Train Your Spirit!

I was going to title this post "Press on for the prize", which reminds me to keep looking forward, keep focused and don't stop! I started looking around my creatively organized office (aka messy!) to see if I could locate a Bible to look up the actual verse. I didn't see one at first or second glance, but my new devotional book was sitting on the ironing board. (Those ironing boards work for great little side tables!)

Having gotten sidetracked already from typing this post, I decided to look up and see what today's devotion is all about. AMAZING how God sends us little nuggets of truth in different form. "Train Your Spirit" is the title of my devotion today! How funny because I just signed up this morning for a half marathon in Spokane on May 16th and I'm participating in a 5K run in Ft. Worth next Saturday. June 27th is the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon.

Moving on with the devotional, I read that Titus 2:12 says "Grace has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness and wordly desires, to live discreet, upright and devote lives in this present world."

The author of this devotional says "spending time with God is 'spirit' practice. As you do it diligently, your spirit will grow strong and will start to overcome the habits of the flesh....become a spiritual athlete. Put yourself in training by practicing the things of God. Build your spirit muscles through fellowship with Him."

I've been physically training hard. Lots of miles under my belt, sometimes two workouts a day, losing weight and inches, gaining strength and endurance to run-walk these races to make sure I'm not be totally exhausted at the end. Today's devotional makes me think about my spiritual walk and how much time I don't spend in "training" with the Lord. I know I mess up big time and I'm told to not get discourage when I stumble and fall. It takes discipline, just like it does training for these events. I want Him to say at the end of the earthly race "well done, my good and faithful servant."

You must excuse me...I need to change into my workout clothes, grab my MP3 player that has great Christian music on it and head to the gym! You can be sure I'll also be talking to my "trainer" while I'm on that treadmill.