It has often been asked of me as a strength and conditioning specialist, "Why do I need to increase my resistance training program to burn fat? It hurts too much!"

Are we proclaiming the same cry when God intensifies the weight of His Glory by asking you to STAND in faith? Or are we complaining—moaning and growing in the flesh instead of standing in the Holy Ghost?

Well then...its time to resist!

James 4:7 reads "resist the devil and he will flee!"

Simply put, we must begin to understand that every form of resistance in our life is only designed to do one thing—make us stronger!

When you reach a certain weight in your exercise program, you will remain at that level—as long as you don't allow yourself to take on any additional weight. Besides, even if you don't want to change yourself physically, God wants to change you spiritually.

Either way, it's important to understand resistance and its affect on each of us, both naturally and spiritually. For example, did you know that God uses weights? That's right! Proverbs 11:1 says: "a just weight is His delight."

Training And Preparation
James was a man who had some first hand information on the Messiah himself. Being the brother of Jesus and in the household of faith, James knew exactly what Jesus was doing in His private time. Jesus was "working out." He was resistance training—spiritually speaking.

God knew Jesus was about to bear the weight of this world in His body for you and me, so He trained Jesus to endure. There was spiritual training and preparation, and there was natural training and preparation.

Yes, there will always be painful times in your life, but don't give up or give in because they wont last. Remember: tough times wont last, tough people do! And the only way you get tough is to build up your strength through resistance training.

Train yourself to believe that the cross made a way for us to live. Now that's victory!

Say it with me now. "He bore my pains, Jesus bore my sorrows! I am not alone! I've got a Helper!"

As a personal trainer, often times I will have a client in the gym for whom I am guiding (spotting) through an exercise. For those who don't know what "spotting" is, it's a technique that we apply to guiding people through an exercise where we "spot" them to make sure the weight is not too heavy for them to lift. If it is, we then help them to continue to lift the weight to complete the exercise.

However, a good spotter will always make sure to let the patient give it all they can so they may get as much development from the exercise as possible.

My patients will begin to call out, "It's too heavy, it's too heavy," and I'm there saying, "You can do it, you can do it, keep going, keep going!"

As trainers we know that when you resist the weight, your muscles begin to respond and take on a beautiful shape. But what would happen if I gave-in to the cries of my patients and stopped requiring them to exert an adequate amount of effort? I'll tell you what—they would actually lose ground. Not only that, they will have to go back next week to do it all over again!

Why? Because we have a goal we're trying to hit.

Trainers and people who exercise regularly know that you can condition your muscles by doing several repetitions of a particular exercise. This is great, but in order to bring about positive, noticable change, in order to get to another level, in order to get stronger, you must keep increasing the resistance.

If you prematurely stop the endurance of an exercise you will get few results. Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, "Those who endure to the end will be saved!" That word "endure" means to stay under. Stay under the banner of God's favor. Stay in His presence for fullness of joy.

God's Command
God has told us to endure trials and to exercise patience because it perfects your soul (Luke 21:19). We'd be wise to listen.

If you prematurely start your crying and complaining about the exercise God has you on, guess what? You'll have to do it again next week, next month, maybe even next year. So why not give it all you got today? Use your "spotter" of Life.

You and I would call him the Strengthener, our Comforter, or our Helper. He is always there with you; He never leaves your side; He bears us up under everything.

Say it now: "I have a Helper; I have a spotter. My life may be filled with some serious resistance, but I'm strong and not alone. I've got a helper, a comforter, a strengthener. I'm only getting stronger through this! For I've Got the Holy Spirit living in me. Get back devil!"

Your Weapon: The Word
Stop letting the devil increase his resistance. You resist Him. Push him away with the Word of God. Let him know when he deals with you that he is dealing with the boss. After all, when they come against you they come against the one who sent you.

Let the devil know you are resisting him and he will flee.

Philippians 1:28 says, "and not in any way terrified by your adversaries." Here, Paul is writing to believers who are walking the walk. They're not afraid. It's time we as believers put on the full armor of God as well.

The Bible says, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus." Don't let anybody or anything tell you how you should be reacting. React with the Word.

In the Amplified Bible Paul says, "Do not for a moment be frightened or intimidated in anything by your opponents and adversaries." In other words, this is a sign of your training program. It's the evidence of your salvation, strength, and deliverance from God.

This does not mean being perfect or doing everything the correct way; Thank God! It means being "devoted" and having a heart consecrated, dedicated, loyal, and faithful to God.

Are you holding on the things of the past? Are you resisting forgiving someone—or something you have done? Are you entertaining thoughts of worry and fear? Are you relying on food to alerter you mood?

Stop right now, ask for forgiveness, and begin to resist (build yourself up against) the devil. He will certainly flee! It's the first sign that your natural and spiritual resistance training is working.

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