March 2018
Spirtual Crossfit
How often are we held back by fear of failure, fear of rejection, or fear of losing the approval of others?
As a therapist, I see a lot of people who deal with these issues of resistance. As a result of their fears, they get stuck in unhealthy relationship patterns, negative thinking, and feeling hopelessness and discouragement. I hear many stories of people feeling stuck and alone in their pain, and then feeling shame about that pain. So many people just want to be set free from their fears, but just don’t know how to navigate out of them. The problem I see time and again is that people are trying to do it on their own terms, clutching tightly to what is familiar and safe, and repeating the same patterns even when they intellectually know there is a better way. Or the successes they experience are short-lived. The enemy knows exactly how to keep us chained to lies that derail us from following the path of freedom, peace, and joy that God wants us to experience in Him.
Yet, in scripture, it says, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but (He has given us a spirit) of power and of love and of sound judgement and personal discipline (abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self control).” (2 Timothy 1:6-7)
God has given us a spirit of power and love, and a sound mind. When we face situations where we feel timid and afraid, scripture affirms that we should know that this fear does not come from the Lord. When we are doing His kingdom work, we have all His power to back us up. We are called to “be ready in season and out of season” to fulfill our spiritual ministry.
Even when we don’t feel we have enough boldness to go beyond our comfort zones, or have enough motivation to love people who are difficult to love, or feel stuck in unhealthy habits, it's not a lost cause. The fear in us, the coward in us, the timidity in us, doesn’t come from God, but from ourselves. God gives us a free will to choose to receive His help and to surrender to Him. He’s a relational God who wants our trust to be firmly rooted and established in Him.
In what areas of your life would you like to become more healthy? Jesus wants us to come to Him with all of our weaknesses – physical, spiritual, and emotional. Why is this meaningful? I think we all have a desire to have more joy and peace in our lives.
On Saturday April 7, 2018, the board and staff will hold a church retreat called “Spiritual CrossFit.” It will be held at SCFBC from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and will feature workshops that focus on several spiritual disciplines to help us grow deeper in our walk with God. The workshops will include many topics, including spiritual fitness, financial fitness, emotional fitness, relational fitness, evangelism fitness, and spiritual gifts fitness. Information on how to sign up will be coming soon. If you have any questions, please contact the church office.
Hebrews 12:1-3 reminds us to throw off any sin that hinders or entangles us in our walk. We are to run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
So save the date! Come to Spiritual CrossFit on Saturday, April 7th. Let’s learn how to overcome the obstacles that hinder us, because God’s got our back.