and are thrown into
>the fire where all worthless things will go, only
>spiritual excellence will go into eternity with you.
>
>You must become a spiritual athlete - it's time to go
>into training!
>
>God doesn't care if your are popular or athletic. He
>has approved you already. He doesn't care if you are
>pretty or good looking; He sees your real beauty that
>will follow you into all eternity. He doesn't care if
>you are rich or poor because you are wealthy in Him.
>
>But if you want spiritual excellence, you are going to
>have to train for it. These examples I am going to
>give you may seem extreme, but sometimes extreme goals
>require extreme training. And anyone who is serious
>about their goals is going to get extreme. ( You
>should see what some bodybuilders will do to achieve
>their best shape in order to win a contest...)
>
>Remember, 5 or 10 minutes of scripture reading a day
>is not intense training; it is only a warm up. So what
>does one do? Here are some suggestions. You can do one
>or the other or both.There are others and God may give
>you some ideas, but this will get your started.
>
>1. Record yourself reading the Bible everday. Then
>play it back when you are in the car, in the gym, at
>lunch or wherever.
>
>2. Get teaching tapes from some of the leading and
>anointed pastors of our time that will give you a
>richer and deeper teaching of the word of God. YOU can
>even go on line and get some fantastic FREE Bible
>courses you can study.
>
>3. Buy a daily reading Bible. This is set up so you
>can read an old testament, a new testament, a provebs
>and a psalms every single day at specific times when
>you can break away and get quiet before God. Granted
>this is only about 15 minutes but when combined with
>these other practices it will be powerful.
>
>If you want any of these resources, let me know and I
>can direct you to them.
>
>God says He does not require a sacrifice, but His
>desire is obedience. Here is my thought on that.
>
>" Being obedient always requires a sacrifice."
>
>A sacrifice of:
>
>* Time
>
>* Social or sporting events
>
>* Foods of some kind
>
>* Sleep ( maybe He will wake you up to pray)
>
>* Pleasure
>
>At some point, in order to be obedient, you may have
>to give up one of these things for an hour, a day, a
>week or even a month in order to get God's greater
>purposes in your life. I rarely watch T.V. any more (
>just a couple of hours a week at most) because I have
>made that choice. I personally want more of God and I
>am still in training; still striving for excellence.
>
>Too many people throw around the word "excellence" any
>more and in my opinon have cheapened the word.
>Excellence is a worthy thing that we should strive for
>because it is something God wants us to do. It shows
>our committment to Christ, His teaching, the Word and
>the love of Christ and our fellowman we have.
>
>Excellence is not just spoken, it is practiced.
>
>How do you know if you are achieveing excellence? When
>you study the Word of God, are you practicing it? Are
>you feeding the hungry? Are you clothing the naked?
>Are you visiting those in jail? Are you helping those
>who are in bondage to drugs and pornography or other
>sexual sin? Are you giving someone money who is trying
>but just can't get ahead?
>
>Does your church take local, community missions
>serious or do they just pass out tracts? Excellence is
>practicing the hard things of the Word of God. You
>learn them and then you do them. You have to get where
>people are hurting not just where they have gathered.
>Evangelism is necessary and it will change lives but
>it must be anointed and there must be fruit from it.
>Billy Graham is the best example I can give you on
>anointed evangelism and one who practiced spiritual
>excellence.
>
>If you evangelize but get no fruit of any kind, then
>chances are there is no anointing, no excellence.
>
>Don't let this happen to you. Excellence is by far one
>of the best things you can strive for in the Kingdom
>of God because it shows we love our Lord and Savior
>and are willing to do for the least of these because
>we are doing it for Him. That my friend is excellence.
>
>We are all on the same team; Team Jesus. Let's all
>train together.
>
>If there is anything I can ever do to help any of you,
>please don't hesitate to let me know. I am here to
>pray with and for you; I am here to just listen to you
>and if there is something you need although you may
>live in another state, I will do my best to help in
>some way.
>
>Let me know your thoughts on this topic of the week by
>posting your comments here. You can also call me at
>the cell phone number I have listed below. You can
>also email me if you like.
>
>May God bless all the works of your hands. Be a Mighty
>man and woman of God.
>
>In His service to you,
>
>JR SMith
>606-271-0981 cell

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Re: Spiritual Excellence: Are you committed? -- JR Smith, 20:06:23 07/03/05 Sun