Kingdom Gym: "Proper Exercise"

Are you getting enough proper exercise?

The apostle Paul said:

Acts 24:16 - And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.

I Timothy 4:7-8 - 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.

To exercise means to practice or perform a similar action repetitiously for the purpose of training and discipline. Some of the basic objectives for exercising include: the development of a habit, a strength, a skill, or adjustment of body mass. Scripturally speaking- exercise in the Greek is the word 'gymnasia', which is where we get our English words gym and gymnastics from. The central idea of the word is to exert one's energy in a certain direction.

As citizens of the Kingdom of God we’ve all been called into the gym of life so to speak. We’ve been commissioned by God to literally ‘work out’/exercise/bring out/express - what He has 'worked' (deposited) and is working in us. Notice Paul’s commendation to the Philippian church:

"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13).

Well, when we were born-again we received again God's nature. So His express nature resides in each of us, specifically inside our re-created spirits (spirit man). Praise God- we possess all that He is! Therefore what comes forth out of us should resemble His nature, right? Yes! But wait, with the fall of man (I Cor. 15:22) and the conception of the sin-nature/flesh/old man (which is 100% counter-God) we have some opposition to contend with (Gal 5:16-17).

Now for those of you that exercise (or used to) - you know that exercising is not always easy. It is sometimes called resistance training when weights are involved. Well, both our flesh and spirit man desire exercise (to be used). So which should get the work out? Now remember, as mentioned earlier - exercising a thing will cause it to develop and grow stronger. So if we exercise our flesh it will grow stronger and if we exercise our spirit man it will grow stronger.

Simply put - the one that gets the most exercise becomes the strongest!

How do we exercise our spirit man then? Well, exercise involves repetitive actions so lets see what James (the 1/2 brother of Jesus) can tell us. James 1:22 says "Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only... So hearing the Word, then doing the Word is exercise for our spirit man. Now we see that in order for our spiritual exercise to be labeled as 'proper exercise' it must be our spirit man that gets the work out. When our flesh gets the work out - it is 'improper exercise'. Either flesh or spirit- we're always exercising something, but those that exercise know that improper exercise can be more harmful than no exercise. Folks, it is safe to say that our flesh deserves death- not exercise!

Note Hebrews 5:14:
"But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age (mature), even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." For maturity sake our spirit man needs exercise. Self-examination will reveal to us where we need the most spiritual exercise.

Even God exercises. Take a look:

"But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment (justice), and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD" (Jer. 9:24).


Blessed regards,

DraperW

P.S. Everyone, check out Min. Josh Harvey's blog "Kill That Old Man" at revelatoryword.blogspot.com (The Sword of The Spirit) as a companion blog to this one.

"Kingdom Entrance: Grace Let Us In" - Part One

GRACE — favor or kindness extended without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that person deserves. Grace is one of the key attributes of God. "The Lord God is "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth" (Ex. 34:6). Grace is always associated with love, mercy, compassion, and patience.

"It is because of God's love that grace was (and is) extended toward us."

In the Old Testament, a supreme example of the grace of God was the redemption of the Hebrew people (Israel) from Egypt and their establishment in the Promised Land (Canaan). This did not happen because of any merit or righteousness on Israel’s part, but in spite of their unrighteousness.

(Deut. 7:7-8) - The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

(Deut. 9:5–6) - Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

Now in the New Testament, the grace of God was fully revealed and given in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus was the very embodiment of God's grace (John 1:14), bringing it to mankind for salvation (Titus 2:11). By His death and resurrection, Jesus made possible the restoration of the broken relationship (sonship) between God and His offspring (mankind). This is salvation. So the only way for any person to have a 'restored relationship' with God is "through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 15:11). It was therefore Jesus which brought the "gospel of grace" fully into the world (John 1:17). Thank you Jesus!

"God is love, and in this dispensation He has extended His grace to all mankind in the person of Jesus Christ."

The theme of grace is especially prominent in the letters of the apostle Paul. He sets grace radically over against the law and the works of the law (Rom. 3:24, 28). Paul makes it abundantly clear that salvation is not something that can be earned; it can only be received by grace (Rom. 4:4, Eph 2:8-9).

{Reference: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary}

To be continued.....in the meantime, if you haven't already - check out the scriptures mentioned above and take a look at the story of Nicodemus in John 3:1-8.

DSW

"Love Never Fails" (I Corinthians 13:8)

Kingdom of God Citizens,

I was recently meditating on the following three scriptures. Take a look.

"MATTHEW 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. MATTHEW 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

"HEBREWS 13:1 Let brotherly love continue."

By leaving a comment - please share your thoughts, insight/revelation, experiences, ideas, etc. relative to these scriptures?

"Your words (inspired by the Holy Spirit) have
the power to heal and build someone up!"

As Bishop always says it: "Love is an action, born out of a sense of responsibility - toward God and your fellow man."

In His Service,

Min. Draper S. Wright

P.S. - After leaving comments on this blog, take a look at Min. Joshua Harvey's comments regarding love on my blog entitled: "Doeth It Not"

"GAFGBC Vacation Bible School 2009"

Greetings folks,

I thought this was interesting and worth sharing.

Mrs. Larry and I are teaching six, seven, and eight year old kids in Vacation Bible School (Wilkinson Terrace location). As some of you all know, yesterday's lesson title was "Go Tell" - coming from Matthew 27:26-54, 28:1-10. Of course, that passage deals with Jesus' death and some of the events surrounding it.

Well, there was this six (I repeat six) year old boy in our class that asked the following question about mid-way through the lesson:

"Mr. Wright, I know that blood and water came out of Jesus' body, so did blood come out of one side and water out of the other?"

Now, some adults don't even know about the blood and water which came from Jesus' body when he was pierced in the side. Mrs. Larry and I were pretty amazed by the question. Why would a six year old boy randomly ask such a question? Neither Mrs. Larry or I had mentioned anything about Jesus being pierced in the side. He seemed to already know some of the crucifixion events - even very specific details about it. It showed that he'd had some level of Word exposure. The clincher is that he retained it- again at the age of six. We just had to give him a VBS buck ($5) for such a great question.

Of course Mrs. Larry and I answered the question and continued the lesson, but he wasn't done. He made two other comments during the lesson.

Check it out:

Later, he just volunteered to mention that the captors put a crown of thorns on Jesus' head and pressed it in through his skin to his skull.

Later he volunteered to mention that the captors put a sign on the cross that said "King of the Jews."

And today, another little boy in the class (age 7) said this:

"Mr. Wright, after Jesus was raised from the dead he went back to the cross, gathered up His blood, took it to Heaven and put it on the mercy seat."

Praise God - as we've seen in our own children's ministry these kids can be exposed to the Word and retain it. Now, who does this little boy remind you of? Sounds like Jesus, at the age of twelve when we was in the temple asking and answering law related questions (Luke 2:46-47).

In the service of the King,

DSW

"Doeth It Not"

James 4:17 says, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

In this verse James is speaking briefly about the sin of "OMISSION". James is calling the believer's attention to the fact that when doing right is omitted, it is sin - especially when the right thing to do is known. Doing 'no thing' in a situation where 'some thing' ought to be done is sin. Of course we should remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit for guidance because it is possible to know what to do but not know exactly how to do it in a given situation. That's where the leading of the Holy Spirit comes in.

Now from another angle, isn't it interesting how easy it is to judge our actions (or non-actions) against the actions or non-actions of others. Consider statements like: "I don't do this", "I don't do that", "I wouldn't do that if", or "I've never done." If we be honest, if faced with the right amount of pressure and/or circumstance we really don't know what we would or wouldn't do. Quickly look at what James says in verse 12: "There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?"

Sure, it's great when we omit to do wrong, but what about when we omit to do right? Especially when we've been made aware of the right thing to be done.

Moreover, we all have much Kingdom related work to do. Undoubtedly, if we are spending priceless time judging others and/or ourselves against others we surely can't be getting a whole lot accomplished on our end. Judging and comparing is a big distraction!

"When we keep a 'sin-flashlight' shined on someone else we cease to perform our own God-assigned tasks."

No one has received the anointed appointment by God to be the judge in His stead, therefore all judges robes should be put away. This has to be a personal periodic examination activity because that judges robe can find its way back into your wardrobe easily. We know that within our flesh dwells nothing good (Romans 7:18). Therefore, with our sword in hand (the Word of God), we must wound the flesh wherever we find it alive. Thus, we'll be dying to self, so Christ can be freely expressed.

In the Service of the King,

DSW