Building Your Core

“For who is God beside the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.” 

2 Samuel 22:32-34

 

Fitness experts everywhere tells us we need to build up our cores. This means working to have strong abdominal, lower back and oblique muscles. The idea is that a strong core will help the rest of our body perform better and be healthier. So we do hundreds of crunches using all sorts of torturous variations. We do planks; pushups and any other exercises that are suppose to give us flat stomachs, tapered waists and strong backs. The results are worth it to be sure, as we find ourselves stronger overall and less prone to injury. But there is another core; we need to be building as well - a spiritual one. We need to build our spiritual core to keep our faith strong especially in difficult times. How do we do that?

1. Stand firmly on the promises of God our Rock. Like the promise God made to Joshua “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5b). Or the promise Paul shares with the Philippians “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). And what about “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
2. Worship God because He is God. This core builder really works best when we exercise it in the midst of the storms we face - in the “even if not” moments of life.
3. Pray always and in every situation. Paul tells the Philippians “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6) The Colossians heard from Paul and he told them to “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2). Prayer is our line of communication with the Master of our core.
4. Walk by faith. Easy to say but much harder to do in our “I can do it” world. When we practice walking by faith, following after the One who knows the way - our spiritual core will get stronger and stronger.

When we build our spiritual cores not only are we better able to deal with the hard stuff of life, but we are better able to reflect God’s grace, mercy and love to those around us. I don’t know what you are facing right now but I know whatever it is - good or bad - now is the perfect time to work on building your core. What condition is your spiritual core in? 

 

A Prayer

Father - thank you for being the Master of our core. Thank you for showing us what we can do to strengthen our core, so we can stand firm no matter what we face. Help us to stand on Your promises, to worship you - especially in the hard times. Thank you for hearing our prayers when we need extra instruction and care for our cores. May we truly walk by faith. In the name of Jesus - Amen.