A Prayer to Get Spiritually in Shape
By: Alisha Headley
“So, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” - Psalm 90:12
We are told by doctors and health professionals to work out our body, eat right, don’t smoke, limit drinking, and all kinds of advice to develop a strong and healthy heart and body. We are told these things are important for the health of our heart, that we might live a long and active life. If we don’t maintain these disciplines, the consequences could lead to tiredness, lethargy, lack of motivation or negative thought patterns. How we take care of our bodies matters.
Disciplines are designed to strengthen. We take care of and work out our bodies so that our bodies remain strong and become stronger.
What if the same is true in our spiritual life? If we don’t take care of our spiritual heart and learn to discipline it, will we too feel lethargic and lack motivation in our spiritual walk with the Lord?
Today’s verse touches on that: to gain a heart of wisdom, we must learn to number our days. The problem is, just like our physical bodies, we tend to want to get in shape overnight. This is why there are fad diets that come and go from one year to the next. We want the strong heart and body now. We tend to not look at the day-to-day like this verse suggests. We focus on the end result. In today’s key verse, the Lord is asking us to focus on the day-to-day. The day-to-day faithfulness. The day-to-day sowing and planting seeds that will one day (maybe not today) produce fruit. The day-to-day trusting Him. The day-to-day flexing our prayer muscle. The day-to-day praising Him. The day to day seeking His Word. The day-to-day living out His truth.
It’s in the everyday work that we gain a heart of wisdom, strengthened through our disciplines. A strong heart that feeds on the Word’s truth rather than on the world’s lies. Every day we get stronger and stronger in our walk with the lord. Every day our heart gets stronger, and our will gets stronger aligned as it gets closer and closer to God’s will over our own. The day-to-day is where we can gain wisdom and become spiritually in shape, and this is where we gain a strong heart full of wisdom.
Let’s pray.
Father,
Thank you for Scripture like today, teaching us about discipline. Often, we think of the word discipline as a punishment or a taking away. But it is through spiritual disciplines that we experience strength through you. We find peace as we discipline ourselves; every day is a day to come closer to you.
Thank you for teaching us that the purpose of practicing spiritual disciplines is for a deeper relationship with you. Father, we ask that as today’s Scripture says, you would orient our lives around what truly matters. Help us become spiritually fit. Help us have hearts for you and minds “that is set on things above, not on the things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2). Help our hearts to be strengthened day-by-day, as we begin to habitually put our focus on heavenly things.
Lord, we know that our days are numbered and each day counts. Setting our hearts on things of temporary value creates a weak heart that lacks wisdom. Lord, create in us a strong heart, one that is full of wisdom. Please remind us of this Scripture and prompt us in moments of laziness or lethargy to keep “pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for which you have called us heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).
In Jesus’s name, we pray,
Amen
Alisha Headley is a writer and speaker who has a desire to meet the everyday woman in her everyday life with biblical truth. Healing from a chapter of life consumed with lies she once believed about herself, she is inspired to point women to Christ to experience the freedom and power to overcome those lies with the truth written in God’s Word. You can follow her blog by visiting her website or connect with her on facebook + instagram.
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Originally published Wednesday, 16 March 2022.
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