Are you a Personal Trainer?

Colossians 1:9-14

New Living Translation (NLT)

 ⁹ So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

 ¹¹ We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy ¹² always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, ¹⁴ who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

                I awoke a little early today thinking about this devotional. And I wanted to Share what God has put on my heart. There is a gentleman that works at His Radio by the name of Rob Dempsey. I personally do not know him but I have listened to his story over the past 10 years. One of the reason I mention him is because a few years back he decided he was going to get healthy and got involved at one of the Greenville YMCAs and has since lost well over 100 lbs. I have heard him state that the personal trainers he worked with were an inspiration to him and he could not have gotten this far without them. He now runs marathons and does what I will call extreme bicycling, 100 plus mile rides, plus every year they do a biggest loser challenge with the YMCA and His Radio. But this is not the only reason I admire Rob. His personal story is just as amazing. He was a homeless teenager at 15. Got involved in a church and the youth pastor and other Christians came along side and helped him to grow in his faith that he shares everyday from the radio and in his regular day to day activities. I have heard him say had it not been for caring Christians he might not be here today.

                I used Rob as an example because some of you may have heard his story, but also because he is a wonderful example of the healing power both spiritually and physically that a Personal Trainer can provide. As a Christian disciple we should strive to be personal trainers sharing what God has done for us and in us.

With those who are suffering or in need in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7,

 “³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”

 A personal trainer is not only in our times of sorrow but also in our times of spiritual growth in Proverbs 27:17,

 “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

 Our spiritual and personal walk affects all of those we come in contact with when we fail to show Jesus in everything we do what are we teaching those who are watching. And people are watching.