17thFebruary
“…make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with Godliness, and Godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”
2 Peter 1:5b-7
Spiritual exercise is just as, if not more important than physical exercise. Just as we need to exercise our physical body to keep fit, so it is the same spiritually. We cannot afford to get spiritually lazy or obese because we are not putting in the time to grow in God. Unlike physical exercise the benefits are Christ-like living, spiritual growth and closeness to Jesus. It is like any relationship; you need to make an effort otherwise the relationship will grow distant and stagnant. Yet again, unlike physical exercise, spiritual discipline is not burdensome, it is not hard work and it is not tiring. Yes it requires effort to make time to spend with your Creator, but the more time spent with Jesus, the more refreshed, invigorated and more prepared we are for life. Moreover, it is Jesus’ grace that allows us to have a relationship with Him in the first place.
By spending more time with God, in both conversation (that includes letting Him talk to us too) and through His word, the characteristics that Peter mentions in today’s verse will naturally become apparent in our lives as evidence of daily spiritual discipline and exercise, all to bring glory to the Father. Moreover, spending time with God and exercising spiritually, is our way to respond to God, which leads to Christ-like living. Just like a tree or a plant, the more you water it, care for it, and nurture it, the more it will grow into a beautiful tree/plant bearing good fruit. It you neglect it, it will wither away and die. Let us pursue Jesus with an insatiable thirst. Let us discipline our spiritual lives by spending time with our Lord and Saviour. Spending time with Jesus is time well spent.
A Daily Devotional - The Recipe of Life 
You say ‘To become spiritually healthy is to spend more time to grow in God’.But how can I recognize and feel eventually I obtain spiritual growth?
Good question my friend. Jesus said that ‘you will recognise a tree by it’s fruit’. So it is the same with our spiritual lives. The more we spend time with God and feed our spiritual lives, the more evident our ‘Godly’ fruit will be. Know, that it is not something that you can produce by yourself, otherwise it is ‘YOU’ and not ‘God’. Godly fruit is produced through spiritual discipline and growth in our relationship with Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit in our lives.
….And spiritual growth is not some ‘enlightened experience’ that you can reach by doing good things. As we spend more time with Jesus, our characters become more like His, the more we are filled with His Spirit, the more we are led by Him, and the more we read His word, the more His word will guide our lifestyles and decisions.If you eat Mc Donalds every day for the rest of your life, the chances are you won’t live very long, because you are feeding your body junk. SO it is with our spiritual lives, if we are not disciplining ourselves spiritually, we will never grow in Him, mature in Him or become like Him. It is by His grace that He leads and guides and pours Himself into us.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
Hi Julia,
Seems like you didn’t actually send a message.
Anthony