Prayer is not for the faint of heart. It takes real faith and discipline to engage in prayer. Prayer is not a give-me wishlist exercise but rather an exercise of heavy lifting. But the good news or God-news is this, ”Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference." -Max Lucado

This week's spiritual discipline is the exercise of solitude. Theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer once wrote, “We are so afraid of the silence that we chase ourselves from one event to the next in order not to have to spend a moment alone with ourselves, in order not to have to look at ourselves in the mirror.” Maybe you can relate. But did you know that silence and solitude were a regular pattern of life for Jesus? Jesus found time for silence and solitude – even in the busyness of His life.

Easter was God’s Rescue Plan executed for us once and for all. Everything about EASTER points to transformed CROSSFIT living. Until the cross is more than jewelry, home decor and symbolic iconography we will never understand its transforming power. The cross changed everything for a group of first-century Belongers. It can do the same for you. Does the Crossfit in your life?

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to be rescued? That was us—all of humanity was in a bind of our own making without hope of rescue. The Good News of Passion Week is that God had a plan. And not just any plan. But a plan of rescue for all time and eternity. When Jesus rode in to Jerusalem for the last time you and I were on his mind and so was THE PLAN. Come discover the genesis of God’s Amazing Rescue Plan.

Today's spiritual discipline is the exercise of Confession. Confession is so misunderstood in the protestant evangelical modern church. We think of it as something that harkens back to our catholic roots. Something that is in the pass or not necessary due to Grace. But we couldn’t be further from the truth. CONFESSION IS THE P90X OF THE SOUL.

This weeks exercise is worship. Is your worship just going through the motions or do you have an authentic connection—a “walk in to cool of the day” relationship? It’s not about your desired music style. In fact it’s not about you or music. Worship is a 24/7 heart relationship with The Spiritual Trainer- Jesus.

We begin our exercises this week. Our first Crossfit exercise is meditation. Meditation is chewing on the Word of God so it gets inside of us and transforms our thinking, walk, talk and actions. The old adage is true: "you are what you eat." Are your CrossFit?

Spiritual Fitness is all about growth. God’s will is for Belongers to grow up and

become just like Jesus. In most cases we have barriers to growth in our lives. Lack of

growth happen when barriers to knowledge, motivation, accountability, nourishment,

and commitment spring up in our lives. God can help remove growth barriers in your

life so you can be CrossFit.

Physical trainers tell us that physical fitness begins with assessment. Spiritual fitness is no different. Before we can know where we are headed, we must evaluate our present situation. How is your spiritual fitness going? Where do you see the need for growth, and what is your plan to get there? When Paul encouraged his protege Timothy toward eternal fitness, he said: “workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.” I Tim. 4:8 (MSG). Spiritual Fitness begins when we are CrossFit. How do we become CrossFit? I’m glad you asked!

Why is it that there always seems to be that one chocolate in a box of chocolates that you expect to taste amazing, but it ends up tasting stale or doesn’t meet your expectations? Love and relationships are similar. We have an expectation of what love and our relationships should be like, but we find them falling short on the taste test. In the the final message in our two-part “Sweet Tarts” series on relationships, we explore how our views of what love is or isn’t forms how we interact within our relationships, and how we can ensure that the love we give and receive will be authentic and stay sweet.