Intro: tonight we all tried to make shapes out of play dooh, some people could make something recognizable, others couldn’t. In our life we will have a lot of people try to shape us, family, friends, teachers, coaches, employers and other people in our lives. It is very important that we are careful who we let shape us. Here are a few things that are sure to shape our lives in a positive way.
Getting Into Spiritual Shape
Romans 12:1-2
1. Word of God—John 1:1—the very first thing we need to shape our lives is the Word of God. It is God’s Word to man, it is the blueprint for living life to the fullest. The more you put the Word of God into your life, the more your mind, heart and spirit are renewed.
2. Prayer—James 5:16-prayer shapes our lives. The more we pray, the more we know God, the more we received direction for our lives. As we pray in faith we will begin to see our spiritual lives grow. As we pray we will see God begin to change areas of our lives: He can make hard places soft again, cold places hot, and sinful places holy.
3. Worship—John 4:24—worship shapes us in many ways. We become sensitive to the move of the Spirit when we learn to worship God. We learn surrender, worship is surrendering ourselves to God. In Worship we decrease as he increases, more of Him and less of self, and pride and worldly desire.
4. Godly Association—Proverbs 27:17---people who we associate with have a great deal of influence in our lives. We will begin to have the attitude of those around us, if everyone around us has a stinking attitude in time our attitudes will stink.
5. goals, dreams and visions will shape our lives—Proverbs 29:18—another important factor that shapes our lives is goals, dreams and visions for our lives. If you don’t develop spiritual goals and dreams, you won’t achieve anything great for God. You have to move toward your destiny for your destiny to move toward you.
6. Significant other—or soulmate---2 Corinthians 6:14—this is a warning not to become romantically involved with someone who doesn’t share your same spiritual values. In your relationships, start with the Spiritual relationship, and let everything else fall into place. You cannot start with the physical, emotional or intellectual as primary, they are all secondary to the spiritual connection.
7. time and activities—whatever takes up your time, whatever you invest yourself into, that in time will shape your life. You have to safeguard your time from anything that keeps you from your spiritual goals. You are only given so much time to do life, spend your life wisely.
Close: it isn’t easy to get into shape. A while back I bought a bulletin board to look for a special deal on something I was looking for. It was amazing all the people who were trying to sell exercise equipment. Many times they said, still in the box, or only used one time. It is the same with your spiritual life, you have to work at it to get any good results. Don’t ever put your spiritual life on hold.
