Fit for the Assignment | Built by Habits (Class 3)

If you wanna change your life, you have to change your habits. Hi, my name is Julia, and this is Class III in our digital discipleship collection. We're calling built by habits. A lot of people want a strong spiritual life, an abundant life even, but ignore their physical life. Somehow, we got away from valuing our physical health. Yes, the Bible says in First Timothy that physical training of some value, but godliness has value for all things. That scripture is not a way to devalue your body. This verse is comparative, it's not dismissive. Many people, yes, they want discipline and prayer, but not discipline in how they live daily. But here's the truth. You don't follow God with just your spirit. You follow Him with your whole life. The abuse or misuse of something does not remove the biblical responsibility of it. Money can be an idol, but church is still teaching it. Work can become an idol, and scripture still teaches work. Rest can become laziness, but God still commands the Sabbath. The answer to abuse or misuse is not silence. It's proper teaching. Oftentimes, conversations about physical health can be taboo. And today, we wanna simply offer you an opportunity to transform through this teaching by normalizing how we should think, talk, and behave,

concerning our physical health. Your body is not a distraction from your spiritual life. It's an instrument of it. It's tough to obey with the body you've neglected. I'ma say that again for the people in the back. Your body is not a distraction from your spiritual life. It's an instrument of it. It's tough to obey with the body you've neglected. So here's the question, are you stewarding what God gave you? My first point is that your body belongs to God. It's least, not owned. You don't own your body. In 1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20, it says, do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit? You are not your own. You were bought with the price. Therefore, honor God with your body. Now that changes everything. The body is not just yours to use however you want. Our body was his to give in hours to manage. It belongs to God. What does that mean? How you treat it matters. How you use it matters. How you steward it matters. At some point, we're gonna have to give a count on how we've managed our bodies. I don't know about you, but how much, how much are you forfeiting because you have chosen

not to steward the gift that God is giving you? You know, I think about a time when I was going, I was actually leaving from the gym. And I was thinking, oh my gosh, this is such a sacrifice because I gotta wake up earlier, I had two beautiful babies, but I gotta wake up early 'cause I got work and I'm gonna make sure that they feel loved and cared for. And I was like, God, this is such a sacrifice. And he said, no, it's not, it's discipline. Now that hit me in a way like never before. And what I believe he really was saying to me is what point number two is. Your body is living worship. Romans 12, one says, offer your bodies as living sacrifice. Holy and pleasing to God. This is your true improper worship. Worship is not just singing. It's not just how you sing, what you sing. But this, another scripture says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Stewardship is an act of worship. Present your bodies means giving God your entire self, not just your work or output. You cannot offer God a part of yourself and not your whole self. It's how you live, your daily decisions, what you eat, how you rest, how you move, how you manage your energy. It's the way that you interact with people that comes from how your body is reacting to things. All of it can and should honor God.

If you neglect what he's given, how can he use that? Physical discipline without guarding produces either legalism or eventually you implode our collapse. Here's what I'm saying. Point number three, your energy affects your obedience. Your energy not only affects it, but it fuels your obedience. Now, think about this. Have you ever meant to do the right thing, show up, be patient, follow through, and your body was just not there to back it up? I don't know about you, but I find myself doing this, treating energy like it's unlimited and then acting shocked when I don't have anything left for what actually matters. That's why I'm saying your energy fuels your body. Proverbs four and 23, above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. Your heart, your energy, your focus. They're all connected. it becomes harder to pray, to focus on the work, to show up for others, to walk and discipline. It becomes harder for you to be the entrepreneur, or the boss, or the mom, or the father. It becomes more difficult for you to do what God has called you to do. You can love God deeply and still struggle to live it out because you lack energy. Has anyone ever skipped time with God

because you just felt too drained? Or maybe you said yes to something out of guilt because you didn't have the energy to have the real conversation that you needed to about your capacity. Or maybe you wanted to serve or volunteer, but physically, you're like, I am done. Here's what I'm asking you to do is to take an honest inventory. A few years ago, I was having a conversation with the Lord. Now, I have been an athlete all my life, and then I hit this season of life where, you get a little bit older, or metabolism changes, and all these different things. And now I'm like, God, I don't understand why I'm not able to lose the weight that I'm trying to do. Trying to lose. But what happened is I had to take a moment and take honest inventory about where I was, both in my physical capability in my body, but also in my habits. That's what we're talking about. You have to take inventory and invite God in, and be real, and ask the Lord, help me. And this is why point number four, your discipline is spiritual. In Galatians 5, 22 through 23, it lists the fruit of the spirit, and one of them is self-control. Y'all, we have one body.

Here's my question. Are you consuming what it craves? Or are you cultivating it for Christ? See, this means that discipline is not just willpower. It's something that the spirit produces in you, but you still have to cooperate and partner with it. You know, as I was preparing for this, I started thinking about the Michael Jackson song, "Man in the Mirror." I'm looking at the mirror in the mirror. What has your body been telling you this week? How have you honored God through rest, movement, or nourishment? You see, you still have to choose boundaries, discipline, and stewardship. All of these questions should allow you to dig in a bit deeper. Point number five, your habits should glorify God. And 1 Corinthians 1031 says, "So whatever you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, "do it all for the glory of God." Not just church movements, everything, even the small, daily decisions. Here's the truth. It's not about aesthetics, it's about your assignment. What do I mean by that? Sometimes what we've done is we've kind of swung the pendulum too far, thinking about idolization and vanity. But the reality is that there's vitality associated with that, you need energy, you need to have this tool

that God has given to us, this gift of our body to honor it, to allow God to strengthen it so that the assignment God has on your life can be fulfilled. Say it with me, write it down, put it in the chat. My body is on assignment. So stewardship is vitally important for what we are called to do in this life. Imagine with me that someone gave you a car. How would you treat it? They said you could have this car for two months. Would you never put gas in it? Would you never clean it? Would you just trash it? You wouldn't neglect it, you would take care of it. Your body is that gift. So what we're saying to you today is for you to know that your body belongs to God. Your body is living worship. Your energy fuels your obedience, your discipline. It is spiritual and your habits should glorify God. You don't get more spiritual by ignoring your body. You get more available. I want you to choose one step to improve this week. Maybe it's a small step. And that's really all you need to do is one smart small step that you can stay consistent with. Choose an area of sleep, movement, nutrition, how you eat, maybe going to counseling because your body is housing everything. So choose one decision.

I wanna pray for you. God, help us to honor this beautiful gift that you've given to us. Lord, I pray that this is not just words, but transform us. Help us to understand what stewardship allows you to do through us. We don't own this earth suit. We don't own this body. But God, you gave it as a gift to us. So Father, I'm asking that you would help us to do right, eat right, live right, get movement, go to therapy, talk, have the conversations of our body that you've given to us. We give you glory, honor, and praise in Jesus' name. In closing, just remember this, that stewardship is to strengthen the tool God works through, and that's your body. [BLANK_AUDIO]