What Does Spiritual Exercise and Spiritual Diet Mean?

In 2015, I hosted a podcast called Health Matters where I interviewed leading health experts. Rusty Nokes has been a Certified Fitness Trainer since 1998 and has competed in everything from bodybuilding to endurance events. While struggling through divorce, addiction and homelessness, God inspired him to write the 31-Day Journal, Christ Fit Fusion-The Fusion of Spiritual and Physical Fitness.

What do you mean by spiritual diet?

“If I told you, as your trainer, I want you to get up tomorrow morning and eat a great breakfast but don’t worry about eating again until next Friday morning. Are you in? I’m not going to be your trainer very long.

“Many Christians, many religious people in general, eat one spiritual meal a week and that’s usually a Sunday morning service or a Saturday night mass. We know the grazing principle physically is the best — smaller meals throughout the day. So spiritual diet, just the same thing. A well-balanced, healthy spiritual diet throughout the day.

“I’m not talking about burying your nose in the Bible every 20 minutes — that’s the main course — and absolutely I think you need to be in your Word every day. But then there are other little things that we can do to get that spiritual nutrition.

“While I’m driving, I’ve got the choice to flip over to my radio and listen to my country tunes, or I can turn it over to one of my favourite pastors on one of the local Christian channels. Or I got an app on my phone, and I can plug in any pastor I want and listen to a little word while I drive. I’ve got little scripture cards that I post on my computer. I’m glancing at that throughout the day.

“So these little nuggets, these little snacks, we can go on every day. We’re not sitting down and engaging in a 5-course meal all the time. Eat that good meal and every few hours, just something. And it’s easier than you think. It just takes commitment.

“Just like physical training and physical nutrition, it just takes a little bit of discipline. Almost everybody takes a lunch break. So if you’re going out to lunch, you got a few minutes in the car to listen to something, you don’t even have to be following a story to flip over to the Proverbs and just land on a random proverb and read a proverb or two. Get your little snack in. That’s what I mean by spiritual nutrition. There are other books by pastors, all these things we take in to feed our spirit. That is what I’m talking about when I talk about spiritual diet.

What do you mean by spiritual exercise?

“Well the spiritual exercise goes hand-in-hand with the physical exercise. The doing. It’s the doing something. So with my Bible reading I’m getting my nutrition, but that’s also a physical act. I could hit the snooze button, I could get up and make coffee and watch the morning news, but I’m going to choose to do something that requires me to work those spiritual muscles that I’m making those conscious choices.

“You’ve got your Bible reading, you’ve got your prayer, you’ve got your fasting, you’ve got these spiritual disciplines, but you’ve also got some things that sometimes you don’t think about.

“You know it takes a lot of strength for me spiritually to choose to forgive somebody. I’m one of those that are inclined to get bitter, hold a grudge, pout and sulk and just not forgive somebody.

“But when I choose to say, ‘Okay, I know God wants me to forgive this person.’ They’ve hurt my feelings, but rather than say something back to them or get a dig, I’m going to choose to forgive them.

“I’m going to choose to ask for forgiveness when I know I’ve said something a little snide or whatever, whether it’s to my spouse or one of my children.

“You know the tongue gets you in a lot of trouble, it will for me. And so for me to forgive or choose to forgive it’s like bench-pressing 300 lbs. I’ve gotten very strong spiritually because I have to press that weight. I know what I need to be doing.

“So sometimes those spiritual exercises — walking away from an argument, not firing back — take a lot of strength for some people. Being patient. Doing an act of service for somebody.

“Anytime the Spirit puts it on our heart to do a spiritual action or to refrain from doing something that we know we shouldn’t it requires those spiritual muscles to come into play.

“That’s spiritual exercise along with your normal disciplines of reading and praying and fasting.

“So for me — and again there’s no scientific formula — I like to read in my New Testament and I’ll start a book and I’ll just systematically read a chapter or two a day. And then I’ll go to the Old Testament and read a chapter or two in whatever book I’m in there. And I like to get into the Proverbs a little bit and the Psalms a little bit and have that balance. You know again there’s that balance, physically and spiritually. But whatever you do, every day.”

Since talking with Rusty, I’ve paid attention to my spiritual diet and spiritual exercise similar to how I focus on my physical diet and exercise.

Although the podcast is no longer available, if you’d like a copy of any of the full interview transcript, please send me an email.

This has been an excerpt from the Health Matters Podcast, believing that prayer & Bible study are to the spirit what exercise and healthy eating are to the body.

Blessings on your journey to health.

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