Until It Gets To Jesus

Charles Spurgeon once said, "It's not a sermon until it gets to Jesus." Go ahead and read that sentence again, and this time let it marinate a minute before you move on. Isn't that our prayer today and everyday? That our lives would get to Jesus? Lives so moved by grace that they become sermons? 

Our approach toward, perspective about, and outlook upon our health is one of those messages. Our attempt at humble, bodily stewardship is simply a way to give back to God the life He gave us. Neat right? He gave us life. We live it out. He gave it all. We give it all back. Although, I wonder if I'm giving back as much as He gave. (The cursor on the keyboard is literally flashing on the screen as I contemplate my own question.) Do I? Am I?

With the clock ticking on a new week, our lives are ALL we have to give back. Am I emptying the tank? And I don't mean simply in sweat, but in the right way, with the right heart, for the right reasons, and for the right people? Sweat is easy. Sermons are tough. And it's not a sermon until it gets to Jesus.
- Jimmy Peña

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For Discussion: Our lives, including our health, are all we have to give back to God. What area of your life needs to be emphasized or de-emphasized in order for your health to be a sermon? Dang, that's a tough question. There goes my cursor again. What comes to mind when you think of your life as a sermon? Love to know your thoughts. For a few more in-depth questions and an explanation of this pic, click here and join me. 

*NEW* for PrayFit Members: I’m Stoppable (Part II) – I Didn’t Hear No Bell
Members if you’re in a PrayFit small group or you plan on leading one, week 2 of our “I’m Stoppable” series is loaded along with your leader guide and participant handout. Enjoy and be blessed! Not a member? Click here and join us! And thank you for your support of our little ministry.

I'm Stoppable

Enjoy Today's Devotional Video 
Following the video - PrayFit Members - be sure to join the small group discussion and in-depth questions that follow here. Also, be sure to try the "I'm Stoppable" At-Home Fitness Challenge to see how stoppable you are! Who's up for it?

If you're not a PrayFit Member get details here. 

Welcome to the “I'm Stoppable" series. Now, it may seem odd for the idea of "I can't" to be used to reach your heart, but if you surf the internet, you won't need to search long before you find someone telling you how unstoppable you are; that every goal is yours if you just want it bad enough, work hard enough, put in the time, push the limits. And I get it. I've lived it. But the truth is, we're weaker than we think we are. Now, I don't say that to make you or myself feel weak. I say it to remind us that we are weak. Tough to hear, especially in the fitness industry or among fitness-minded individuals, but I assure you it's really good news.

Recently I was sitting outside my therapy clinic. I had just taken my daily dose of 8 nerve regeneration pills to help keep my spinal cord talking to my toes as I age, and I was about to see where I was in terms of range of motion. You know, some say that the mind will fail a thousand times before the body ever will. That ain't true. Sounds good, sounds "tough," but it's false. Truth is, my body failed long before this mind, way before this heart and an eternity before my soul ever will. I'm stoppable. Which means, I keep fighting until God says I'm finished. Here comes a fighter; a weak and frail, stumbling and fumbling, sinner saved and sustained by grace and stoppable fighter. Watch me touch my toes.

As a reminder for the hard-chargers, the climbers, the go-getters, the never-quitters, and the fighters - among us...well...the fact that we celebrate our dependence on a grace-giving God - WHO can stop us on a dime whenever He wants - just may inspire us more than any goal we've ever set.

-Jimmy Peña

The Testing Place

“Our gifts and talents should be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are, God’s loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles. ”

— A.W. Tozer

Loretta and I have added a new book to our morning quiet times together. It's Tozer's "The Pursuit of God." Oh guys, both brutal and beautiful, this book has me trembling to turn each page unlike any book I think I've ever read. It peels away layer after layer of worldly nonsense, stripping away all levels of "self" until you're left with the unavoidable and glorious conclusion that we are here to pursue God and everything that phrase entails. Like I said, brutal and beautiful.

One section that has me shifting in my seat as I type this sentence is 'the testing point." Tozer says that if we would indeed know God in growing intimacy, we must go this way of renunciation. And if we are set upon the pursuit of God, He will sooner or later bring us to this test. We will be brought one by one to the testing place, and we may never know when we are there. At that testing place there will be no dozen possible choices for us - just one, and an alternative - but our whole future will be conditioned by the choice we make.

I have to admit, it's tough to come up for air after being so deep in study in order to deal with things on the surface; the temporary, frail and fleeting flesh. It's almost as if my workouts don't mean as much to me - which is a phenomenon that has been increasingly noticeable over the last few years in my heart - but because we know humble stewardship is a means of praise and obedience, we give it as much effort as God allows and requires, amen? 

But guys, I'm falling more and more in love with Jesus with every rep I can't perform and with my increasingly decreasing intensity, and I just want to know Him and for Him to know me. In one of Tozer's prayers - and I hope it's part of yours - he says, "Father, I want to know thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival."

Does God have a rival in your heart and mine? Does our pursuit of fitness feel so comfortable that it barges through the front door of our heart, or does it need to be invited in? Let's pursue God together. As much as I want you healthy and as much as I miss my stronger self, I want Him much more. 

- Jimmy Peña

The One That Came Back

“One of the great weaknesses of our generation is that we get so caught up in the blessing that we forget our Blesser. ”

— Pastor Shawn Thornton

I wonder if I would have come back. Ten lepers - lepers who were outcasts to society, unable to be with family and friends - saw Jesus and from a safe distance exercised faith. Let's read the powerful passage together. 

"It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Taking a good look at them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus’ feet, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus said, “Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?” Then he said to him, “Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you." Luke 17: 11-19

First thing that jumps out of the story to me is the fact that they kept their distance. In that day and age, those suffering with leprosy weren't allowed near clean people, so they stuck to protocol behind an invisible, uncrossable border. Faces pressed against it, hands up, they did the only thing they could; scream. Their plea mirrored their pain. If octaves equaled misery, theirs was a high C. Then after a 'good look at them' Jesus told them to go show the priests. Catch that? They figured they were keeping a safe distance, and yet Jesus got a good look at them. Wow. (I could get a full week of lessons from that one phrase). And then, it happened. On their way to see the priests, new skin. Fingers replaced nubs. Faces filled voids. Thoughts of holding children and kissing wives ran through their minds.

Now, one of them did what I hope I would do. He stopped. Wait a second, he thought. I cried, He cared. I moaned, He gave mercy. I have to go back. 

And here's another great moment for me in this story. He came back shouting his praise. He figured if his suffering called for screaming, his healing called for hollering. But this time, no barrier. No outer marker. No holding pattern. He was clean and he knew it - and getting close to the One that made him that way was his default reaction. Like I said in the beginning, I wonder if I would have gone back.

-Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: I've moaned in pain over the years, and I know many of you have too. Did my praise of His healing mirror my plea for His help? Did yours? Well, we don't know exactly how far the healed man traveled before turning back to thank Jesus, but I do know it's not too late for you and me to do the same. Let's take a second right where we are and thank Jesus for getting a good look at us. If you have a praise you'd like to share with everyone, please share it in the comments section below. If you'd like to keep it private and yet raise your hand, just say "Unspoken" and we'll celebrate with you.