Training Season

It’s training season. A time where we intentionally adjust habits and behaviors for a purpose. A time of newness, expectation, excitement, and anticipation. At the same time, a time of worry, doubt and the realization that greater discipline and discomfort awaits.  

Training season usually follows a period of rest and relaxation of rigid routines. In preseason, serious athletes will restrict diet, closely protect sleep and energy expenditure, and begin the process of intense transformation of body and mind. This sacrifice and effort is done with the purpose of application towards a goal. As members of team New Life, we, too, have been invited to preseason, where a degree of sacrifice of self and personal comfort is called on for a greater spiritual purpose on behalf of the whole community.  The saying goes, “no pain, no gain”! While we are reminded by our head coach to reframe our view from “fasting to feasting”, let’s be honest...this process is not easy.

In Hebrews 11:25, it says about Moses, “he endured the hardship of the people of God rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin”. HEBREWS 12:4-11 (Message Version) discusses “Discipline in a Long Distance Race”. “In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.”

Hebrews 12:11 (Amplified Version) adds, “For the time being, no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose]”.

Intense dedication to the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting can present challenges. Let’s embrace the ups and downs of this training opportunity to grow more mature in our spiritual walk. Let’s lean in harder to our spiritual coaches’ guidance, cheer louder for our teammates, and be more diligent about our own personal training so that we can run long and well for our families for generations to come, for our communities and for our God. 

Prayer:
Lord, I know you are good and faithful. And though it is not easy, I know You discipline me because You love me and have a greater purpose for my life. You know my weaknesses. Fill me with Your strength. Invade my heart, mind and body today as You work through the discomforts of shedding my worldly baggage. Discipline me Lord, like the spoiled child I am. Keep working on me, so that I may be molded in your likeness. If I stumble, Lord, pick me up so I may run harder for You the next time. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray. Amen.