Of course you’re going to have “resistance” when you are:

Resistance Training

• Going against the grain
• Swimming upstream
• Mountain climbing
• Flying, defying gravity

That’s what builds muscles – not going downstream! Going against the grain is going “against the natural instinct of your Flesh or Soul”. When you can go against what comes “natural” to you, i.e.:

• To get mad and upset and give someone a piece of your mind
• To seek revenge and get even for harm someone has done to you
• To lose your patience in traffic
• To manipulate to get what you want
• To lie when you are called on the carpet
• To be selfish and self-centered, only thinking about your Self
• To do what “feels” good, without thinking about the consequences

That is “resisting” temptation, the norm, your natural, lower nature, your Self or Soul. It’s going to be difficult; you’re not going to like it. But “resistance training” is what “builds muscles”. It’s good for you! Every time you get an “opportunity to practice:”

• Patience
• Forgiveness
• Mercy
• Kindness
• Peace
• Love
• Self-Control

WORK IT, WORK IT, WORK IT!

You are “working out” on the inside, spiritually. That’s what Spiritual Fitness is all about!

Just like we don’t like to work out physically to begin with, but later we learn to love it and miss it. Likewise spiritually we don’t like it either at first, but we learn to love it when we see its benefits. Just like physical exercise, with spiritual exercise you don’t do things based on feelings.

You don’t “feel” like it. You will never “feel” like it – just do it!

That’s why you can never wait until you feel like, because you never will! You just do it because it “needs” to be done. It’s something you need to do, like taking a shower and brushing your teeth, or washing clothes.

You don’t “want” to necessarily, but it is “necessary.”

Spiritual exercise is also necessary, and it something that can be done all day long, at any time of the day. Just like we learn to work physical exercise into our daily routine of parking far away from the door to have a long walk across the parking lot, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator, we can also work in spiritual exercise throughout the day.

The Bible says the “Broad easy way leads to death and destruction, but the hard narrow way leads to life and there are few who find it.”

No Pain – No Gain!

You don’t get abs of steel by sitting on the couch eating pizza and chips. Neither do you get inner strength by following the easy path.  After a while you start understanding and it doesn’t take as long to kick it in gear and start seeing some results!