On a Scale of 1 to 10?

I asked that question last Sunday in regards to your personal spiritual health!  "One being sick and 10 being able to move mountains, where are you in your spiritual health?"  I gave people the task of asking each other where they were and responding with the appropicate number on the scale and then encouraged them to pray for each other about their spiritual health.   One thing I should have done was ask the following question...."What steps can you take to change your number on the scale?"
On the bathroom weigh scale I can do a lot of things to change that number!  I can eat more or less!  I can exercise or stop exercising!  I can eat healthier and cut out all the stuff that is causing too many of us to be overweight and out of shape for our own good.  So how can you and I change our number on the spiritual health scale?
It's not easy or everyone would be doing it....so they say......but I think you and I can make some changes in our lives that will make the number on the spiritual gauge go up if even only one mark. Make that your goal today...that you will do one thing that will increase your spititual health one click.  How can you do that?  That was the question I was asking myself after Sunday...I didn't give anyone practical steps to change where they were.....so here are three.
1.  To change your health...what has to be eliminated that is keeping you from walking closely with God?  Discover the answer to that question and then
2.  Eliminate those things.  It could be as simple as how you use your time.  You may waste time watching t.v. or texting, or surfing or facebooking and although they are all tools that are designed to connect you with others, they don't really help in connecting you with God.  Spiritual health has a lot to do with time with God.  Sind out what things....habits, choices, patterns, that are in your life that keep you from developing and strengthening your walk with Jesus.
3.  Start doing better things to nourish your spiritual life.  Nothing will change in your life without change!  Read your Bible...if you don't have one...get one and start reading in the gospel of John, it's a great place to start.  If you have a Bible, read through some of Pauls letters to the churches as he gives plenty of instruction of what the life of a Follower of Jesus Christ looks like...it looks like Jesus.  Or maybe Peter's letters....he has some great life instructions as well....or maybe you just need to use the book of Proverbs as a daily, read one chapter a day, kind of kick start....it's amazing how the wisdom of Proverbs is still good for today. Go for a walk and talk.  Walk 15 minutes telling God all that is on your heart, and then walk back home for 15 minutes and just listen for God speaking to you.  Any relationship that is only one person talking is not as strong a relationship as the ones where the people involved are commuicating....talking and listening.
So to recap.....Discover....Stop.....Start!
On a scale of 1 to 10 take it up one notch....one step....with God.
I pray that God finds you with friends this Sunday devoted on worshipping Him.
Blessings,
Pastor Brian