One Meaningful Thing Today: Gym and Psalms(1) msg 2! (30-day challenge)

Though one can't really see this when they meet me, yes, I do go to the gym(sometimes even 3 times a week). I go to the gym especially after I finish work - since at work I mostly sit down in front of the screen and write, click, write more, adjust, take phone calls, talk to people, talk to my colleagues... - all which don't imply too much physical exercise... Anyways, after that wonderful rest Saturday and last night, on Monday - today - I was "full of energy" and full of life! So - as part of my first 30-day challenge, here's my,

One Meaningful Thing I did Today - Gym + Psalms(1) msg 2

Physical exercise is good; it keeps your blood pumping, it helps your body exercise even parts and muscles you didn't know you have, it relaxes the muscles, it keeps you fit, it revives and refreshes your whole being, it gives a you a good kind of tiredness, it keeps you away from many other sinful / useless activities, and... it also gives you time to listen to something / watch something. Many times the TV is on(at least 3-4 screens at the Archway Leisure Centre where I usually go) and there is sport, news, music, cooking, TV shows, etc. All kinds of entertainment, from tennis to cricket, from football to music, from witty shows to horse racing, from news to weather... - the whole world is there for you to enjoy: all you need to do is switch between the available channels to listen and watch!

But I prefer listening to something from my own device - and since I'm in "tech", I sometimes listen to tech podcasts - I love the TWIT.tv series with Leo Laporte(TWIT, TWIG, TWIS), the Buzz Out Loud, the people at Engadget(especially after they left - This Is My Next), and other tech podcasts. But today as I started listening to one of these podcasts I felt NO PEACE, no rest in me... and by now I know why - I FEED ON THE WRONG THING! Yes, many people listen to all kinds of music to keep their blood pumping and keep you going in a strong way - but as a believer in the Lord, you just don't feel peace and life when doing that(I tried, believe me...).

Even when listening to the seemingly harmless tech podcasts - sometimes the divine life in you just doesn't give you a good feeling!

So I started listening to the message for this week - message 2 of the Crystallization-Study of the Psalms, and I got LIFE! I realized there's a battle today for humanity - God wants to gain man, and Satan also wants to gain(mainly to ruin) man. Satan got in first, corrupted man, and now man has sin in himself + man is in direct rebellion to God. There's so much rebellion in me - and I can't get rid of it, I can't manage it, I can't change that, and I can't eradicate it! It's almost as if there's a cancer in me which is growing... and I can't do anything about it! Well, the only way, as revealed in Psalm 2, is to KISS THE SON! Just love the Lord! Open to Him in love, tell Him to draw you and to capture your heart... - and even if you're on the cross-trainer, on the treadmill, or lifting weights, if you genuinely groan and pray to the Lord, He will somehow gain your heart a bit more. It's not by the "smashing of those idols" but it's by "the beaming of His beauty, the unveiling of His heart"(see Has Thou Heard Him, Seen Him, Known Him?)

So,... I got to kiss the Lord while I was working out at the gym! People around me showing off, working on their 6-pack, running on the cross-trainer like crazy, or lifting an unbelievable amount of weights... but I could turn within and tell the Lord that I love Him! This may not completely change me or fully eliminate the rebellion in me, but I pray it may bring me more in an intrinsic way under God's government, under God's authority, in God's kingdom. I can tell you now, I love the Lord more....

[Disclaimer: Sorry, I am purposing in myself - today I'm talking about "One Meaningful Thing I Did Today and it's gonna be something outward", but there's something in me that just doesn't allow me to speak of outward things only - without adding the real MEANING, God as the meaning and reality of my human life! Going to the gym - such a random, common, tiring, or sometimes even boring thing - yet it can be filled with a precious touch of the Lord...]

Crystallization-Study of the Psalms(1) - so wonderful!

We are going these days through the video-training on the Crystallization Study of the Psalms, and I just love the Lord so much more when I see how wonderful He is in all the Psalms! On the one hand, the psalmists wrote out of their devotion for God, their sentiments, their experiences, and their feelings toward God and His house. On the other hand, many times God inspired the psalmists that they may write something which is a prophecy concerning Christ! Wow, Psalm 2, 8, 16, 22, 23, 24, and so on! Some Psalms just stand out and really declare Christ! Here are some portions I enjoyed and posted on the A God-Man blog from the recent summer training on Psalms(crystallization-study):

• Crystallization Study of the Psalms(1) – praising the Lord and speaking psalms to one another! Praise the Lord, we have started the video-training on the Crystallization Study of the Psalms(1)! We watched the first message entitled, the Central Thought of the Book of Psalms – and it was so rich! It will take us weeks to digest and our whole life to experience and enjoy the riches of Christ as presented in the book of the Psalms! One of the first matters that touched me in this message(and this is NOT a review of the whole message…) is that we need to be recovered to a proper praising the Lord.
• Crystallization Study of Psalms(1) – God’s system of grace and God’s system of government(message 2) - The second message from the Crystallization Study of the Psalms(1) is entitled the Revelation concerning Christ in God’s economy – and I was very much impressed with the two systems of God. There are two systems of God in the universe – two ways God relates to man and to His creation – which are the system of grace and the system of government
• God has perfected praise from the mouths of the babes and sucklings(crystallization-study of the Psalms) - Man can fall and man can sin, but man cannot overthrow the perfect will of God! What a statement – though man has fallen and is in a free fall ever since, man can never chage God’s will or overthrow His purpose: God’s purpose will be fulfilled! God desires to have a corporate man in His image filled with all His riches expressing Him and representing Him to reign over Satan, sin, and death – and eventually reign with God over the whole earth and bring in God’s kingdom to the earth!
• a governing principle in the Bible: the two trees with two lines, two flows, and two destinations! - It is so easy to read the Bible and try to understand it through your own perspective and way of seeing things – and especially when we come to the book of Psalms, where there are so many expressions of the sentiments, emotions, and desires of the psalmists… But we need to see that there’s a governing principle in the entire Bible! I was inspired and touched today by the fourth message in the Crystallization Study of the Psalms(1), entitled, The God-man who satisfies God’s desire and fulfills His good pleasure
• a detailed picture of Christ in His suffering of death – the redeeming death of Christ in Psalm 22 - In the recent Crystallization Study of the Psalms(1) I was very much impressed by the vivid portrait of Christ’s death in Psalm 22. In message 5 entitled, Christ in His Redeeming Death and Church-Producing Resurrection, the center and the main burden is the church-producing resurrection of Christ(Psa. 22:22), but in the beginning the brother encouraged us all to study, dig in, dive into, and get more deeper into the aspects of Christ’s death, His crucifixion on the cross.
• we need to see and cooperate with the pneumatic Christ’s shepherding as revealed in Psalm 23 - Praise the Lord for Psalm 23 with the proper interpretation and the high view of Christ in His ascension as the organic Shepherd! I really enjoyed in the recent Crystallization Study of the Psalms(1), in message 6 entitled, The Organic Shepherding of the Pneumatic Christ, the fact that the pneumatic Christ is the Shepherd, He is shepherding us, and He wants us to shepherd others also! The Christ whom we love, enjoy, and worship is the Shepherd!

O, Lord, amen! These messages are so rich...