Develop the Body

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Thess. 5:23)

Millions of dollars are spent every year to develop the physical man—and there's nothing wrong with that. I myself spend a certain amount every year on a health club membership to keep my physical body in shape.

Paul said, "bodily exercise profiteth little" (1 Tim. 4:8), but he didn't say it didn't profit. I have found that a physical body that is in shape produces a spirit that is more finely tuned. If you discipline the outward (or physical) man to run or work out, you can apply the same discipline on the spirit man, and he'll become just as much in shape as the natural man.

Millions of dollars also are spent every year to develop the intellect—and you should be spending money to develop your intellect. You may argue, "But I've already gone to school."  Fine, but the bookstores are full of good materials you could purchase to read up on what is happening in the world. To be successful, you should be learning continually.

You should be involved in getting your physical man developed, your intellect educated, and your spirit trained.

First And Foremost, Meditate in the Word
The way to feed information to the intellect is by studying books and other materials. The way to feed information into the spirit is by studying the Bible.

I don't mean grabbing it for five minutes and turning to the Proverbs and Psalms, either. That's what some people call reading and studying the Word. They think five minutes of reading and a quick prayer is all they need to do each day.

You'll find they are very weak spiritually. They have a very weak spirit man. He follows every wind of doctrine that comes along instead of settling down in a good church somewhere and becoming part of the family of God.

Yes, we're born into the family of God, but we need to be part of a local body and then reach out to those who need to be helped. Sometimes I get a little tired of preaching to those who are running after "the fire." It's good to preach to the sheep—the stable ones, the ones who have conditioned themselves.

Your conditioning—your diligent, consistent physical and mental effort—will pay off. It takes work to develop the mind and the body, but it can be done!

Source: How To Be Successful In Life by Kenneth Hagin, Jr.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers